Education Budget 2025: Engineering Institutes Get a Financial Lift: IITs Lead with INR 10,384 Cr

Union Education Budget 2025: The higher education sector received INR 1.28 lakh crore. IITs and NITs gained an extra INR 1,370 crore, highlighting the government's focus on research, innovation, and infrastructure. Check complete details here

Education Budget 2025: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her eighth budget presentation, revealed the Union Budget 2025-26, outlining key financial decisions that will shape the future of India's engineering institutes. The education sector received an allocation of INR 1.28 lakh crore, with higher education witnessing a moderate increase from INR 47,619 crore to INR 50,077.95 crore, marking an INR 2,458.95 crore rise.

A strong emphasis was placed on technical education, as IITs and NITs secured an additional INR 1,370 crore, reinforcing the government's commitment to advancing research, innovation, and infrastructure in premier engineering institutions. This increase reflected the government’s push for cutting-edge research, infrastructure expansion, and global competitiveness.

Union Budget 2024: Allocation for IITs, NITs, IISc

The IITs saw a notable budget increase, reaching INR 10,384 crore, a rise from INR 9,661 crore, which had remained unchanged for the past two years. NITs received a significant boost, with their allocation soaring to INR 5,147.47 crore from INR 4,500 crore in the previous year. Meanwhile, IIITs witnessed a modest uptick, securing INR 522.20 crore, slightly higher than the INR 515.91 crore allocated in 2024-25. Check the table to know more:

Institutes	2025-26 Budget (Cr)	2024-25 Budget (Cr)	2023-24 Budget (Cr)
IITs	INR 10,384	INR 9,661	INR  9,661.50
NITs	INR 5,147.47	INR 4,500	INR  4,820.60
IIITs	INR 522.20	INR 515.91	INR  560
IISc	INR 900.00	INR 918.27	INR 815.40

IITs Secure INR 10,384 Cr: Driving Innovation and Global Excellence

For the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the allocation had jumped to INR 10,384 crore, up from INR 9,661 crore in the previous two years. Across the IIT campuses, there was a renewed sense of ambition - new AI labs, sustainability-driven innovations, and a vision to break into the world’s top university rankings.

In her budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that India has 23 IITs, excluding IIT Zanzibar and IIT Abu Dhabi. She noted a significant expansion in student enrollment, with the number of graduates from these 23 IITs doubling from 65,000 to 1.35 lakh over the past decade.

NITs See Major Budget Boost, IIITs Get Modest Increase

At the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), the budget had climbed to INR 5,147.47 crore, a significant leap from INR 4,500 crore the previous year. Meanwhile, the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) experienced a modest rise, securing INR 522.20 crore, up slightly from INR 515.91 crore in 2024-25. While the increase wasn’t drastic, administrators remained optimistic about sustaining their focus on emerging technologies like blockchain, cybersecurity, and quantum computing.

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