Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation
Also called: ITEC · Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) is India's main programme for training people from other developing countries. It is run by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Officials and professionals from partner countries come to Indian institutions and attend training courses there. This is called capacity building, which means helping another country build the skills its own people need. ITEC matters because it is one of the main ways India helps other developing countries. It gives them skills and knowledge, not loans.
Example
In one recent year, ITEC offered about 14,000 training places to officials and professionals from 114 partner countries. On 3 November 2026, CSIR and DAKSHIN–RIS signed a Letter of Association to share CSIR's technologies with the Global South. One suggestion was to add CSIR courses to ITEC, so the people who will run these technologies are trained without building a new system.
Don't confuse with
- Lines of Credit (LOC) under IDEAS: these are cheap loans that India gives to other governments for projects, mostly large infrastructure, through the Exim Bank of India. ITEC gives training, not money.
- DAKSHIN: this is the Global South Centre of Excellence, hosted at RIS in New Delhi. It does research and builds partnerships on development issues. ITEC is the MEA's training programme.