The government intends to set up twenty Indian Institutes of Information Technology, IIITs, through a not-for-profit public private partnership to address the challenges faced by the Indian IT industry and its growing needs.

The main aim of the programme is to set up models of education, which can produce best-in-class human resources in IT and harness the multi-dimensional facets of IT in various domains.

According to an official release by the ministry of Human Resource Development, the cost of each IIIT is estimated at 128 crore rupees.

The Central Government will contribute 50 per cent while 35 per cent will be given by the State governments and the rest 15 per cent will be borne by the industry.

In the North-Eastern states, the industry participation for capital expenditure will be kept at 7.5 per cent, Central government participation at 57.5 per cent and the state governments at 35 per cent.

The state governments will also provide 50 to 100 acres of land, free of cost. The project will be completed in a phased manner.