The government has kept a revised fund of Rs 4 crore for setting up of centres of excellence (COEs) during 2010-11.

?An original outlay of Rs 12 crore was kept for setting up of COEs in the field of petrochemicals. During the course of approval, it was decided to set up only two COEs in the first phase of implementation i.e., 2010-11, for which an outlay of Rs 12 crore spread over three financial years is required,? the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) said.

The scheme for setting up of COEs in the field of petrochemicals was formulated based on the feasibility study commissioned by the DCPC.

After getting the in-principle approval of the Planning Commission, the scheme has also been accorded administrative approval by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

The DCPC would provide a maximum of 50 per cent of the total investments, costs of the project, subject to an upper limit of Rs 6 crore over a period of three years.

Besides uploading the details of the scheme on the website of the department, for wider publicity, proposals were also invited from academic and research institutions working in the relevant fields.

The DCPC said that it has received applications form 13 academic institutions. Six institutions were shortlisted and thereafter evaluated by the expert committee. The expert committee has identified four institutions for setting up of COEs.

The DCPC approached Planning Commission for increasing the number of COEs to be set up in the 11th Plan to four. However, the Planning Commission suggested taking up the matter of setting additional COEs in the 12th Five Year Plan. The two identified institutions are in the process of approval.

The COEs have been projected as internationally recognised centres for analysis and dissemination of existing global knowledge in the chosen fields that will provide authoritative, strategic and timely information to organisations and companies for use in the development and implementation of their projects and programmes.