Consumer and Internet

Decoding India's Education Budget 2024-25

29 May 2024

In recent years, India has undertaken various measures aiming to advance its educational landscape, with the recent being the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The Union budget 2024-25 plays an important role to realize the objectives outlined in the NEP.

In this newsletter, we will delve into the following topics:

Global perspective: Comparative analysis with education budgets and allocations of certain other countries
Present allocation: A detailed examination of the current outlay for FY25 with insights into how the current allocation stacks up against the figures from the preceding year
Decade-long evolution: Tracking changes in fund allocation and priority areas over the past ten years

As of 2021, India spends about 4.6% of its GDP and approximately 14.6% of its total budget on education, which is comparable to developed countries like Canada (4.1%), South Korea (4.8%) and United Kingdom (5.3%)
Recommended benchmarks by UNESCO and partner agencies suggest that government allocate at least 4-6% of their GDP or 15-20% of total governments spending to education, indicating India's commitment to enhancing its education sector

The Education Ministry received INR 121K Cr (US$ 14.4B), showcasing a 7% boost in funding compared to the previous fiscal year allocation of INR 113K Cr (US$ 13.4B)
- Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) received INR 73K Cr (US$ 8.7B) for the 2024-25 fiscal year, reflecting a notable increase of INR 4K Cr / US$ 0.5B (6%) as compared to the previous year's allocation of INR 69K Cr (US$ 8.2B)
- The Higher Education Department's budget saw a significant rise to INR 48K Cr (US$ 5.7B) (up from INR 44K Cr / US$ 5.2B) for the next financial year. The focus is on increasing female enrolment in higher education with intention to establish additional medical colleges
PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) aiming to provide holistic development to individuals in alignment with vision of NEP 2020, received an increase in funding, with INR 6K Cr (US$ 0.7B) allocated for the 2024-25 fiscal year. The focus is on promoting high-quality teaching and skill enhancement through PM SHRI schools, building upon the successful efforts of the previous year which trained 1.8 Cr youths as part of Skill India, and establishing 3,000 new ITIs
However, the budget for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) witnessed a slight decrease to INR 510 Cr (from INR 519 Cr)
Despite fluctuations in specific allocations, the budget for Samagra Shiksha, the country's largest school education scheme, remained steady at INR 38K Cr (US$ 4.5B)

The graph below highlights major budget allocations across the current and previous years:

Over the past decade, India has undergone significant shifts in its education priorities and vision, accompanied by substantial increases in budget allocation. The budget allocation has witnessed a 6% growth over the past 10 years reaching INR 121K Cr (US$ 14.4B) in FY25.