NTA earned Rs 1,065 crore as fee income: Govt

Dr Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, responded that the agency is self-supporting through the examination fee collected. She added that the agency had an estimated fee income of Rs 1065.38 (in crore) in 2023-24 and a total expenditure of Rs 1020.35 (in crore).

Since its inception, NTA has conducted over 240 examinations involving over 5.4 crore candidates. The Agency launched the CUET UG and PG exams in 2022. As per the data, after CUET, the fee income and total expenditure seemed to have registered a dramatic increase — the fee income increased from Rs 490.35 (in crore) in 2021-22 to Rs 873.20 in 2022-23 and Rs 1065.38 in 2023-24.

The data is shared by Dr Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education in Rajya Sabha.

“Considering the sensitivity involved in competitive examinations, various operational and security measures are undertaken for their smooth and fair conduct. Such measures involve engagement of specialised/experienced agencies for providing services like capturing of Biometric, frisking, CCTV surveillance, AI analytics with a view to identify any potential impersonation, Exam delivery etc.

NTA has been set up as a self-sustained organisation, headed by Director General, who is appointed by Central Government under the Central Staffing Scheme. In addition, the number of employees working on deputation in NTA are 22 at present. The number of contractual employees is 39 and outsourced staff/ employees are 132. 1 (one) employee is absorbed in NTA from his parent Department.

“From amongst the employees working on deputation, the percentage of women is 17.3% and that of SCs is 13%,” she replied.