Patna: The state government has developed a software to operate the students' credit card scheme through the Bihar state education finance corporation.

The scheme, which is part of chief minister Nitish Kumar's seven resolves for a developed Bihar, entails giving education loan of up to Rs 4 lakh to students at an interest rate of 4 per cent. In case of differently-abled, transgender and female students, the interest rate is just 1 per cent.

The state government was not satisfied with the attitude of commercial banks, which were supposed to provide the loans to deserving students with the state government in the role of guarantor, ad thus set up the state education finance corporation earlier this year to implement the scheme.

"The new software is likely to be put in use within a week," finance department secretary Rahul Singh told The Telegraph on Thursday. "It would help in processing the applications, sanctioning of loans, ledger making and record keeping."

For now, the education finance corporation would function with staff deputed from the finance department and the district registration and counselling centres (DRCCs) where students submit their applications for education loans.

For smooth functioning of the corporation, the state cabinet had sanctioned creation of 131 posts of different ranks. The regular appointment against the sanctioned posts will be made later.

Rahul said that the goal of getting the special software made was to expedite the process of application processing and quick disbursal of loans among deserving students on the one hand, and on the other, proper record keeping.

The goal of the students' credit card scheme, using which students can avail the education loan, is to enhance the gross enrolment ratio - the ratio of the number of students to those who qualify for the particular grade level - in Bihar. The gross enrolment ratio after Class XII in the state is a little over 14 per cent, whereas the national average is 24 per cent.