According to latest data with the state finance department, banks in Bihar advanced education loans worth Rs 470 crore to 20,400 and odd students for admission to technical institutes in India and abroad this fiscal year till December 2008. "By the time the financial year ends, the number of beneficiaries may cross 25,000 mark and the loan amount could reach around Rs 550 crore," said a senior finance department official.

That the scenario has bettered can be assessed from the fact that the banks during 2006-07 financed only 6,328 students with about Rs 174 crore. In 2007-08, the loan amount increased to Rs 281 crore for 10,244 students.

The banks have also doubled the number of loans given to students going abroad for studies. In 2007-08, only 42 such students got loan as against 100 this fiscal year so far.

The performance of some of the banks has been quite impressive. State Bank of India gave away over Rs 170 crore to 8,768 students this year so far as against about Rs 75.5 crore to 2,456 students during the financial year 2007-08.

Similarly, Allahabad Bank, which advanced about Rs 18 crore to 731 beneficiaries in 2007-08, has during the current financial year already financed almost 3,000 students with almost Rs 57 crore. Even rural banks have been faring better, the finance official said.

The feel-good change has come after a lot of persuasion and constant monitoring by the state government, state finance officials said, pointing out that petitions received at the Janata Ke Darbar Mein CM and the cell of deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi were forwarded to banks and pressure was applied on the banks not to ask for security for loans up to Rs 4 lakh.

"After all this, however, we are still flooded with students' petitions against banks alleging they were denied education loans on trivial grounds," said the official.