The Apex Committee for Student Loan Scheme has approved Rs 51.987 million as interest-free loans to deserving students for their current year of studies within Pakistan. The amount, approved by the Apex Committee, will be given to 966 deserving students of public sector universities across the country, studying in different disciplines of under-graduation, graduation and PhD studies for the session 2016-2017.
The committee has representation from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Finance Division (Government of Pakistan) and five major banks - National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), United Bank Limited (UBL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and MCB Bank to approve this amount.
The objective of the Student Loan Scheme is to provide financial assistance to meritorious students having insufficient means. The loans are granted for a maximum tenure of 10 years from the date of the disbursement of first installment and repayable in monthly installments after six months from the date of first employment or one year from the date of completion of studies, whichever is earlier.
National Bank of Pakistan, being the administrator of the Scheme, performs all the functions such as receiving and scrutinizing the loan applications, disbursement of loans and their recovery.