The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), under the Ministry of Finance, has officially notified IIT Roorkee as an approved scientific research institution under Section 35 of the Income Tax Act. This designation allows donors — individuals and companies — to claim weighted tax deductions on contributions made toward scientific research at IIT Roorkee, incentivising private funding for research and development at premier public institutions.

Section 35 of the Income Tax Act provides tax incentives to encourage private funding of scientific research. When the CBDT notifies an institution under this section, contributions made to it qualify for enhanced (weighted) deductions — historically 150% or 175% of the donated amount, though the Finance Act 2020 rationalised most weighted deductions to 100% from AY 2021-22 onward. The notification is issued by CBDT under the Department of Revenue and published in the Official Gazette.

The policy rationale is straightforward: India's gross expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP remains low (around 0.65%), far below China (~2.4%) or the US (~3.5%). Notifying elite institutions like IITs under Section 35 is a fiscal tool to bridge this gap by pulling private capital into public research infrastructure.

For exam purposes, note the distinction between Section 35 (scientific research deduction), Section 80G (general charitable donations), and Section 10(23C) (income exemption for educational institutions). CBDT's role here is as the administrative authority that operationalises tax policy — it does not legislate but notifies within the framework Parliament creates. IIT Roorkee, established in 1847 as Thomason College, is India's oldest technical institution and was granted IIT status in 2001.