State funded educational institutes and museums have been asked to find their own avenues of finance

The Narendra Modi government at the centre is trying hard to make the public-funded institutes to be financially independent. The finance ministry has appealed to all government departments and ministries, asking them to review various educational institutes and museums under them to analyse and search for alternative income source.

All the state funded institutes including IITs to IIMs and public museums have been asked to find their own way to survive.
"The larger aim is to ensure that all these institutions make a conscious effort towards periodic review and rationalisation of user charges, and explore various ways of doing so,” Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa told ET. "These are assets built from public money and they must explore various revenue streams. This was also a recommendation of the expenditure panel,” he said.

Student fee largely makes up user charges at funded institutions such as IITs and IIMs, and entry tickets do so in the case of cultural bodies and museums, while bodies under infrastructure ministries have more sources such as rentals from real estate along with tickets and tolls.

"Many institutions are in a position to recover higher charges through either the infrastructure they have or through other services and this can add to the revenue stream. The aim is to get them to do so,” Lavasa added.

As directed by the ministries, now various boards controlling the institutions are holding meetings to find a way out.