New Delhi: Third generation Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) got a major leg-up with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing additional infrastructure to facilitate intake of an additional 6,500 undergraduate students over the next five years.
In her Union Budget speech Saturday, the finance minister announced that the hostel and other infrastructural capacity of IIT Patna would also be expanded.
“The total number of students in 23 IITs has increased by 100 percent from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh in the past 10 years. Additional infrastructure will be created in the five IITs started after 2014 to facilitate education for 6,500 more students,” Sitharaman said.
In 2024, the 23 IITs offered 17,740 seats across various courses and categories.
The five IITs established after the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014 were in Tirupati, Palakkad, Bhilai, Jammu, and Goa, apart from converting ISM Dhanbad into IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.
Officials said that the expansion of seats will happen in other five IITs, excluding IIT Goa.
Though many of these young IITs have experienced a steady growth, IIT Goa is yet to have a permanent campus. It has been operating from temporary facilities on the campus of Goa Engineering College in Farmagudi, since 2016. “IIT-Goa has not been included at this moment since it does not have a permanent campus,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Education.
Additionally, the government announced to provide 10,000 fellowships for tech research at IITs and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) over the next five years under the PM Research Fellowship Scheme.
Meanwhile, the government has increased budget allocation to support IITs to Rs 11,349 crore, which is 10 percent higher than the previous year’s budget estimate of Rs 10,324.5 crore and 8.4 percent higher than revised estimate of Rs 10,467.13 crore.
The overall budget for higher education has increased by 5 percent at Rs 50,077.95 crore from Rs 47,619.77 crore budget estimate and by 7.7 percent from Rs 46,482.35 crore in revised estimate, last year.
Speaking to the media, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan described the budget as one that addresses the needs of the 21st century. “This is a ‘Viksit Bharat’ budget, as it caters to the needs of everyone—from newborns to the youth of the country. It reflects Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to strengthening India’s human capital, making education more accessible, and fostering a culture of research and innovation,” he said.
“The boost in budget allocation is a welcome step. As new campuses are established, there’s always a need to expand them to meet growing demand. In fact, even the first-generation IITs should be given the opportunity to develop extension campuses, and for that, additional funds are essential,” Ramgopal Rao, former director of IIT Delhi and current group vice chancellor of BITS, told ThePrint.
IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee welcomed the increased budget for the IITs and the thrust on AI in education.
“This will enable IITs to grow and be responsive to creating future ready graduates and enhance cutting edge AI research. As part of the National SuperComputer (NSM) at IIT Delhi is installing a high end supercomputer in the Sonipat campus which should support AI research in the country with compute resources,” he told ThePrint.
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How new IITs have fared
The third generation of IITs was first announced by the Union government in the 2015 Budget. In May 2016, the Union cabinet approved a draft bill to convert the Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad into a full-fledged IIT.
Subsequently, in July 2016, the Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, where it was passed without any opposition. This bill facilitated the conversion of ISM Dhanbad into IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and also paved the way for the establishment of six new IITs, including in Dhanbad, Bhilai, Goa, Jammu, Palakkad, and Tirupati. The Rajya Sabha went on to pass the bill.
In 2024, IIT Bhilai provided the maximum seats at 283, followed closely by IIT Jammu at 280, IIT Tirupati 254, IIT Palakkad 200, and IIT Goa 157. Besides, IIT Dharwad offered 385 seats.
Between 2016 and 2024, several plots of land were allocated for the construction of IIT Goa’s permanent campus, but progress was said to have been hindered by bureaucratic challenges.
At present, the institute offers just four undergraduate programmes: Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Mathematics and Computing. In comparison, other young IITs also offer engineering courses in disciplines like civil and chemical, and others.
More importantly, these third generation IITs have yet to break into the top 50 engineering institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings. In 2024, IIT Palakkad was placed at 64th, IIT Tirupati at 61st, IIT Jammu at 62nd, and IIT Bhilai at 73rd. IIT Goa did not participate in the rankings, while IIT Dharwad was not ranked among the top 100 engineering institutions.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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