Visas to job risks: US woes hit education loan cos – Times of India
MUMBAI: India’s education loan companies are facing collateral damage from the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants. With the US accounting for 50-75% of the education loan disbursements, lenders are facing a business slowdown as students rethink their America plans.
Lenders are also implementing stringent assessment checks to process US education loans, preferring strong profiles and top-tier universities amid mounting concerns over borrowers’ ability to repay loans given the political situation and risk of a hiring slowdown in the US due to tariff-led recession fears. This, in a way, is shrinking their pool of US candidates, impacting business. Apart from banks, a growing crop of NBFCs, new-age financial and study abroad platforms, including players like Credila, Avanse Financial Services, and InCred Finance, operate in the higher education lending space in India.
For some firms like InCred Finance, enquiries and applications for US loans have halved compared to last year. “The US business (industry-wide) is down by half already and will decline even more if the Trump administration’s anti-immigration and America First approach get strengthened further. If the OPT (optional practical training) and STEM OPT programmes are stopped, the demand for US courses will, in all likelihood, significantly dwindle,” Nilanjan Chattoraj, director, education loans at InCred Finance, told TOI.
While the demand to study in other countries like the UK, Australia, and Canada will provide some cushion to firms, they are, in the interim (for existing US loans), preparing to resort to regulatory models that allow them the flexibility to restructure loans and recover payments, given the threat of many students having to come back without completing studies and getting jobs, said industry executives. “RBI does allow certain flexibility in restructuring such accounts.We have the regulatory models in place. As of now, only 1-2% of students required it, but that is expected to now jump to 5%. It is going to be tricky,” said Chattoraj.
Loans for the US are still being granted, but approval rates have tightened for US-bound applicants, said Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and CEO at Leverage, which partners with banks and NBFCs to provide education loans. “Lenders are factoring in perceived immigration risks and ROI (return on investment) uncertainty. We are also seeing a spike in queries about transfer options (credits transfer to a different university in a different destination) and backup plans,” Chaturvedi said, adding that interest in studying in the US has not collapsed, but students are being more cautious.
A report by Associated Press said that, in the US, at least 901 students (overall from across countries) at 128 colleges and universities had their visas revoked or legal status terminated since mid-March. International student enrolments in the US fell by 11% between March 2024 and 2025, with Indian enrolments dropping by 28% during the period, said Sonal Kapoor, global chief business officer at London-based Prodigy Finance, citing data from market intelligence firm ICEF Monitor.Countries like the UK are emerging as alternatives for Indian students.
