Indore: Indian Institute of Technology Indore, which has been maintaining lead among the eight new IITs in quality of research, is now getting dividends. This elite institute’s income from research projects has doubled in last two fiscals. While IIT Indore had sponsored research projects worth Rs 6.03 crore in 2015-16, the institute saw funding agencies standing at its door steps with projects worth Rs 13.21 crore. These details came to fore on going through a report submitted by Institute for National Institute Ranking Framework 2019.
The report revealed that the institute had total 94 sponsored projects from 12 funding agencies in 2015-16. In 2017-18, the number of sponsored projects was 122 from 18 funding agencies. This significant increase in the projects, funding agencies and amount are due to quality of research carried out at the institute.
Abstracting and indexing database Scopus has rated IIT Indore among top new IITs including the ones located in Ropar, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar and Jodhpur. In 2013, IIT Indore was on third among new IITs but it climbed two positions up and bagged top slot. Since then, it has been maintaining top position for last five years.
According to information, Scopus h-index not only rated IIT Indore as the top institute among new IITs in terms of maximum number research publications but also for quality of research. As of the latest data, the total number of citation by IIT Indore is over 25,000 whereas its high index is 63.
IIT Indore promotes young teachers and PhD scholars to publish research papers in reputed journals and pushes for inter-disciplinary research. It is also increasing number of PhD students every year. To promote students in research and to encourage them for innovation, IIT Indore offers a scheme, ‘Promotion of Research and Innovation for Undergraduate Students’.
Spending on salaries increase by 15 crore
The institute spent Rs 40 crore on giving away salaries to its employees in 2017-18, nearly Rs 15 crore to what it had paid in 2016-17. The spending on salaries was Rs 23.29 crore in 2015-16, Rs 25.67 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 40.23 crore in 2017-28. The steep rise in spending on salary was due to implementation of seventh pay commission recommendation and hiring of new teaching and non-teaching staff. Spending on seminars/conferences also increased from nearly Rs 15 lakh in 2015-16 to Rs 2 crore in 2017-18.
Income through consultancy also increases
Income of IIT Indore through consultancy projects also increased by five times in last two fiscal years. In 2015-16, its total income from consultancy projects was over Rs 6.5 lakh whereas in 2017-18 it was Rs 31 lakh. In 2016-17, the income from consultancy was merely Rs 1.6 lakh. The institutes had three consultancy projects each in 2015-16 and 2016-17 whereas 15 firms with 18 consultancy projects approached institute in 2017-18.
