📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Priyank Desai
Education
Gujarat education loan disbursals rise 21% in Q1 FY26, overseas study demand low
✍️ The Times of India
🗓 27 Aug 2026, 02:17 AM
👁 6
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, Gujarat’s education loan disbursals grew by 21% year‑on‑year, while interest in studying abroad stayed subdued.
Gujarat’s education loan portfolio expanded sharply in the first quarter of FY26, with disbursals climbing 21% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data reported by The Times of India. The increase reflects heightened demand for financing higher‑education programmes within the state, as banks and financial institutions processed a larger number of applications.
State‑level initiatives aimed at improving access to higher education, coupled with a growing middle‑class population seeking professional courses, appear to be driving the upward trend. Lenders have noted a broader spread of borrowers across urban and semi‑urban centres, indicating that the benefit of loan schemes is reaching a wider demographic.
Despite the robust domestic loan growth, the appetite for overseas study remained muted during the quarter. Prospective students continued to postpone or abandon plans for foreign education, likely due to lingering economic uncertainties and the high cost of international programmes. Analysts suggest that the subdued demand may keep the proportion of foreign‑study loans low in the coming months.
State‑level initiatives aimed at improving access to higher education, coupled with a growing middle‑class population seeking professional courses, appear to be driving the upward trend. Lenders have noted a broader spread of borrowers across urban and semi‑urban centres, indicating that the benefit of loan schemes is reaching a wider demographic.
Despite the robust domestic loan growth, the appetite for overseas study remained muted during the quarter. Prospective students continued to postpone or abandon plans for foreign education, likely due to lingering economic uncertainties and the high cost of international programmes. Analysts suggest that the subdued demand may keep the proportion of foreign‑study loans low in the coming months.