The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme to provide monetary support to meritorious students so that financial constraints do not prevent them from pursuing quality higher education, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

As per the scheme, anybody who gets admission in Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs) will be eligible to get collateral free, guarantor-free loan from banks and financial institutions to cover the full amount of tuition fees and other expenses related to the course.

"The Cabinet has approved PM-Vidyalaxmi scheme to provide financial support to meritorious students so that financial constraints do not prevent any youth of India from pursuing quality higher education," Vaishnaw said at a press conference here.

The scheme will be applicable to the top QHEIs as determined by the NIRF rankings - including all HEIs, government and private, that are ranked within the top 100 in NIRF in overall, category-specific and domain-specific rankings, state government HEIs ranked in 101-200 in the NIRF and all central government-run institutions.

"This list will be updated every year using the latest NIRF ranking, and to begin with 860 qualifying QHEIs, covering more than 22 lakh students to be able to potentially avail benefits of PM-Vidyalaxmi, if they so desire," an official statement said.

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