Loans to Tribal Students for Higher Studies Abroad(LTSHSA)

Overview

About LTSHSA

Gujarat does not ask a Scheduled Tribe family what it earns before lending for a degree abroad. Under Loans to Tribal Students for Higher Studies Abroad, the Gujarat Tribal Development Corporation (GTDC), the lending arm of the state's Tribal Development Department, funds up to Rs 15.00 lakh of a foreign course at 4% interest. Nothing is repaid while the student studies, but every rupee comes back afterwards, so this is a debt to plan around, not free money.

GTDC's own scheme page names the loan "વિદેશમાં ઉચ્ચ અભ્યાસ અર્થે લોન (બીસીકે-૧૩૬)", a loan for higher study abroad that the state government transferred to the corporation to run, and it states that no income limit is applied. The corporation's FAQ page puts the loan for studying in foreign countries at Rs 15.00 lakh at 4% interest, and the scheme page caps it at the cost of the course where that is lower.

The corporation's scheme booklet gives the reason the loan exists: tribal households in weak financial shape struggle to borrow from banks and other lenders at the high interest those charge, and the loan is meant to let a tribal student reach higher study abroad and stand on their own feet (GTDC scheme booklet). It is built for a Gujarat ST student who already holds a foreign admission and would otherwise be paying a bank's rate.

The loan is being paid out, in stages. GTDC's annual report for 2023-2024 counts 48 borrowers paid a first instalment and 23 paid a second under the foreign-study column, Rs 641.50 lakh in all (GTDC Annual Report 2023-2024). The 2024-2025 report prints the same column totals as "૨૨", "૩૫" and "૫૦૧.૦૦" lakh, that is, twenty-two first instalments, thirty-five second instalments and just over five crore rupees (GTDC Annual Report 2024-2025).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

GTDC announces no application window or last date for this loan, and neither its scheme page nor its booklet carries one. The date that drives the timeline is on your admission letter: the proposal can only be made once the admission exists, and it has to clear the local office's recommendation before the corporation decides, so file as soon as the admission is confirmed.

The second date to plan for is repayment. The scheme page says the loan is repaid "કુલ-૬૦ હપ્તામાં", sixty instalments in total, starting six months after the student completes the course (GTDC scheme page).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

myScheme's conditions are the headline test, and GTDC's own pages add three details to them.

• Proof of tribe. The booklet asks for the certificate of tribal status issued through the Assistant Commissioner (Vigilance) (GTDC scheme booklet).
• Admission comes first. The scheme page describes eligible students as those who "have obtained" admission at a foreign university, so a proposal made on the hope of an offer does not qualify (GTDC scheme page).
• "Special merit" is not defined. The page asks for special merit at matriculation, higher secondary or ISC level but sets no percentage, so ask the office that will forward your proposal how it reads your marksheet before filing.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

myScheme publishes no exclusion list for this loan, but GTDC's own pages bear on two cases.

A student who takes GTDC's separate 6% interest subsidy on a bank loan for study abroad cannot also take this loan: the subsidy page says a beneficiary gets only one of the two schemes (GTDC interest subsidy page).

The loan page speaks only of educated tribal young men and women living in Gujarat, and says nothing about a student whose ST certificate was issued by another state. The subsidy scheme's page does: ST people of other states get no benefit under that scheme (GTDC interest subsidy page). A student holding an out-of-state ST certificate should put the question to GTDC before filing.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

There is nothing to renew each year. GTDC sanctions one loan and releases it in parts, which is why its annual reports count borrowers paid a first instalment separately from those paid a second (GTDC Annual Report 2023-2024). The corporation does not publish what releases the later instalment, so keep the fee receipts the application already asks for and confirm the requirement with the office that forwarded the proposal before the next fee falls due.

What you get

Award & benefits

The ceiling is what limits the loan in practice. The scheme page words it as "રુ. ૧૫.૦૦ લાખ અથવા તાલીમનો જે ખર્ચ થાય તે બે માંથી જે ઓછુ હોય તે", fifteen lakh rupees or the cost of the training, whichever is less (GTDC scheme page). Anything a course costs above that has to come from somewhere else, and the corporation's other study-abroad route, the bank-loan interest subsidy, cannot be stacked on top of this loan.

• Monetary Benefit: Loan of up to ₹15,00,000 or the actual cost of study/training abroad, whichever is lower.
• Interest Rate: Penalty Interest: 5% per annum for late repayment.
• Beneficiary Contribution: No contribution is required from the beneficiary.
• Repayment Terms: Repayment to be made in 60 monthly installments.
• Repayment starts 6 months after completion of studies.
• Early repayment is permitted.

What to prepare

Documents required

myScheme's document list covers certificates and marksheets. What it leaves out is the loan paperwork. GTDC's forms page carries the set its loans are signed on: a consent form from the co-owners of the applicant's and the guarantors' property ("અરજદાર અને જામીનદાર-૧ અને ૨ ના સહભાગીદારોના સંમતિપત્રક"), the applicant's affidavit, a loan deed (કરજખત) and a mortgage deed (ગીરોખત) (GTDC forms and downloads).

The consent form identifies the land by its account and survey number, the same details a 7/12 extract records, and the consent form and the loan deed are each headed with an instruction to notarise them on stamp paper of "૩૦૦" rupees (three hundred) (GTDC consent form, GTDC loan deed). The forms page does not tie each document to one scheme, so confirm the exact set for a foreign-study proposal with the office that will forward it.

Step by step

How to apply

The loan runs through GTDC, and the proposal travels through a local office before it reaches Gandhinagar.

1. Secure the foreign admission and keep the admission proof ready, since eligibility depends on it (GTDC scheme page).
2. Register on GTDC's loan proposal portal, log in, and file the proposal under "વિદેશ અભ્યાસ" (foreign study) with "દરખાસ્ત કરો" (submit proposal).
3. If you live in a tribal sub-plan area, the proposal goes with the recommendation of that area's Project Administrator. Outside those areas it goes through the Vigilance Officer's office, which the booklet names as the Assistant Commissioner (Tribal) (GTDC scheme booklet).

The booklet also lists where a paper form can be collected: the Project Administrator's office for the tribal area, the corporation itself, or the corporation's website.

The e-Samaj Kalyan portal of the Social Justice & Empowerment Department carries notices for Gujarat's other foreign-study loans, such as the EBC loan and the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar loan. This loan belongs to the Tribal Development Department and is proposed on GTDC's portal, not there.

Tracking the proposal. GTDC's portal describes itself as the place where beneficiaries make loan proposals and manage their loan account with the department, and its login page offers registered applicants a status tracker ("દરખાસ્તની સ્થિતિને ટ્રેક કરો"). For anything the tracker does not show, the corporation's FAQ page names the Deputy Manager (Loans) at its Gandhinagar head office as the officer to approach about its schemes.

How winners are picked

Selection process

GTDC publishes no merit list, cut-off or yearly quota for this loan. A proposal that meets the eligibility test reaches Gandhinagar with the Project Administrator's or the Vigilance office's recommendation, and the sanction itself is the corporation's: GTDC's mortgage deed records each loan against the date and number of the resolution by which its board of directors or standing committee approved it (GTDC mortgage deed).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

GTDC's standard loan deed makes the borrower liable, from the date of any default, for interest and penal interest at the rate fixed in the conditions of the sanction order (GTDC loan deed). Its mortgage deed lets the corporation levy principal, interest, penal interest and other costs at rates it decides if instalments are not paid, and lets it demand the whole outstanding sum at once when it finds recovery necessary, even after instalments or an extension have been granted (GTDC mortgage deed).

Neither the scheme page nor the corporation's FAQ page prints a penal rate, so the rate that binds a borrower is the one written into the sanction order (GTDC scheme page, GTDC FAQs).

Get help

Contact

The Gujarat Tribal Development Corporation sits at Birsa Munda Bhavan, Sector 10-A, Gandhinagar. Its contact page shows the phone numbers +91 79 23253887 and 23253893, office hours of 10:30am to 06:00pm and the email ed-gtdc@gujarat.gov.in, written there as "ed-gtdc[at]gujarat[dot]gov[dot]in" (GTDC contact page). The claim form for GTDC's bank-loan subsidy gives dm.loan.gtdc@gujarat.gov.in as the address for loan matters (GTDC subsidy form).

Locally, GTDC works through the Project Administrator's offices, where it posts an assistant manager and a clerk: Palanpur, Khedbrahma, Modasa, Lunawada, Godhra, Dahod, Chhota Udepur, Rajpipla, Bharuch, Mandvi, Songadh, Vansda, Valsad and Dang. Outside tribal areas its work runs through the Vigilance Officer (Tribal) (GTDC introduction page).

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.

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References

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