The Union Government has decided to set up a state-of-the-art institute dedicated to churning out professionals and developing technologies to tackle cyber crime.

"The Union HRD Ministry recently took the decision to set up a state-of-the-art Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), which would focus solely on strengthening cyber laws, producing cyber professionals trained to develop new software and technologies to fight the menace," Director of the IIIT-Allahabad M D Tiwari told PTI here.

The decision was taken at a meeting held in New Delhi on January 24, attended by directors of the four existing IIITs of the country and HRD officials, Tiwari said.

"It was decided that the Institute would be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore on a Public-Private-Partnership model with IIIT-Allahabad playing the vital role of working out the details of this institute and its concept," he said.

As per an estimate of the HRD Ministry, the country needs 2.5 lakh IT experts to tackle cyber crime, Tiwari said.

"Once the location for the new IIIT is finalised, the industrial sector, the Centre and the concerned state government are likely to share the expenses," he said.

"While the Union HRD Ministry will be providing Rs 50 crore, the state will bear expenses worth Rs 35 crore by ensuring availability of land and other requisite facilities.

The Industry will chip in with the remaining Rs 15 crore," he said.

He said IIIT-A was selected to play a vital role as it is the only IIIT to have expertise in the field of cyber law and even runs a postgraduate programme on the subject.

"The fact that we have a Rs seven crore IT Forensic Lab and many researches in the field to our credit also went in our favour," he said.