NIFT to be funded on IIT-IIM model

CABINET DECIDES

The National Institute of Fashion Technology will now be funded on the pattern of the institutions like the IITs and IIMs.

Approving this today, the Union Cabinet cleared setting up of a full-fledged NIFT centre at Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

In January this year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had cleared an extension centre of NIFT at Rae Bareli, which was expected to ease pressure on the existing NIFT centre in Delhi and minimise the regional mismatch between number of seats and applicants.

"The Rae Bareli centre will be the first one in a backward region of the country," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters today.

With the latest Cabinet decision, the extension centre, set up at a cost of Rs 20 crore will get upgraded.

Chidambaram said the new NIFT centre would make available additional seats, once reservations for OBC candidates are implemented.

The institute will now be funded on the lines of IITs and IIMs through the block grant scheme. The new funding pattern will come into effect from this financial year.

"This will provide further functional and financial autonomy to NIFT and will encourage it to generate more internal resources, promote innovation and result in an overall improvement in the standard of education and research," he said.