RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh government on Friday signed two agreements with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Raipur, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipur and the Motilal Oswal Foundation to establish centres of excellence to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and global academic opportunities, a state government statement said.
Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who was present at an event to sign the two memorandum of understandings, said the MoUs would have a transformative impact to realise the state’s long-term development vision. The foundation will provide ₹71 crore to NIT and ₹101 crore to IIM Raipur under the agreements.
The funds would be used to set up a state-of-the-art Mithilesh Agrawal Centre of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Engineering and Technology (MACIEET) at NIT Raipur.
At IIM Raipur, the foundation’s support will go towards building the Agrawal Oswal Student Residence — a 202-room hostel — and the Dau Ram Gopal Agrawal Knowledge Centre, an academic facility to enhance the institute’s learning environment.
The funding will also enable the launch of six international dual-degree MBA programmes in collaboration with top universities from the US, UK, France, and Germany, opening up global career pathways for Indian students, the government statement said.
The foundation has also committed to supporting IIM Raipur in building a modern academic block and a hostel facility, thereby strengthening its infrastructure and global outreach, the statement said.
This Centre of Excellence should not be limited to students of the IIM or NIT alone, but also benefit the youth of every village, the CM said, urging the industrial sector to join the movement of imparting quality education and skill development.
MACIEET, which will be set up at NIT Raipur, plans to train over 10,000 young people by 2030, incubate over 250 startups, and create 5,000 skilled jobs. The construction of the centre is slated to begin during the current financial year.
Raamdeo Agrawal, chairman and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, announced the foundation’s plan to establish the country’s largest training centre for farmers in Raipur, further broadening its developmental impact.
The chief minister said the state government had carried out more than 350 reforms in the last 20 months, which have led to the state receiving proposals worth over ₹6.75 lakh crore in just eight months.
