20 new IIITs to come up under public private partnership

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the setting up of 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) on a public private partnership (PPP) model with an outlay of over Rs 2,800 crore.

The proposal is for the capital cost of each IIIT – about Rs 128 crore – to be shared by the central government, state government and private players at 50, 35 and 15 percent respectively. For north-eastern states, the ration will be 57.5, 35 and 7.5 percent respectively.

In addition, Rs 50 crore will be provided by the central government for faculty development programme for the faculty of new IIITs as well as existing IIlTs and IISERs (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research), a government release said.

During the first four years of setting up each IIIT, the Centre will provide partial support towards the recurring expenditure upto Rs 10 crore to each IIIT depending upon actual requirement of the institute.

According to the proposals, the concerned state government will provide 50-100 acres of land for each IIIT, free of cost.

The project shall start from the next fiscal year with setting up of 5-10 IIITs depending upon the response of the state governments and private partners, the release said.

Each IIIT shall meet its operating expenditure on its own within 5 years of commencement out of students fees, research and other internal accruals.