In FY26, the government is expected to spend ₹50,077.95 crores on higher education. The allocation increased by ₹3,595.6 crore, when compared with the revised estimates for the year FY25. While the allocation has increased in absolute terms, spending on higher education as a share of overall budget, has stagnated.
While absolute change in allocation gives an idea of what the government is focussing on, analysing the allocations as a share of the total Budget is more prudent. Only 0.99% of the overall budget is expected to be spent on higher education in FY26BE, same as the revised estimates from last year. In fact the actual expenditure in FY24 was relatively higher at 1.25% of the total budget.
Chart 1 shows the allocation to higher education as a share of the total Budget, across years.
In absolute terms, in FY26, the government is expected to spend ₹11,349 crore on IITs and ₹251.89 crore on IIMs, a moderate increase of ₹880 crore and ₹24 crore respectively, compared with FY25 revised estimates. .
Chart 2 shows the allocation to IITs as a share of the total Budget, across years.
In FY26, the government is expected to spend 0.22% of its total Budget on IITs. The share remained the same as the revised estimates in FY25.
Chart 3 shows the allocation to IIMs as a share of the total Budget, across years. In FY26, the government is expected to spend 0.005% of its total Budget on IIMs, similar to the expenditure last year.
Allocations to the University Grants Commission (UGC) has also stagnated. It has been allocated Rs 3,335.97 crore this year, which forms 0.07% of the overall budget, a slight increase from Rs 3,014 crore last year, forming 0.06% of the budget.
Allocations to Central Universities has also stagnated. They have been allocated Rs 16,691.31 crore this year, which forms 0.33% of the overall budget, a slight decrease from the budget last year which formed 0.34% of the budget.
Published – February 01, 2025 05:32 pm IST
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