Padho Pardesh

The government launched the Padho Pardesh scheme to provide an interest subsidy to eligible meritorious students from economically weaker sections. Under this scheme, scholarships are provided to minority community students to complete their higher education abroad and improve their job opportunities.

The Padho Pardesh scheme is a central sector scheme to provide interest subsidies to students belonging to minority communities as per the provisions of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. The interest subsidy is provided on the interest payable for the moratorium period of the education loans taken under the ‘Scheme of Interest subsidy on Educational Loans for Overseas Studies’ to continue studies abroad in approved Masters, M.Phil or PhD level courses. 

Padho Pardesh Scheme Objectives

The Padho Pardesh scheme aims to provide interest subsidies to meritorious students belonging to minority communities and facilitate opportunities for higher education abroad to enhance employability.

Eligibility for Padho Pardesh Scheme

• Students belonging to minority communities, i.e. Christians, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and Parsis.
• Students who have secured Masters, M.Phil or PhD admission in the approved courses abroad.
• Students should have obtained a loan from a scheduled bank of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the ‘Education Loan Scheme’.
• Students should apply for the Padho Pardesh scheme benefits during the first year of the course. Fresh applications received during the second or subsequent years will not be accepted.

Courses Eligible for Interest Subsidy 

The courses or subjects for which the grant of interest subsidy is provided under the Padho Pardesh scheme are as follows: 

• Arts, humanities or social sciences 
• Commerce 
• Pure sciences 
• Mechatronics 
• Automation robotics, including artificial intelligence 
• Low-temperature thermal dynamics 
• Optometry 
• Composite materials engineering, including energy storage engineering, decentralised power distribution, energy efficient habitat and energy conservation
• Packaging engineering or technology 
• Agriculture and agro-technology 
• Agronomy
• Medical 
• Floriculture and landscaping 
• Food sciences and technology 
• Forestry and Natural Resources 
• Horticulture 
• Plant pathology 
• Energy studies 
• Farm power and machinery 
• Veterinary sciences 
• Soils and water management 
• Plant breeding and genetics 
• Ocean and atmospheric sciences 
• M.B.A
• M.C.A 
• Information technology, including software, computer engineering, software quality assurance, networking engineering, communication system under hazardous or post-disaster conditions, connectivity engineering or multimedia communication
• Nanotechnology, plastic technology, laser technology, art restoration technology, imaging system technology or small-scale rural technology 
• Engineering, including biotechnology or genetic engineering, industrial environmental engineering, marine engineering, petrochemical engineering, cryogenic engineering, dock and harbour engineering, nuclear engineering or industrial safety engineering 
• Any other subject

Padho Pardesh Scheme APadho Pardeshlication Process

Eligible students can apply for Padho Pardesh scheme benefits by following the below process:

• Check the banks that are members of the IBA and offer Padho Pardesh scheme benefits for education loans.
• Visit the chosen bank’s website.
• Fill and submit the educational loan application.
• Submit the required documents to the bank along with the loan application.
• A bank representative will contact the applicant.
• After the verification of documents, the bank will sanction the loan amount.
• After getting the loan, the applicant should inform the respective bank about availing of the Padho Pardesh scheme.
• Submit the documents required for the Padho Pardesh scheme as per the bank’s requirements to avail of the interest subsidy benefits.
• The bank will upload the applicant’s information and loan details on the Padho Pardesh portal.
• A select committee will examine the applications received for interest subsidy claims and recommend awarding interest subsidies under the scheme.
• The designated bank will implement the scheme as per the MoU between the bank and the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Interest Subsidy Conditions

• The Padho Pardesh scheme is available for higher studies abroad. The interest subsidy will be linked with the existing educational loan scheme of IBA.
• The interest subsidy is available to the eligible students only once, i.e. either for M.Phil, Masters or PhD course.
• 35% of seats will be reserved for girl students. In the case of the non-availability of girl students, the seats can be transferred to boy students. 
•  Interest subsidy is not available to students who discontinued the course mid-stream or were expelled from the institutions on academic or disciplinary grounds. 
• If a student violates the conditions of the Padho Pardesh scheme, the subsidy will be discontinued.
• Students obtaining Padho Pardesh scheme benefits will not be given the interest subsidy if they give up Indian citizenship during the interest subsidy tenure.
• The government will provide an interest subsidy for the interest payable by the applicants availing of education loans for a moratorium period (course period plus one year or six months after getting a job, whichever is earlier) as provided under the education loan scheme of the IBA.
• After the moratorium period, the applicants will pay the interest on the outstanding loan amount under the existing educational loan scheme.
• The applicant will bear the principal instalments and interest amount beyond the moratorium period.

Income Ceiling Under Padho Pardesh Scheme

The total income from all sources of the employed applicant or his/her parents in case of the unemployed candidate should not exceed Rs.6 lakh p.a. Applicants should submit the income certificates issued by the competent authority in the respective state/UT in support of the income shown by them.