Education being in the Concurrent List, increasing expenditure in education is the responsibility of the Central and States Governments. The Central Government has been consistently increasing the budget allocation for the Department of Higher Education from Rs. 34,006.39 crore in 2021-22 to Rs. 50,747.66 crore in 2025-26.

The details of Actual Expenditure in respect of Department of Higher Education including major schemes like World Class Institutions, PM Uchhatar Siksha Protsahan (PM-USP), National Apprenticeship Training Scheme(NATS), Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Siksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA), PM One Nation One Subscription (PM-ONOS) for all States/UTs from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26 is given in the table below:

 

Actual Expenditure of D/o Higher Education (Rs. in Crore)
2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
34,006.39	38,994.90	43,436.11	46,055.44	50,747.66

 

The Department of Higher Education is implementing Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) which is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme aimed at funding specific State government universities and colleges, so as to improve their quality by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards. In alignment with National Education Policy

(NEP) 2020, the government has launched the third phase of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in June 2023 in the form of Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA), with an outlay of Rs. 12,926.10 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26 to cater to needs of educationally unserved/underserved areas. The scheme has been further extended till 31st March, 2028.

Based on the approvals of projects in the Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings, the central funds are released to the States/ UTs, based on their performance in fund utilization, after compliance to the Ministry of Finance instructions. The State/ UT-wise and year-wise details of central funds released in the last five years under RUSA/ PM-USHA are given in Annexure-I.

Under PM-USHA, priority is given to Focus Districts. The focus districts are identified by the concerned States/ UTs based on various criteria including low Gross Enrolment Ratio, Gender Parity, population proportion and enrolment proportion for females, transgenders, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, Aspirational/ Border Area/ Left Wing Extremism prone district, etc.

 

Under the Scheme, support is provided to States/UTs for strengthening infrastructure, including construction of hostels, academic and administrative buildings, laboratories and other facilities required for improving access and quality in higher education. Furthermore, under PM-USHA, States/ UTs and Universities/ Colleges can undertake various activities aimed at enhancing access, equity and excellence in education, including promoting Online Distance Learning (ODL) and online programs such as SWAYAM/ MOOCs; construction of smart classrooms/ computer labs/ research laboratories/ digital libraries with subscriptions to reputed journals; and training to develop 21st-century skills, etc.

 

Further, in pursuance of the Budget announcement 2025-26, Government has approved expansion of academic and infrastructure capacity including creation of Research Park of five new IITs which have been established in the State/UT of Andhra Pradesh (IIT Tirupati), Kerala (IIT Palakkad), Chhattisgarh (IIT Bhilai), Jammu & Kashmir (IIT Jammu) and Karnataka (IIT Dharwad) with a total outlay of Rs. 11,828.79 crore, which would facilitate education for additional 6,500 students.

Union Budget 2026-27 has announced setting up of 5 University Townships in the vicinity of major industrial and logistic corridors and 1 girls’ hostel in every district through Viability Gap Funding /capital support to encourage enrolment of girls in STEM institutes/ courses.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

 

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ANNEXURE-I

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (D) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1939 ANSWERED ON 05.08.2026 REGARDING “FUNDING PATTERN IN HIGHER EDUCATION” ASKED BY HON’BLE MP SHRI SANDOSH KUMAR P.

State-wise/UT-wise Central Share Releases in last 5 FY under RUSA/ PM-USHA

(All amount Rs. in Crore)

S. No.	States/ UTs	2021- 22	2022- 23	2023- 24	2024- 25	2025-26
1	Andaman & Nicobar Islands				10.00
2	Andhra Pradesh				2.15	37.36
3	Arunachal Pradesh		27.73	14.38		10.00
4	Assam	9.90	68.43	17.15	40.82	64.34
5	Bihar	6.45				3.92
6	Chandigarh				16.23	5.00
7	Chhattisgarh		32.79	3.14	8.02	11.56
8	The Dadar & Nagar Haveli Daman & Diu
9	Goa	4.65		5.00	0.06	15.62
10	Gujarat				14.30	45.00
11	Haryana				0.00	3.09
12	Himachal Pradesh	16.07		12.67	17.90	39.45
13	Jammu & Kashmir				45.06	27.66
14	Jharkhand	23.49		4.31	27.50	29.50
15	Karnataka	4.50		5.62	40.36	41.26
16	Kerala	8.70	67.40		2.40	42.66
17	Ladakh			1.25		9.16
18	Madhya Pradesh	12.30	26.40	17.50	5.30	29.32
19	Maharashtra	39.50	31.22	21.25	5.85	92.49
20	Manipur	20.08		12.04		7.05
21	Meghalaya		26.33			13.39
22	Mizoram	5.40			11.66	14.80
23	Nagaland				23.40	10.01
24	Odisha	20.90		13.68	17.50	11.72
25	Puducherry					8.97

 

S. No.	States/ UTs	2021- 22	2022- 23	2023- 24	2024- 25	2025-26
26	Punjab	14.65			3.34	8.93
27	Rajasthan			9.89	22.82	37.64
28	Sikkim			21.99		19.57
29	Tamil Nadu	14.45	43.37		5.12	33.00
30	Telangana			15.99	18.10	36.83
31	Tripura		12.35		0.03	7.35
32	Uttar Pradesh	5.40				98.99
33	Uttarakhand	30.46	23.50	5.21	9.60	41.93
34	West Bengal	12.25			3.33	6.69
	Total	249.13	359.50	181.06	350.83	864.25
	Grand Total	249.13	359.50	181.06	350.83	864.25

 

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RRTN

 

 

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