Government To Provide Rs 2000 crore Interest-Free Loans To Five IITs and One NIT

With the motive of encouraging research in higher education institutes, the government has decided to help the institutions with some loan-free funding for supporting the infrastructure. The institutions which will receive funding are IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and NIT Suratkal.

The central government's Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has approved interest- free loan of more than Rs 2,000 crore for research projects proposed by five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and one National Institute of Technology (NIT).

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said through his twitter handle, "HEFA Board approves Rs 2,066.73 crore interest-free loans to 6 institutions. Today is a historic day for financing needs and promotion of #research & #innovation beyond budgetary allocations."

"While Rs 1028.73 crore has been sanctioned for research and academic facilities, Rs 1,038 crore has been approved for other supporting infrastructure," a senior HRD ministry official said.

The Union Cabinet had approved HEFA in September last year as a special purpose vehicle with Canara Bank. It would be jointly funded by the promoter/bank and HRD ministry. According to the funding mechanism, an institution can claim 10 times the sum it escrows in the first year.

"Approved institutions can avail the sanctioned amount as per the progress of the project and complete them expeditiously. The funding under HEFA would be in addition to the grants already given to the institutions," the official said.

According to the scheme, HEFA would mobilise Rs 20,000 crore through market borrowing and would release the money to government institutions as interest-free loans.

Rajguru Tandon

BW Reporters The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.