New Delhi, Apr 01 (ANI): It is now the turn of the prestigious IITs after the IIMs to propose a fee hike citing the need to improve their "economic health."

"There is a proposal to hike the fee. But the final decision will come from the government," Professor Surendra Prasad, Director of IIT Delhi. The proposal has been made to help augment the premier institution's resources, he said.

The annual fees in the seven IITs could be doubled to Rs 50,000, he said.

"All our needs are met by the government. But increasing the fee would help us strengthen our economic health," he said.

The proposed fee structure, once accepted, will be implemented in the seven IITs. Over 4,000 students take admission to courses in the IITs at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee every year.

The move to hike the fee in IITs comes ahead of its entrance examinations on April 13 when about two lakh students would take the test to qualify for admission.

The move also came close on the heels of the IIMs deciding to increase their fees for their two-year post-graduate programmes.

While IIM Ahmedabad has decided to increase the fee from the current Rs five lakh for both the years of the course to Rs 11.5 lakh, IIM Bangalore would increase its fee to Rs nine lakh from Rs five lakh.

IIM Kolkata has similarly decided to increase the fee to Rs six lakh for the entire course from Rs Rs 3.75 lakh at present. IIM Kozhikode has decided to increase the fee to Rs six lakh for the two-year programme from Rs 3.85 lakh. (ANI)