Nearly 9 per cent of the education loansextended by public sector banks(PSBs) were categorised as non-performing assets in the last financial year, the lower House was informed.
“As per information provided by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), NPAsof PSBsincreased from 7.29 per cent as on March 31, 2016 to 8.97 per cent as on March 31, 2018,” minister of State for financeShiv Pratap Shuklasaid in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
He was replying to a question whether non-performing assets (NPAs) in educationsector rose to 9 per cent during the two years period (2016-18).
Among the NPAs of PSBs under education category, the highest 21.28 per cent originated from nursing courses followed by engineering (9.76 per cent), other professions (9.49 per cent), medical profession (6.06 per cent) and MBA (5.59 per cent).
As at March 31, 2015, education sector bad loans stood at 5.7 per cent, the minister said citing IBA data.
The banks received repayment of education loans worth Rs 13,766.82 crore in 2017-18; Rs 11,548.87 crore in 2016-17; Rs 9,124.95 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 8,537 crore in 2014-15.