'SBI's loan repayment norms for poor students obnoxious'

A wilful defaulter of a Rs.9,000 crore bank loan can be a member of parliament but a poor student who had defaulted on education loan due to economic/family circumstances is barred from applying for a clerical job in State Bank of India (SBI), which is obnoxious, said a top bank union leader.

After naming and shaming education loan defaulters, SBI is now preventing them from applying for clerical job in the bank which is patently wrong, said a top bank union official.

"The SBI in its notification for hiring junior associates and junior agricultural associates has barred candidates with record of default in repayment of loans/credit card dues or against whose name adverse report of CIBIL or other external agencies are available from applying for the job," C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) told IANS.

"Candidates against whom there is/are adverse report regarding character & antecedents, moral turpitude are not eligible to apply for the post," SBI notification said.

"The SBI's condition is obnoxious and unfair and has to be changed. The economy is not doing well and as a result the corporate loans are turning bad or non-peforming assets (NPA). As a result, freshers are not able to get a job and unemployment is high," Venkatachalam said.

It is ironical that Vijay Mallya owes around Rs.9,000 crore to SBI and other banks is a MP despite being declared by banks as wilful defaulter but a poor student who might have defaulted on loan for genuine reason is prevented from applying for a clerical job by SBI, Venkatachalam remarked.

"A fresh graduate cannot repay his education loan if he does not get a job. And if hiring organisations like SBI bar such candidates even from applying then how can they repay their loans. Normally a fresher will only have education loan against his name," he added.

"Genuine borrowers will be affected by SBI's condition. In fact, banks do not maintain their accounts and there has been cases where a student who has not completed his course has been classified as NPA by the banks," K. Srinivasan, convenor, Education Loan Task Force (ELTF) told IANS.

According to Srinivasan, education loans are classified as NPA's for non-payment of interest subsidy by the central government.

The ELTF guides students on rules and regulations governing education loans offered by nationalised banks free of cost.