Lowest Education Loan Interest Rates (October 2026)

Each starting rate was read from the bank's own website or rate document and dated; each row links to its source. A row marked "may be outdated" has not been re-checked for more than 45 days.

For loans a lower rate is better, so the list starts with the lowest. The starting rate is the best the bank offers, usually to borrowers with a high credit score; many people are offered more.

The EMI shown uses the starting rate for the amount and tenure you enter. Processing fees, insurance and other charges are not included; fees are shown in the bank's own words where it publishes them.

Many lenders publish several education-loan schemes (premier institutes, India, abroad, with or without collateral). Each lender's row shows its lowest published rate among the schemes that match your filters, and names that scheme. Rates that include a government subsidy and indicative policy ranges are not used as a starting rate.

Every row says who its rate is for. A rate only for institutes on the lender's list or in its rating categories, only for some courses (for example medical courses), only for a group of borrowers (for example wards of defence personnel), only with collateral, or whose eligibility the lender's page does not make clear ("check eligibility with the bank") stays in the ranking with that tag. The headline figures, one for study in India and one for study abroad, are the lowest rates open to all students; the lowest rate for listed institutes / specific courses is shown below each when it is lower.

A row marked "rates actually charged" is a disclosure of the lowest and highest rates the lender charged on loans in a period, not a starting rate; it is shown for reference and left out of the lowest and highest figures.

Finance companies (NBFCs) such as education-loan companies are shown with their lender type. The EMI here is the repayment after any moratorium; interest during the course and grace period is not included.

Interest keeps running during the course and the moratorium (usually the course plus 6 to 12 months), and most lenders add it to the loan if you do not pay it. Paying that simple interest while studying keeps the EMI lower; see the Education Loan EMI Calculator for the full cost.

Tax benefit: under the old tax regime, the whole interest paid on an education loan for yourself, your spouse or your children is deductible (old section 80E), with no upper limit, for up to 8 years from the year you start repaying. The new regime does not allow it. The loan must be from a bank or an approved financial institution.

Government help: the Central Sector Interest Subsidy scheme and PM-Vidyalaxmi (for students admitted to listed quality institutions) offer interest relief for lower-income families, and many banks lend up to ₹7.5 lakh without collateral under the government's credit guarantee scheme. Check eligibility on the Vidyalaxmi portal before you compare lenders.

Rates as of 21 October 2026.