New Delhi, Feb. 29 Three more Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) would come up in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan in fiscal 2008-09, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram informed parliament Friday.

While allocating Rs.344 billion for the education sector - an increase by 20 percent over - he remarked that the new IITs will start soon.

While IITs coming up at Patna in Bihar and Medak in A.P is expected to start from the next session in 2008-09, the Rajasthan government is yet to provide a suitable site for its IIT, considered as a premier engineering institution in the country.

There are seven IITs in the country - in Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, and Roorkee. These autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education were established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Indian government.

With the three new ones - in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan - the number will increase to 10. Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh had earlier indicated that more IITs would come up in the coming years.

The government is also likely to develop one engineering institution in the state as IIT in the near future. He also announced upgrading of many other engineering institutions that would be developed at par with the IIT. The Union HRD ministry has already upgraded Regional Engineering Colleges - one in every state - to National Institutes of Technology.