Decks have been cleared for setting up of 20 new IIITs in the country after differences between industry bodies and the government, over the issue of autonomy, were sorted out.

Now the new Indian Institutes of Information Technology will enjoy autonomy but the government can question their functioning if "need be", a senior government official told PTI on Wednesday.

The government has prepared a blueprint for the IIITs to be set up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode which will come before the Cabinet for approval soon.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies had prepared a Detailed Project Report on how these institutes would come up and function.

The government then discussed the DPR with representatives from various stakeholders, including industry bodies like FICCI, who were in favour of granting complete autonomy to these institutes.

"The final decision on the IIITs is that they will be autonomous organisations. But the government can interfere if need be," the official said.

Representatives from private sector had expressed concern over audit to be conducted by Comptroller and Auditor General.

"It was sorted out. In fact there is no difference between audit done by chartered accountants and the CAG. Government rules and regulations are followed in any case," he said.

The representatives from private sector had also said that they will not support those IIITs which will be set up in Northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir as there are not enough industries in the two regions.

"In northeast and J&K, where there are not many industries, the government will provide full support for the institutes to come up," the official said.

Nasscom had prepared the DPR which said each new IIITs will come up in partnership with a group of private companies. Each IIIT will have a capital base in which the government's contribution will be less than that of the partnering companies.

The partnering companies will give Rs 15.1 crore (Rs 151 million), while the government will have to provide Rs 14.9 crore (Rs 149 million). The government's share will be less than 50 per cent of the equity.

In addition to this, each institute will get Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million) as repayable loan from the government. The institutes will also raise funds from other funding agencies.

The IIIT, for which land will be provided by the states, will spread over 50 acres of area and will be completely integrated campus with science and technology parks.

After Cabinet's approval, the Centre will write to the state governments to identify land and partnering companies for starting the institutes, the official said.

Each institute will specialise on specific area of Information Technology. Each IIIT will be a centre of excellence in that domain. Nasscom has suggested that the institutes should be set up in cities having modern amenities.

The IIITs will offer under-graduate, masters and PhD programmes. Each institute will have the intake capacity of about 1,000 students within a period of six to seven years of their functioning, he said.