The disbursal of education loans has dipped for public sector banks has dipped to 23% in the fiscal last ended. The dip in education loan exposure of these banks has been quite large from 40% growth in the last few years.

The public sector banks have lent out as much as Rs 34,192 crore through 18,51,106 accounts till March 2010 and have experienced 15.45% and 23.68% rise in the number of accounts and disbursed amount, respectively, during 2009-10.

State Bank of India has been the leader in loan disbursal at Rs 8,907 crore, as educational loan till March 2010. Punjab National Bank has lent out Rs 2,272.13 crore till March 2010.

In order to bring about faster education loan disbursal, the PSBs have been advised by the finance ministry to start online processing of such loans with features like registration of loan application and immediate automatic reply with reference number for future correspondence.

Indian Banks' Association has allowed for concession of 50 basis points on education loan granted to girl students.