From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 09:00 PM IST

The nationalised banks of the country will soon provide online education loan facility, enabling students to apply for education loans this academic year.

Announcing this after inaugurating the 1327th branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce in Sivaganga Sunday, union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said: 'Last financial year, the nationalised banks assisted around 1.2 million students with education loans amounting Rs.197 billion.'

According to him, the government has decided to double to 200,000 the number of scholarships for studying after eighth standard.

Under the scheme, poor but meritorious students will be offered an annual scholarship of Rs.6,000.

Speaking about the Rs.600 billion farm loan waiver scheme announced by the central government, the finance minister said: 'Forty million farmers will benefit from this waiver to be implemented this June.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)