Educational Loan Scheme (GMFDC)(ELSGMFDC)

Overview

About ELSGMFDC

GMFDC, the Gujarat Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, lends to students from seven religious minorities and three linguistic ones on credit lines that come from NMDFC, the national minorities finance corporation, and every rupee of it is repaid with interest once the course ends. The difficulty is that GMFDC's own documents disagree. The scheme page on its website prints older ceilings and income limits than its leaflet and its portal, and NMDFC's own income bands sit higher than both.

GMFDC began as the Gujarat Laghumati (Minorities) Board. Its introduction page dates the change to "ગુજરાત લધુમતિ બોર્ડનું તારીખ : ૨૪-૦૯-૧૯૯૯ના રોજ", the twenty-fourth of September 1999, when the state government turned the board into a company under the Companies Act (GMFDC, introduction).

The education loan is, at root, a scheme of the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), a Government of India company under the Ministry of Minority Affairs that works through agencies nominated by each state and through banking partners (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme). In NMDFC's statement of money disbursed to states, attached to a 2017 Lok Sabha answer, GMFDC is the agency listed against Gujarat (Ministry of Minority Affairs, Lok Sabha answer). GMFDC's own scheme page puts the funding plainly: "૯૦ ટકા લોન રાષ્‍ટ્રીય અલ્‍પસંખ્‍યક વિકાસ નિગમ (NMDFC) દિલ્‍હી ધ્‍વારા" and "૧૦ ટકા લોન રાજય સરકાર ધ્‍વારા", ninety per cent of each loan from NMDFC in Delhi and ten per cent from the state government (GMFDC, higher education loan scheme).

It is a smaller book than the corporation's business lending. GMFDC's achievements page records, for the education loan from ૨૦૦૩-૨૦૦૪ થી ૨૦૨૫-૨૦૨૬, "૨૭૬૬ લાભાર્થીઓને કૂલ રૂ.૪૦.૫૯ કરોડનુ ધિરાણ": forty point five nine crore rupees lent in all to the ૨૭૬૬ minority-community beneficiaries it counts, up to the end of March 2026. The same page shows "૧૯૬૬૪ લાભાર્થીઓને કૂલ રૂ.૧૪૮.૯૯ કરોડ" under its term loan for small businesses, counted from three years earlier, so in rupees the education book is a little over a quarter the size (GMFDC, achievements).

The communities it serves are listed in the record below, and the list is wider than NMDFC's. NMDFC describes its target group as the backward sections of six communities, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme), while GMFDC also takes Jewish students and Gujarat's Sindhi, Marathi and Urdu linguistic minorities.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

As read in September 2026, the portal gives no closing date for the education loan; the only closing date its notice names is for the term loan (GMFDC loan portal).

The portal note's paper list sets the practical start. It asks for the admission letter and the receipts for fees already paid, so a student files after the college has taken the first fees, not while an admission result is pending (GMFDC portal, form-filling note).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Residence is tested more closely than the record suggests. The online eligibility form asks "છેલ્લા ૧૦ વર્ષથી ગુજરાતમાં રહો છો ?", that is, whether the applicant has lived in Gujarat for the last ten years (GMFDC portal, eligibility form). None of GMFDC's other documents puts a period on residence, and the form does not say what a "no" answer does, which leaves a family that settled in Gujarat recently without a written rule either way.

The same form asks for religion, where Hindu sits in the list beside the minority options, and separately for the route the applicant qualifies by, "Minority (Religious)" or "Minority (Linguistic)" (GMFDC portal, eligibility form). A family that qualifies through its language rather than its faith picks the linguistic route there.

GMFDC lends only against a confirmed seat. Its note for applicants on the portal asks for admission to a government-recognised university or college and a recognised course, with a copy of the admission letter (GMFDC portal, form-filling note). NMDFC frames the course test as job-oriented technical and professional study lasting no more than five years (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme).

Family income decides the interest rate as much as the right to borrow, and it is measured on the form as "અરજદારની કુટુંબની અગાઉના નાણાકીય વર્ષની વાર્ષિક આવક", the family's annual income in the previous financial year (GMFDC portal, eligibility form). The record below prices loans in two bands, a cheaper one for families under separate rural and urban limits and a dearer one above them, and GMFDC's leaflet and its portal note carry the same bands (GMFDC, information leaflet; GMFDC portal, form-filling note).

NMDFC draws its own line far higher. Its education-loan page puts Credit Line-1 at a family income of up to Rs 3.00 lakh a year, lent at 3%, and Credit Line-2 at up to Rs 8.00 lakh, lent at 8%, with women paying 5% (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme). Say a family in Ahmedabad earns two lakh rupees a year: under the bands in GMFDC's leaflet and portal note it lands in the dearer one, while NMDFC's page would place it in Credit Line-1. The portal note even heads its cheaper band as Credit Line-1 while setting a lower income limit for it than NMDFC does (GMFDC portal, form-filling note).

GMFDC's scheme page lags further behind. It caps family income at "રુ. ૧,૦૩,૦૦૦/-" in towns, just over one lakh rupees, and "રુ. ૮૧,૦૦૦/-" in villages, well under one lakh, with no second band at all (GMFDC, higher education loan scheme). Those are the limits on the corporation's older printed application form, which is still on its downloads page and which opens the scheme only to six religious communities, with Jewish students and the linguistic minorities left out (GMFDC, education loan application form). Both the portal note and the leaflet name Jewish, Sindhi, Marathi and Urdu-speaking applicants beside those six (GMFDC portal, form-filling note; GMFDC, information leaflet).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The record's bar on earlier loans reaches the whole family, and it names GBCDC, the Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation, alongside GMFDC. That matters because GBCDC's own caste-list page asks applicants from communities that have a separate corporation, GMFDC among them, "શક્ય હોય ત્યાં સુઘી તે નિગમોમાં માહિતી મેળવવા અથવા તો અરજી કરવા વિનંતી છે", that is, to seek information from and apply to that corporation as far as possible (GBCDC, caste list). A minority family that is also on the backward-classes list therefore gets one corporation loan, and GMFDC is the one it is pointed to.

The older printed form adds rules the record leaves out: only one person from a family may apply, one applicant may not file more than one form, and an incomplete form is rejected (GMFDC, education loan application form). The same form restricts the loan to colleges or institutions recognised by the central or state government that have been running for at least the last three years.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

GMFDC's ceilings run per year of study, and the portal handles a running loan's later instalments as applications of their own. It has a separate button for them, "શૈક્ષણિક લોન નાં બીજા હપ્તાઓ માં અરજી કરવા માટે અહી click કરો", click here to apply for the education loan's later instalments, which opens a page asking for the scheme, the application number and the date of birth (GMFDC loan portal; GMFDC portal, later instalments).

Progress in the course is what keeps the money coming. GMFDC's older printed form says a student who fails partway through gets no further loan and must repay what was lent, with interest, at once (GMFDC, education loan application form).

What you get

Award & benefits

Two versions of GMFDC's ceilings are in circulation. The record below, GMFDC's leaflet and its portal note agree on three sets of ceilings, each given per year and for a five-year course: one for study in India, a higher one for medicine in India, and the highest for study abroad (GMFDC, information leaflet; GMFDC portal, form-filling note).

The scheme page on GMFDC's website prints another set. For courses with good job prospects it gives "વાર્ષિક મહતમ મર્યાદા રૂ. ૨.૦૦ લાખ અને વધુમા વધુમા વધુ રૂ. ૧૦.૦૦ લાખ/- પાંચ વર્ષના અભ્યાસક્ર્મ માટે", two lakh rupees a year and ten lakh over a five-year course, and for study abroad "વાર્ષિક મહતમ મર્યાદા રૂ. ૪.૦૦ લાખ અને વધુમા વધુમા વધુ રૂ. ૨૦.૦૦ લાખ", four lakh a year and twenty lakh in all (GMFDC, higher education loan scheme). It also offers "ટુંકા ગાળાના ઉચ્ય અભ્યાસક્ર્મ માટે એક વર્ષના રૂ. ૩.૦૦ લાખ", three lakh rupees for one year of a short higher course, and it has no separate line for medicine. Against the leaflet's set, the scheme page's ceilings are higher for India and for study abroad, and only the leaflet's set has a medical line.

None of GMFDC's documents dates its figures, but the clues point one way. The scheme page's ceilings for India and for study abroad are the ones on the older printed form (GMFDC, education loan application form), while the leaflet's set is the one in the note on the portal where GMFDC now takes applications online (GMFDC portal, form-filling note). The leaflet's lower ceilings are therefore the current terms to budget on.

Both sets sit below NMDFC's own ceilings for the scheme, Rs 20 lakh for a course in India and Rs 30 lakh abroad (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme). A student who costs a course off NMDFC's national figures will overestimate what GMFDC lends.

The rates follow NMDFC's credit lines. GMFDC's page states "વ્‍યાજનો દર વાર્ષિક ૩ ટકા", three per cent a year, which is the 3% NMDFC charges under Credit Line-1, and the record's higher band, with its lower rate for female students, is NMDFC's Credit Line-2 pair (GMFDC, higher education loan scheme; NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme).

The money follows the fees rather than landing in the student's pocket. The older printed form splits it two ways: admission, tuition and examination fees go by cheque straight to the institution, and the rest of the ceiling, for books, stationery, equipment and hostel board, reaches the student by account-payee cheque (GMFDC, education loan application form). The same form asks the student to open a joint account with a parent or guardian at a nationalised bank.

• For studies within India, a maximum loan of ₹1,50,000/- per year and up to ₹7,50,000/- for a five-year course can be obtained.
• For medical courses within India, ₹2,50,000/- for 1 year and ₹12,50,000/- for 5 years can be obtained.
• For abroad studies, a maximum loan of ₹3,00,000/- for 1 year and ₹15,00,000/- for 5 years is provided.
• The annual interest rate on this loan is 3%.
• Note 1: If the applicant’s annual family income is up to ₹98,000 in rural areas or ₹1,20,000 in urban areas, the loan is provided at a concessional interest rate of 3% per annum.
• Note 2: According to the National Corporation's Credit Line-2, for families with an income of ₹1,20,000/- up to ₹8,00,000, the interest rate is 5% for female students and 8% for male students.
• Note 3: The loan and interest amount is to be repaid in 60 equal monthly installments within five years from the date of completion of studies or from the date of getting a job, whichever is earlier.
• Note 4: Penalty interest at the rate of 2% is payable on delayed payments.

What to prepare

Documents required

The paperwork starts with identity numbers rather than certificates. The eligibility form wants the Aadhaar numbers of the student and of a co-applicant, the student's guardian, entered as "સહ-અરજદારનું પૂરેપૂરું નામ (વિધાર્થીના વાલીનું નામ)", together with a mobile number, and it instructs "દરેક માહિતી અંગ્રેજીમાં ભરવી", that every detail be filled in English (GMFDC portal, eligibility form).

Beyond the record's list, the portal note asks for the admission letter, receipts for the admission and tuition fees, the hostel fee receipt if the student lives in a hostel, and, for study abroad, copies of the passport, visa and air ticket (GMFDC portal, form-filling note). A photograph and a signature are uploaded separately at the end (GMFDC portal, how to apply).

Step by step

How to apply

GMFDC takes the application on gmfdconline.gujarat.gov.in, whose home page asks for Google Chrome on a desktop or laptop (GMFDC loan portal). It takes an education-loan applicant through an eligibility form before the scheme form, in this order:

1. Fill the eligibility form as a new applicant; a returning applicant retrieves it with the Aadhaar number and date of birth (GMFDC portal, eligibility check).
2. From the scheme list, choose the education loan, which the portal names "ઉચ્ચ અભ્યાસ માટે ધિરાણ", credit for higher studies (GMFDC portal, schemes).
3. Fill the form, submit it and keep the confirmation number it gives.
4. To correct anything, enter the scheme, the confirmation number and the date of birth, and verify the OTP.
5. Upload the documents, then the photograph and signature.
6. Confirm the application and print the confirmed copy (GMFDC portal, how to apply).

Looking Up a File on gmfdconline

Every lookup on gmfdconline asks for the student's date of birth. With the scheme and the confirmation number issued at submission, it opens the file's status (GMFDC portal, application status); with the scheme and the registered mobile number, it recovers a forgotten application number, and the education loan is one of the schemes that recovery page serves (GMFDC portal, find application number).

Once a loan is running, Loan A/C Status wants all three together, the application or account number, the date of birth and the mobile number, and the home page's Quick Pay link takes the repayment instalments (GMFDC portal, loan account status; GMFDC loan portal). Keep clear of Disable Application, which withdraws an application on the application number, Aadhaar number and date of birth (GMFDC portal, disable application).

How winners are picked

Selection process

GMFDC publishes no merit list or scoring rule. Sanction comes in two stages, approval in principle and then documentation, and the security is taken only at the second (GMFDC portal, form-filling note). The one stated preference is on the older printed form, which gives priority to women and to applicants with disabilities (GMFDC, education loan application form), in line with NMDFC's own preference for women (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Repayment starts after a gap, not on the day the course ends. GMFDC's scheme page provides "લોન શિક્ષણ પૂર્ણ થયાના ૬ માસ પછી ૬૦ સરખા માસિક હપ્‍તામાં નિગમને પરત ભરપાઇ કરવાની જોગવાઇ છે", repayment to the corporation in sixty equal monthly instalments starting six months after the studies are completed (GMFDC, higher education loan scheme). NMDFC sets the same shape, a moratorium of six months after the course or after getting a job, whichever is earlier, and five years to repay (NMDFC, Education Loan Scheme). The record's benefits line counts the five years from the end of studies or the job, so read it with that six-month gap in mind.

The debt is the family's as well as the student's. The parent or guardian signs as co-borrower and, by the older printed form, is as liable as the student for repaying it (GMFDC, education loan application form). The same form makes the whole loan, with interest, payable at once if the student leaves the course partway.

The security itself is settled after in-principle sanction. At documentation, the portal note has the student and guardian hand over post-dated cheques drawn on their joint account at a nationalised bank, and it ties the guarantors required to the amount sanctioned, from options the sanction order lists (GMFDC portal, form-filling note).

Get help

Contact

GMFDC's head office is at Block No. 11, 2nd Floor, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, "ગાંધીનગર, ગુજરાત-૩૮૨૦૧૦", as its contact page prints it; the numbers there are +91 79 23253759 and 23254583, with fax +91 79 23257045 and email md-gmfdcl@gujarat.gov.in. The footer of the same page prints the first number as +91 79 23253757, ending in 7 rather than 9, so try both if one does not connect (GMFDC, contact).

The portal gives 079-23254583, the second number on the contact page, as its administrative helpline, and its helplines answer on government working days between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm and between 3:00 pm and 5:30 pm (GMFDC loan portal; GMFDC, contact).

Outside Gandhinagar, GMFDC works through the state's Developing Castes offices. Its district-manager list for minority borrowers runs from the District Deputy Director's office on the first floor of E-Block, Bahumali Bhavan, in Ahmedabad's Asarva to the District Social Welfare Officers (Developing Castes) in districts such as Mehsana and Anand, each with an address and phone number (GMFDC, district managers).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

Explore more

Related scholarships

References

Sources