New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS): India has signed a $201.50 million financing agreement with the World Bank to improve the quality of technical education in the country.

"Financing agreement for credit of $201.50 million for the 'Third Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP III)' was signed with the World Bank here on Tuesday," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The project aims at improving quality and equity in engineering institutes in the states and take initiatives to strengthen sector governance and performance, it said.

"The objective of the programme is to enhance quality and equity in participating engineering education institutes and improve the efficiency of the engineering education systems in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, the eight north-eastern states and Andaman and Nicobar Islands," the statement said.

"The project has been designed as a disbursement-linked one, that is, the World Bank loan will be disbursed on achievement of specific outcomes," it added.