Cabinet nod to expand 5 IITs’ infra
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved expansion of academic and infrastructure capacities of five new Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) established in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka.
These include IIT-Tirupati, IIT-Palakkad, IIT-Bhilai, IIT-Jammu and IIT-Dharwad. The total cost for the proposed expansion has been pegged at Rs 11,828.79 crore over a period of four years from 2025-26 to 2028-29, an official statement said.
The Cabinet has also approved creation of 130 faculty posts (professor level) in the IlTs. Five new state-of-the-art research parks are also coming up to strengthen industry-academia linkage.
“Student strength in these IITs will be increased by more than 6,500 in the next four years with enhancement of 1,364 students in the first year, 1,738 students in the second year, 1,767 students in the third year and 1,707 students in the fourth year across under graduate (UG), post graduate (PG) and PhD programme put together,” the statement said.
On the completion of the construction, the five IITs will be able to cater to 13,687 students as against current strength of 7,111.
The Cabinet has also approved a national scheme for Industrial Training Institute (ITI) upgradation and the setting up of five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling as a Centrally sponsored scheme. The scheme would focus on upgradation of a 1,000 government ITIs in hub and spoke arrangement with industry aligned revamped trades, said the statement.
Over a five-year period, 20 lakh youth would get skill training through courses that address the human capital needs of industries, the statement said. The scheme will focus on ensuring alignment between local workforce supply and industry demand, thereby facilitating industries, including MSMEs, in accessing employment-ready workers.
“For the first time, the scheme seeks to establish deep industry connections in planning and management of ITI upgradation on a sustained basis. The scheme will adopt an industry-led special purpose vehicle (SPV) model for an outcome-driven implementation strategy, making it distinct from previous efforts to improve the ITI ecosystem,” the government said.
India