IIT fee more than doubled; waiver for SC/ST and disabled, concession for underprivileged

The government has decided to increase the annual fees for undergraduate courses in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology by 122 per cent, from the existing Rs90,000 to Rs2 lakh, against the three-fold increase proposed by the IIT Council.

However, there will be a total fee waiver for the students from SC and ST community, the differently abled and those from families with annual income less than Rs1 lakh, as promised by HRD minister Smriti Irani, officials in the ministry said.

Besides, students from families with annual income less than Rs5 lakh will also be entitled to a two-third reduction in fees payable.

The remaining students who do not fall under any of these categories will be offered the facility of interest-free loans, the officials said.

Students who are already enrolled in various IITs will continue to pay fees according to the old slabs and the new structure will be applicable only for fresh enrollments.

The panel, headed by IIT Roorkee chairman Ashok Misra, had last month approved a proposal for a three-fold increase in tuition fee from the present Rs90,000 to Rs3 lakh per annum from the next academic session.

However, the final decision was taken by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, who chairs the IIT Council, the highest decision-making body of all the 16 IITs.

A proposal for three-fold increase in tuition fee was first introduced before the Standing Committee at its meeting in Mumbai in October last, but it was referred to an expert committee comprising IIT directors.

This comes a day after Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani promised of a fee waiver for all the SC/ST, Dalit and physically challenged students of the 23 branches of the IIT.