Kalinga Sikhya Sathi Yojana (KSSY)

What is Kalinga Sikhya Sathi Yojana?

Kalinga Sikhya Sathi Yojana, commonly written as KSSY and sometimes transliterated as Kalinga Sikshya Sathi Yojana, is the education-loan interest subvention scheme of the Higher Education Department, Government of Odisha. It is not a loan scheme in itself, the student borrows from a bank in the normal way, and the State Government pays the interest on that loan.

The Higher Education Department has run KSSY since 2017. Under the older terms, the subsidy was set so that the net interest payable by the student after the moratorium came to 1% per annum on education loans up to Rs 10 lakh for higher studies within India. Those are the figures still quoted on most third-party websites, and they are now out of date for new borrowers.

Notification No. 51396/HE dated 23 November 2023 revised the scheme. Under the revised guidelines KSSY provides 100% interest subsidy on education loans for higher studies within India and abroad, with the subsidy capped at a loan amount of Rs 15.00 lakh, and a repayment period not exceeding 15 years. The revised terms apply from financial year 2023-24 and cover fresh bank loans availed on or after 1 April 2023. Loans disbursed before that date continue under the previous criteria.

How much does KSSY actually save a student?

• Interest rate borne by the student: nil. The Government of Odisha bears the interest payable both during the moratorium period and after it. The student pays only the EMIs on the principal.
• Ceiling on the subsidised loan: Rs 15.00 lakh. If the bank sanctions more than Rs 15 lakh, the interest subsidy is calculated on Rs 15 lakh only, and the student carries the interest on the excess.
• Moratorium: course period plus one year. No EMI falls due during the moratorium.
• Repayment tenure: restricted to 15 years in total, and the loan account must remain 'standard'.
• Once in a lifetime. The subsidy is admissible only once, for an undergraduate course, or a postgraduate course, or an integrated course.

Where parental income is up to Rs 4.5 lakh a year, the interest claim during the moratorium is met under the Central Sector Interest Subsidy (CSIS) scheme and KSSY takes over afterwards. Where parental income is between Rs 4.5 lakh and Rs 8.0 lakh, the entire claim is made under KSSY.

Who is eligible for Kalinga Sikhya Sathi Yojana?

A student can claim KSSY interest subsidy if:

• The student is a resident of Odisha. The residential certificate must be issued by a Revenue Officer not below the rank of Additional Tahasildar.
• Family income is up to Rs 8.00 lakh per annum from all sources.
• The student has secured admission to a higher-education course in a recognised institution in India or abroad.
• The student has availed an education loan from a scheduled bank under the CSIS or the Indian Banks' Association Education Loan Scheme.
• The claim is for the first and only time, for an undergraduate, postgraduate or integrated course.

A student is not eligible, or loses the subsidy, if:

• The course is discontinued midstream.
• The student is expelled from the institution on disciplinary or academic grounds.
• The student gives up Indian citizenship during the tenure of the loan.
• The loan was disbursed before 1 April 2023; such loans stay under the older criteria of the scheme rather than the 100% subsidy.
• The loan came from a lender that is not a scheduled bank, or is not under the CSIS/IBA education loan framework.

KSSY has no separate caste or category quota. It is open to any Odisha-resident student meeting the income and loan conditions.

What documents are required for KSSY?

How to apply for Kalinga Sikhya Sathi Yojana

1. Approach a scheduled bank of your choice and apply for an education loan under the CSIS or IBA Education Loan Scheme. Selection of the borrower, documentation and security against the loan follow the lending bank's own terms, the State Government does not sanction the loan.
2. Get the loan sanctioned and disbursed. For the revised 100% subsidy the loan must be a fresh loan availed on or after 1 April 2023.
3. Register on the Odisha State Scholarship Portal at scholarship.odisha.gov.in using your Aadhaar number and the mobile number linked to it, then log in with the user ID and password you receive.
4. Open the KSSY module on the portal and fill in your personal, academic, institutional, loan and bank details carefully, then upload the sanction letter, residential certificate, income certificate and admission letter.
5. Submit the application and keep the acknowledgement. Your claim then goes through three levels of verification — at your lending bank branch, at the Nodal Bank, and finally at the Higher Education Department.
6. Follow up with your lending bank branch, because it is the bank's sole responsibility to file the actual interest subsidy claim on your behalf every year through the Nodal Bank.

The detailed process flow is set out in the instruction manual published on scholarship.odisha.gov.in.

Which bank handles KSSY, and how the money moves

State Bank of India is the Nodal Bank for KSSY. Every scheduled bank in Odisha, as listed by the Reserve Bank of India, is expected to adopt the scheme and to display its terms and conditions inside the branch so that a student can be told about KSSY before taking the loan.

The subsidy never reaches the student's savings account. The Nodal Bank submits consolidated claims through the State Scholarship Portal, and the amount is credited directly into the education loan accounts of the beneficiaries in DBT mode. Regional Heads of the scheduled banks and of the Nodal Bank are given portal logins to validate student applications.

Key dates that decide whether your subsidy is paid

• 1 April 2023, the cut-off. Fresh loans on or after this date get the revised 100% subsidy; earlier loans stay on the older terms.
• 30 September each year, the Nodal Bank must submit that year's interest subsidy claim through the portal.
• 31 December. The outer limit. In exceptional cases, on the Nodal Bank's suggestion, a lending bank may be allowed to file by this date. No claim is entertained after 31 December for that year, and the Higher Education Department is not responsible for a delay caused by the bank.

This is the single most important practical point for a KSSY borrower: the deadline that matters is the bank's claim deadline, not a student application deadline. Check with your branch every year before September that your claim has been uploaded.

Common reasons a KSSY claim fails

• The lending bank did not file the claim by 30 September, or at all.
• Default beyond 90 days. The bank certifies whether you are a regular payer of EMIs. Where EMIs are unpaid for more than 90 days, the bank informs the department, seizes the loan account and the subsidy claim is not processed further.
• Residential certificate issued by an officer below Additional Tahasildar rank, which does not meet the guideline.
• Income above Rs 8.00 lakh on the certificate.
• Loan sanctioned before 1 April 2023 but claimed under the revised terms.
• A second claim after a subsidy already availed for another course.

A default corrected within the rules is recoverable: if a bad loan or NPA is regularised by repaying arrear interest and principal, the interest subsidy applies again from the date the account turns 'standard'.

Recovery and audit

Excess subsidy claimed by a bank and reported later has to be refunded to the subsidy account with 18% interest per annum for the period of delay, and officials authorised by the Higher Education Department can verify the veracity of any claim at any time. Banks file an undertaking and an auditor-certified statement of the subsidy amount along with each claim.

Help and grievance redressal

• Sanjog scholarship helpline: 155335 or toll-free 1800-345-6770
• Higher Education Department: 0674-2396550
• Portal and instruction manual: scholarship.odisha.gov.in
• First stop for a stalled claim: your lending bank branch, then the SBI Nodal Bank desk, then the Higher Education Department

Where any doubt arises on a provision of the notification, the guidelines state that the matter is referred to Government and the decision of the Higher Education Department is final.