Chennai: The Government of India will soon establish three new universities for children of Non Residence Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs).

The announcement was made by Mr. G.K. Vasan, Minister of State (Independent charge), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation while addressing the Regional Session on Caribbean at the 7th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, 2009 yesterday at Chennai.

Announcing this, he said, "The Government of India has plans for setting up three new universities for the benefit of the children of NRIs and PIOs."

"The first of these universities to be located at Bangalore is expected to be operational by the year 2010. These universities would have a reservation of 50 percent seats for NRIs and PIOs. The Government has also increased the number of scholarships to 120 students to facilitate unhindered access to higher education for children of NRIs and PIOs, who are not economically well off in their adopted lands," added Vasan.

Earlier, this was also announced by Mr. Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, at the Asia-Pacific conference under the rubric of "Pravasi Bhartiya Divas", organized in Singapore in October, 2008.