The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to expand the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by enhancing its capital base to Rs 10,000 crore.
The enhanced capital base will help the agency to meet the rising financial requirements of educational infrastructure in the country.
The CCEA also tasked the HEFA to mobilise Rs 1,00,000 crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Higher Education (RISE) by 2022.
The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the expansion proposal of HEFA to facilitate all the institutions, especially set up after 2014, Central Universities with very little internal resources and the school education or health education infrastructure like AIIMS and Kendriya Vidyalayas.
The CCEA has approved five windows for financing under HEFA and the modalities of repaying the principal portion of the fund (interest continues to be serviced through government grants in all these cases).
HEFA was set up by Ministry of Human Resource Development on May 31, 2017 as a Non-Profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) to mobilise extra-budgetary resources for constructing crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under the Central government.
In a statement by the Government, it is stated, “The CCEA also approved that the modalities for raising money from the market through government guaranteed bonds and commercial borrowings would be decided in consultation with the Department of Economic Affairs so that the funds are mobilised at the least cost.”
“This would enable addressing the needs of all educational institutions with differing financial capacity in an inclusive manner,” the statement further said.
