PMK to protest demanding education loan write-off

With nationalised banks palming off the collection of education loan dues to private companies, the PMK will hold a protest here on March 20 demanding a loan write-off, said party leader Anbumani Ramadoss.

In a statement issued in Chennai, he said the AIADMK party had promised to pay back the education loans taken by unemployed youth in its 2016 Assembly poll manifesto.

He said it has been two years since the AIADMK came to power and it has yet to fulfil its poll promise.

Ramadoss said there are over 1.5 crore unemployed persons in Tamil Nadu but there is nothing in the recent state budget that would create employment opportunities.

He said out of the around Rs 65,000 crore education loan portfolio, around Rs 20,000 crore was taken by 10 lakh students in Tamil Nadu.

Ramadoss said the State Bank of India, Indian Bank and Bank of India have sold non-performing education loans worth around Rs 1,030.15 crore to asset reconstruction companies for collection.

The bulk of the student borrowers were from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, he said.

Instead of changing the education loan repayment structure, selling the loan accounts to private agencies for collection will result in worse situations as the collection methods will be uncivilised and threatening, Ramadoss said.

"The banks sell the loan accounts for a fraction of the sum lent. The banks can, in fact, restructure the loans for a similar amount and write-off the balance," N.Vinoba, PMK Spokesperson, told IANS.

"In rural areas, unemployment is worse in Tamil Nadu. It is now known that banks have written off several lakhs of crore of loans given to corporates and several lakhs of crore of loans have turned bad. When compared to that the education loan portfolio is very small," Vinoba said.

--IANS

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