New Delhi: The Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, recently announced a growth of about 29% in educational loans while the number of accounts increased by 3,56,515.

The performance of PSBs under Education Loan Scheme is reviewed in quarterly meetings of Finance Minister with Chief Executives of Banks.

Lauding the performance of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) under Education Loan Scheme of Indian Banks' Association (IBA) Meena said that, "It shows a continuous growth in educational loans, in terms of amount, as well as, in number of accounts."

As per data of IBA, the total outstanding amount under education loans of Public Sector Banks as on March 31, 2009 stood at Rs.27646 crore, in 16,03,385 accounts.

The increase in total loans outstanding over March 31, 2008 in absolute and percentage terms was Rs.7829 crore and 39% respectively.

Further, in order to provide better services to students across the country, the PSBs have been advised to institute an on-line system, not to reject/pass on loan applications to other banks/branches on the grounds of age/area of operation.