IITs to Channel up to 25% of the Govt Loan for Higher Education Institutes
- IITs will get the largest part of the development loan from HEFA for the development of infrastructure.
- All centrally funded institutes will get loans under the new model i.e. Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE).
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will get the major portion of the loan reserved by the government for higher education institutes according to the latest budget. This loan will be passed under the new funding model introduced for central funded institutes (CFIs) i.e. Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE).
According to RISE, all CFIs i.e. IITs, IIMs, IISERs as well as NITs can loan funds from a Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over the next four years. This loan will be granted to the institutes to develop infrastructure and other elements necessary for growth. From this amount, the largest sum has been reserved for the 23 IITs. i.e. Rs 25,000 crore. Following are the details of the loans that different institutes can take from the government.
Loan Amount Allocated for Higher Education Institutes:
Institutes | Loan Amount |
IITs | 25,000 crore |
Central Universities | 20,000 crore |
NITs | 11,300 crore |
Institutes of Eminence | 10,000 crore |
IISERs | 5,000 crore |
IIMs (6 new) | 4,500 crore |
IIITs (established in PPP mode) | 3,000 crore |
IIITs (established by the government) | 2,000 crore |
Language Institutes | 1,000 crore |
Other Centrally Funded Institutes | 1,700 crore |
Schools of Planning and Architecture | 1,500 crore |
New Institutes (unforeseen) | 6,000 crore |
Research Promotion | 9,000 crore |
Total | 1,00,000 crore |
RISE has been introduced in order to provide financial support for infrastructure development at CFIs through the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA). Till 2017, CFIs were given education grants of up to Rs. 10,000 crore per year for infrastructure development. Government officials have stated that moving from grant assistance to loans will ensure more funds, increased accountability and completion of projects in the required timeframe.
Canara Bank has partnered with the government to get the HEFA running and functional in order to mobilise funds worth Rs. 1,00,000 crore to grant loans. For this HEFA will require an equity of Rs 10,000 crore. Of this the government will provide Rs 8,500 crore and the remaining will be provided by the Canara Bank. However, the HRD Ministry is yet to get an approval from the Union Cabinet’s approval in order to provide government’s share of the HEFA equity.
Also Read:Govt. Agreement may hold IITs Accountable to Get Funds
Loans taken by the institutes from HEFA, under the RISE programme, will be paid back within the duration of 10 years. Loan repayment modes will differ on the basis of internal revenue of the institutes.