OP Jindal Global University (JGU), and its largest vertical JGLS Sonepat, which teaches law, has announced that its long-time benefactor, billionaire industrialist, politician and namesake Naveen Jindal would be loosening his considerable purse strings to the tune of another Rs 1,000 crore.
The funding, which would come “entirely from [Jindal] as a philanthropic contribution” according to JGU vice-chancellor (VC) Prof Raj Kumar, would be applied over the next nine or so years, under a new “JGU Vision 2030” plan.
Jindal commented in a press release that under the plan “we will have offices for 1600 faculty members, housing facilities for more than 12,000 students, a world-class sports centre with shooting ranges totalling an investment of Rs 1000 crores”.
If that plan comes to fruition, that would equate to a near doubling of current capacity: Kumar said in the release that currently the university had more than 830 faculty members and 6,600 students.
According to JGU’s press release:
The focus of the investment plan will be on academic, infrastructure development, creation of new world-class student facilities, hostels, schools, faculty offices and teaching facilities. Substantial commitment of financial resources for the JGU Vision 2030 by Chancellor Mr. Naveen Jindal will bolster efforts to achieve financial, academic and physical outcomes that were laid down in its implementation plan of becoming an ‘Institution of Eminence’ that has global recognition and standing.
The university was named after and established in memory of Naveen Jindal’s late father OP Jindal, which had put the resources of the Jindal steel fortune behind the young university.
JGU had been selected as an Institution of Eminence (IOE) by the government in 2019.
The newest injection of cash would give JGU quite a bit more cash to play with: in June 2020, it had inked a deal for Rs 900 crores to outsource student housing to a Goldman Sachs-owned business, which it said would allow expanding the campus from 80 to 300 acres.
We have reached out to Kumar with further queries, including whether:
- Jindal had previously also contributed funds, and how much,
- JGU has ever been cashflow positive in its normal operations.
We will update this article when we hear from him.
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