Funding crisis, dismal placements, gender disparity: Is the IIIT experiment failing?

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) were established in the 1990s to meet the workforce demands during the information technology (IT) sector boom. While the government of India created five IIITs, the 11th five year plan (2007 to 2012) saw 20 additional institutes emerge in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Despite the growth spurt, the institutes now face challenges, including inadequate funding, heavy reliance on student fees and delayed construction of permanent campuses.

While gender representation remains skewed at these institutes, global market forces have also affected placements. However, some of them claim this year has been better.

A recent parliamentary panel report, headed by Congress member of parliament (MP) Digvijaya Singh, said that the “PPP model of the IIITs has not been entirely successful”. The panel recommended that “a one-time fund infusion may be provided to IIITs (PPP) to cater to the capital expansion in these institutions. The committee therefore reiterates that the financing of higher education must continue to be primarily driven by the government.”

Central govt-established IIITs

The central government had established five IIITs – at Allahabad, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Kancheepuram and Kurnool – aiming to provide undergraduate, postgraduate as well as PhD education. The IIIT at Gwalior is for IT in management. The IIITs at Jabalpur, Kancheepuram and Kurnool are for IT in design as well as manufacturing. The parliamentary panel highlighted recruitment problems at these institutes.

At IITDM Jabalpur, where sanctioned strength increased from 84 to 204 in 2021, recruitment was stalled for nearly two years due to the absence of a regular director. IIIT Allahabad, which received deemed university status in 2000, 116 new faculty positions were created towards the end of 2023.

“Thereafter, for some administrative reason, the institute could not proceed with the recruitment process. The process would also be hindered by the fact that the institute does not have a chairperson, Board of Governors (BoG), in place, as the BoG is the approving/appointing authority,” the report stated.

The Union Budget 2025-26 allocated Rs 397 crore to these institutes – an increase from Rs 350.67 crore in the 2024-25 revised estimate. An additional Rs 10 crore was allocated for repayment of principal and interest of Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) loans.

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International Institutes of Information Technology

IIIT Bangalore and IIIT Hyderabad, established in 1995, have evolved into International Institutes of Information Technology. In 2005, the IIIT-B received “deemed university” status from the University Grants Commission (UGC). These institutes are no longer listed among IIITs on the ministry of education website.

Debabrata Das, director of IIIT-B, said, “We are free from government and industry in terms of funding. We have hence focussed on research, innovation and generated funds by ourselves to run the show and also it is not for profit. It is run by a board of eminent members – with equal ⅓ representation from industry, academia and government.”

These institutes primarily fund operations through fees, research and industry collaboration via CSR funds. In February this year, the Karnataka cabinet approved an expansion and upgrade of IIIT-B with a total budget of Rs 817 crore over the next eight years.

“The state government will contribute Rs 285 crore towards this initiative. An additional Rs 532 crore will be sourced from IIIT-B’s internal resources and corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions from various companies,” stated the institute's social media handle.

Like other IIITs, admission in these two institutes are through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main.

IIITs’ PPP model

The PPP-model IIITs were structured to receive approximately 50% funding from the central government, 35% from the state government and 15% from the industry partners. Industry participation varies across institutes – some have a single partner while others have multiple collaborators.

For instance, IIIT Bhagalpur partners with BELTRON (Bihar state Electronics Development Corporation Pvt Ltd) while in case of IIIT Vadodara, Gujarat, the 15% is divided equally between Tata Consultancy Services, Gujarat State Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited and Gujarat Energy Research and Management. At IIIT Manipur, the central government contributes 57.5%, state government 35% and Manipur State IT SEZ Development Company the remaining 7.5%.

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The parliamentary panel noted, “From the ministry’s data it is clearly evident that industry funding received by the IIITs is largely meagre, with most IIITs receiving zero funds from industry in most years. In total, over 6 years, 20 IIITs received Rs 81.24 crore in industry – an average of Rs 0.67 crore per institute per year. The committee notes that by virtue of being instituted on the PPP model, these institutes also don’t receive funding from the central government, beyond the establishment costs and the Rs 10 crore grant given to IIITs in their first year for operational costs.”

The 2025-26 budget allocated Rs 115.20 crore for setting up IIIT under PPP mode. While the 2024-25 budget estimate was Rs 200 crores, the revised estimate showed just Rs 87.67 crore.

A look at the 2023-2024 annual account report of IIIT Bhagalpur showed Rs 38 crore from the central government but nothing from state and industry partners in the 2022-23 academic year.

Similarly IIIT Sri City Chittor’s account report for financial year 2022-23 said, “Accordingly, an amount of Rs 98.87 crore was received and an amount of Rs 29.13 crore is still to be received from the state government and industry partner. Further, it was stipulated that an additional financial assistance of Rs 50 crore for faculty development programmes would be provided (in addition to the capital cost of Rs128 crore per IIIT) by the central government for all 20 IIITs. However, the grant of Rs 2.50 crore (Rs 50 crore for 20 IIITs) was not received by the institute from the ministry”.

IIIT Sri City was set up in 2013 by the Government of India along with Government of Andhra Pradesh and industry partners represented by Sri City Foundation.

The parliamentary panel stated, “Fourteen of the 20 IIITs (PPP) still haven't received full funding from state governments or industry partners. Although recently included in the HEFA scheme, they must repay the full principal and interest, which is difficult given their reliance on student fees for revenue.”

IIIT Vadodara, Sri City campuses

Many IIITs continue to operate from temporary facilities as permanent campuses remain under construction. The panel had also raised concerns about the construction burden on these institutes

“The contracting of CPWD for construction often involves higher costs. However, these IIITs receive none of the support that other technical government HEIs do. Since their inception, IIITs have faced issues that hinder their ability to achieve their goals, including delays in land allocation, poor geographical locations, and lack of funds, infrastructure, and quality faculty.

The approved capital cost for construction in 2010 has not been adjusted for inflation, affecting IIITs where land allocation or campus construction has been delayed for reasons beyond their control,” the report stated.

For instance, IIIT Vadodara – established in 2013 and declared an institute of national importance in 2017 – has stated in its 2023 annual report that the tender for phase 1A construction was published by CPWD on June 21, 2023. The institute was allotted an additional gross land area of 12.5 acres.

IIIT Sri City which came up in 2013, moved to its new campus in 2018. Currently, IIIT Bhopal is operating temporarily from the campus of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal.

“However, approximately 60 acres of land has been identified in Bhopal for setting up the institute's permanent campus,” stated the website. It was established in 2017.

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Gender disparity

Gender representation remains skewed across all IIITs regardless of their funding pattern. At both IIIT Vadodara and Diu campuses, out of the total 320 admitted in 2022, 267 were male and only 17 % were women. IIIT Bhagalpur’s 2023-27 admission data shows just 9% female representation among 300 students.

IIIT Bangalore showed a similar pattern – among 429 students admitted in 2024, 91 were female. In 2022 out of the total 414 who took admission, 344 were men and 70 women.

Das, however, said: “ But I would like to point out that in PhD, 60% are women doing world class research. They have a very strong analytical sense and are good team players and are very focussed. At the master’s level the representation of women is 35% and in undergraduate it’s 28%. It is an area where we are actively working on.”

Even at older IIITs like in Allahabad, women constitute just 19% of the total 1,715 students in UG, while 18% at PG levels. The institute also reported 40% vacant seats of the total approved intake of 1,544 in 2023-24, primarily at the PhD level.

The parliamentary panel states, “Insufficient funding and lack of corpus funds/IRG make it difficult for IIITs to expand capacity or attract quality faculty, resulting in low student intake and lower Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER).”

IIIT placements

The 2024-25 batch placements are ongoing in most of the IIITs though data from previous years show a declining trend.

IIIT Vadodara reported an average package of Rs.11.34 lakh per annum (LPA) in 2023-24, a drop from 15.43 LPA in 2022-23. Similarly, the highest package dropped from Rs 43.34 LPA to Rs 40 LPA in 2023-24.

At IIIT Manipur, placement rates fell from 100% in 2022 to 81.5% in 2023. The electronics and communication engineering stream saw the steepest decline from 80% in 2022 to 64.71% in 2023. In the 2024 batch, 76% of the students were placed.

IIIT Bhagalpur preliminary 2025 placement data shows 152 offers with an average salary package of Rs 9.57 LPA and a top package of Rs 83 LPA. In 2024, the average package for computer science was Rs 11.17 LPA, Rs 7.16 LPA for electronics and Rs 4.62 LPA for mechatronic engineering, against Rs 14.11 LPA, Rs 15.91LPA and Rs 11.21 LPA in 2023, respectively.