15 IIITs declared as institutes of national importance

Bill provides for establishment of institutes through private-public partnership

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a bill to declare 15 IIITs set up through public-private partnership mode as "institutions of national importance" as well as to set up such institutes through collaboration.

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Bill, 2017, provides for establishment of these institutes through partnership among the Centre, the state governments concerned and industry partners, which could be individuals, trusts, companies, or societies.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in April.

In order to establish such an institute, the state government will identify at least one industry partner for collaboration and submit a proposal to the Centre.

The capital investment for establishing the proposed institute will be borne by the Centre, the state concerned and industry partners in the 50:35:15 ratio, respectively.

The infrastructure (water, electricity, roads) and land (50 to 100 acres) would be provided by the state government free of cost.

The industry partner will have liberty to co-create study programmes as per the industry requirements, actively participate in the institutes' governanace as also fund and mentor start-ups in the institution.