Special Correspondent

Cells in banks to address education loan grievances

February 18, 2017 01:34 am | Updated 01:34 am IST - CHENNAI

In response to suggestions from students and parents, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal has agreed to set up grievance redress mechanism at nationalised banks to address issues relating to education loan.

Mr. Meghwal, who interacted with representatives from nearly 40 banks and aggrieved parents and students, said on an experimental basis, the government would set up grievance redress cells at corporate headquarters and would nominate a nodal officer that people could approach for help for education loans.

Some of the debtors and non-governmental organisations told the Minister that often in rural areas bank managers were not kept updated on the revised guidelines and it affected students seeking loans. Mr. Meghwal said awareness programmes would be held for bankers and they would be advised to issue circulars periodically apprising them of the rules.

He said it was the responsibility of debtors to repay loans. “If you repay the dues, your own family would benefit in a few years when you look for loans. Modiji (Prime Minister) wants to give loans but you should have the capacity to repay loans. We want empowered citizens,” he said.

Praise for IOB

The Minister appreciated the efforts of the Indian Overseas Bank in providing training to educated unemployed debtors to enable them find employment.

Mr. Meghwal said the government was planning to introduce a ₹10 coin and a stamp to commemorate Ramanuja during his centenary celebrations.

According to R. Subramaniakumar, executive director of the Indian Overseas Bank, only 5% of the people had grievances while dealing with banks for education loans. Tamil Nadu had disbursed around 9.09 lakh loans amounting to ₹17,862.85 crore, unlike Kerala, which had disbursed only ₹9,816 crore, he pointed out.

The event was organised by Prime Point Foundation, which had been assisting people with information on education loans for over a decade.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.