NEW DELHI, AUG 20, 2015: A web-based portal viz. Vidya Lakshmi (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) was  launched on the occasion of Independence Day i.e. 15 th August, 2015 for the benefit of  students seeking Educational Loans. The Portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks' Association (IBA).

Earlier the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget for 2015-16 inter-alia had proposed to set-up a fully IT based Student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor Scholarship as well as Educational Loan Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram (PMVLK) to ensure that no student misses out on higher education for lack of funds. The launch of the aforesaid Portal is a first step towards achieving this objective,

Vidya Lakshmi Portal is a first of its kind portal providing single window for Students to access information and make application for Educational Loans provided by Banks as also Government Scholarships. The Portal has the following features:

++ Information about Educational Loan Schemes of Banks;

++ Common Educational Loan Application Form for Students;

++ Facility to apply to multiple Banks for Educational Loans;

++ Facility for Banks to download Students' Loan Applications;

++ Facility for Banks to upload loan processing status;

++ Facility for Students to email grievances/queries relating to Educational  

++ Loans to Banks;

++ Dashboard facility for Students to view status of their loan application and   

++ Linkage to National Scholarship Portal for information and application for

++ Government Scholarships.

So far, 13 Banks have registered 22 Educational Loan Schemes on the Vidya Lakshmi Portal and 5 Banks viz; SBI, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank & Union Bank of India have integrated their system with the Portal for providing loan processing status to students. This initiative aims to bring on board all Banks providing Educational Loans. It is expected that students throughout the country will be benefited by this initiative of the Government by making available a single window for access to various Educational Loan Schemes of all Banks.