RISE Scheme:
- RISE = Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE)
- RISE scheme was announced in Union Budget 2017-18.
- It aims to lend low-cost funds to government higher educational institutions.
- Under it, all centrally-funded institutes (CFIs), including central universities, IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs can borrow from a Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over next 4 years to expand and build new infrastructure.
- It will be financed via restructured Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), a non-banking financial company.
- Distribution of loans under RISE Scheme is as follows
Role of HEFA:
With introduction of RISE, all financing for infrastructure development at CFIs in higher education will be done through HEFA, which was set up by government as a Section 8 company (a company with charitable objectives) in 2017 to mobilise funds from the market and offer 10-year loans to centrally-run institutes.
Equity Share:
In order to mobilise funds Rs. 1 lakh crore corpus under RISE, HEFA will need equity of Rs 10,000 crore, of which Rs 8,500 crore will be provided government and remaining by Canara Bank, which partnered with government to set up HEFA, and other corporations.
Target: All infrastructure and research projects sanctioned by HEFA are to be completed by December 2022.
Fund Raising: HEFA will release money directly to vendors or contractors on certification by executing agency and educational institute. Loans taken from HEFA, under the RISE programme, will be paid back over 10 years. There will be different modes of loan repayment for different institutes, based on their internal revenue.