October 14: Nepal Rastra Bank has issued a new circular instructing banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to provide concessional loans to graduate students of higher secondary level (Grade 12).

Concessional loans to the Grade 12 graduates is one of the nine different heads under which the central bank has been providing such loans. Under this heading, the graduate students of higher secondary level can avail up to Rs 500,000 at 5 percent interest rate for the Youth Self Employment Scheme.

The new provision was implemented from Tuesday (October 13) after the central bank amended the Concessional Loan Work Procedure 2075. The Council of Ministers had approved the third amendment to the work procedure on September 24.

Now, the students who have passed Grade 12 can apply for the concessional loan from BFIs. In order to avail such loan, the applicant students need to have mandatorily acquired certificate of technical skill from state-run skill development training centres, Cottage and Small Scale Industry, CTEVT among others. The students must have at least seven days of training before they become eligible for the loan. They also need to submit a brief proposal for the operation of business and utilization of the fund in order to obtain the loan amount.