Yesterday i.e. 12 th September' 16 a meeting was held by the Union cabinet which was chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and in this meeting the need of good infrastructure for educational institutes was discussed. In the meeting, the Union cabinet decided to approve the establishment of HEFA which is Higher Education Financing Agency . The HEFA would be formed in a Government owned NBFC or a PSU bank as an SPV. The government will be giving HEFA up to Rs. 2,000 crores for building world-class laboratories at
- IITs
- IIMs
- NITs
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An official after the union cabinet meeting told the reporters that the HEFA will be given Rs. 2,000 crore and will be promoted by the following.
- MHRD i.e. Ministry of Human Resources Development
- Identified Promoter
HEFA will also be in charge of promoting research and innovative projects at Indian Institutes and the fund for it will come from PSUs or corporates. HEFA will offer a 10-year loan which would help finance the laboratory and civil infrastructure projects.
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The institutes will return the main or principal amount of the loan through the internal accruals i.e.
- Fee Receipt
- Research Earnings etc
The interest amount will be paid through the regular plan assistance. This secured future flows would be securitised by the HEFA for mobilising the funds from the market. Each member institution would be eligible for a credit limit as decided by HEFA based on the amount agreed to be escrowed from the internal accruals, the statement said.