ISLAMABAD: Interest-free loan of Rs 173.57 million has been approved for needy students to pursue higher studies within Pakistan.
The scheme was approved on Friday in the meeting of apex committee in Karachi which was chaired by Saeed Ahmad, Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) while representatives of the Finance Division, Government of Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan, Muslim Commercial Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited and United Bank Limited attend the meeting.
For this scheme, an endowment fund of Rs 500 million was created in financial year 2001-02, said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) operationally administers the scheme by receiving and scrutinizing the students loan applications, disbursement of loans as well investment of endowment funds of the scheme.
Loans approved under the scheme will be disbursed to 1, 072 students, of 2012-13 session, pursuing their studies in different disciplines of under-graduation, graduation, MPhil and PhD studies from the public sector universities in Pakistan.
The names of successful students are available at the NBP’s website. “Government of Pakistan, SBP and commercial banks should strengthen their efforts to increase the endowment fund size for enhancing the outreach of the scheme. Besides, participating banks should also pay greater attention for timely recovery of student loans granted earlier to augment the availability of funds for accommodating more students under the scheme,” SBP deputy governor said, while presiding over the committee meeting.
The apex committee also approved constitution of a sub-committee having representatives from State Bank and member banks to revisit the existing student loan scheme and suggest improvements. The sub-committee shall also devise measures and identify funding sources for increasing endowment fund of the scheme.
