Grant of Rs 100 crore each for institutions of excellence

Also, private FM radio services to be expanded to 294 more cities; postal network to be revamped

With an aim of providing support to institutions of excellence, Finance Minister P Chidambaram pledged a grant of Rs 100 crore each to Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

In his budget speech, the Finance Minister also proposed to expand private FM radio services to 294 more cities.

In a reference to Phase III expansion of FM Radio for which the Information and Broadcasting ministry is already working, Chidambaram said that about 839 new FM radio channels will be auctioned in 2013-14.

He said that after the auction, all cities having a population of more than 1,00,000 will be covered by private FM radio services.

In another important proposition, the Minister spoke of providing Rs 532 crore to modernise postal network as a result of which post offices will become part of the core banking solution and offer real time banking services.