The Hindu

Mangalore, Jun 30: Making a request for an education loan will henceforth be a click away. Corp Vidya, the Corporation Bank’s education loan product has gone on-line and students wanting to avail themselves of loan under it can place their request online and will get an in-principle approval. Students can then approach the nearest branch and submit the loan application and walk away with the loan.

R P Warrier, vice-chancellor, Manipal University, who launched the on-line product here on Friday June 29, said that given the prohibitive cost of present day education, especially professional education, student loan was the way to go. Stating that this would prove to be a win-win situation for students as well as the bank, he said students would be able to pursue their education in best of institutions and not worry about the cost.

The information technology savvy generation of students would love to request for a loan online, he said and observed it would also save them the time to fill in cumbersome forms. Warrier requested the bank authorities to ensure that even the poorest student benefited from their initiative.

K L Gopalakrishna, executive director of the Bank, who explained the functioning of the online request facility, said the country was witnessing a steady increase in number of students coming forward to avail themselves of education loans ever since the Indian Bank’s Association announced the education loan scheme in 2000.

Corporation Bank, which disbursed Rs 100 crore by way of education loan in 2004-05, added a further Rs 50 crore in 2005-06. The bank’s education loan portfolio expanded to Rs. 269 crore in 2006-07, Gopalakrishna said and added it intended to disburse additional Rs 100 crore during the current fiscal.

The Bank has 16,571 Corp Vidya accounts on date, he added. A Mohan Rao, General Manager was present.