Setting up of 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) with Public Private Partnership (PPP)

The Union Cabinet today approved the setting up of 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) with a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with an outlay of ` 2808.71 crore (` 2558.71 crore for non recurring, ` 200 crore for recurring expenditure and ` 50.00 crore for faculty development expenditure). The proposal includes: 

• The capital cost of each IIIT will be ` 128.00 crore to be contributed in the ratio of 50: 35: 15 by the Central Govt, the State Govt, and the industry respectively (57.5 : 35: 7.5 in case of North-Eastern region). In addition, ` 50.00 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. During the first four years of setting up each IIIT, the Central Government will provide partial support towards the recurring expenditure upto ` 10 crore to each IIIT depending upon actual requirement of IIIT. 

• The project shall start from the financial year 2011-12 with setting up 5-10 IIITs depending upon the response of the State Governments and private partners. 

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

• The concerned State Government will provide 50-100 acres of land, free of cost. 

• The Governing Board of IIIT will be empowered in the matters relating to student intake, fee structure, faculty/non faculty salaries, creation of faculty and non faculty positions, recruitment norms etc

• In principle approval for introducing the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Act, 2010 for setting up new IIITs and declaring them as Institutes of National Importance. Since this process is time consuming, the IIITs may, initially, be registered as Societies under the Societies Registration Act 1860. 

• To put in place a tripartite MoU document spelling out the role and responsibilities of private partners vis-a-vis that of the Government. • To work out the modalities and detailed plan for the faculty development for new IIITs as well as existing IIITs and IISERs in consultation with the Ministry of Finance. 

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITs) will be world-class Institutes and will be set up as autonomous institutes based on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Each Institute is meant to specialize in application of IT skills in one or more domain areas. One of the important criteria for setting up IIIT in a State will be availability of 50-100 acres of contiguous land or a minimum of 50 acres of land, with additional land available at another site in the State, which shall be made available, free of cost, for the establishment of the Institute. Initial capital for establishment of the Institute shall be contributed by the Central, State Governments concerned and industry.

The new IIITs will produce world-class high quality technical personnel, which will generate manpower for emerging industries, science departments and laboratories. This will, in turn contribute to the development of industries and finally boost the economic growth of the country. IIITs will develop professional expertise and skilled manpower in IT and its applications to certain domain areas.