Teams building SWAYAM courses often assume production has to come from somewhere else. It does not. The norms carry it explicitly, and at rates considerably higher than the market now charges.
What the norms allocate
| Published norm | Rate | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| SWAYAM Guidelines 2024 | ₹5,62,800 | Per new four-credit MOOC — roughly 20 hours of video plus assessment and reading modules |
| SWAYAM / NMEICT norms, Dec 2017 | ₹5,00,000 | Video production and post-production for a 40-hour course — about ₹12,500 per hour |
| Animation (AVGC) | ₹3,000 / minute | Capped at one-sixth of course duration, maximum ₹6 lakh per course |
| Translation | ₹8,500 / hour / language | Capped at ₹1.7 lakh per language |
| Repurposing an existing course | up to ₹6,00,000 | Per 40-hour course |
Note the last row in particular. Repurposing is a funded activity — the norms anticipate taking material that already exists and bringing it up to standard, which is exactly what a lecture archive needs.
And outsourcing is expressly permitted
The clause that matters is Annexure IV · II(iv)(a)(E) of the 2020 Regulations, which allows technical support for e-content production — recording, editing, graphics and animation — to be “outsourced to the centres across the nation having requisite facilities.”
This sits alongside Regulation 15(C)'s requirement that at least 60% of e-Learning Material be developed in-house. The two are not in tension: 15(C) governs academic authorship — your faculty design the curriculum, write the script, set the assessment — while Annexure IV governs the technical work. The Regulations name the technical roles in one clause and permit outsourcing them in the next. We have written the longer version of that argument for registrars who want it in writing.
A funded production line, an explicit permission to outsource it, and a market rate a fraction of the norm. The gap between ₹12,500 and ₹5,000 an hour is not a saving you have to justify — it is headroom inside an approved budget.
What that buys in practice
One 20-hour course against the 2024 norm
The norms allocate separate amounts for content development, on-camera presentation, academic review and assessment. This comparison covers only the production and post-production portion — the part the 2017 norms price at ₹12,500 an hour.
Practical notes for the file
Quote against the norm, not against nothing. A finance office comparing ₹5,000 an hour to zero will hesitate. Comparing it to ₹12,500 approves it.
Keep the authorship trail visible. Faculty-written script, faculty-delivered lecture, faculty-approved output. That is what 15(C) is asking about.
Use the repurposing line for the archive. Existing recordings brought to standard is a named, funded activity, not an improvisation.
Price translation separately and early. The norm is ₹8,500 per hour per language and it is capped — worth planning around rather than discovering.
Before you cite any of this in a proposal
- Cost norms change between scheme rounds. Check the figures against the version of the guidelines governing your sanction, not against this page.
- Nothing here is a statement about what your specific sanction permits. Your finance office and IQAC decide that.
- The SWAYAM Guidelines 2024 moved SWAYAM itself from the four-quadrant model to a six-component framework, while the 2020 Regulations still cite four quadrants. The two have not been reconciled. We flag this on the India page.
Sources
SWAYAM Guidelines 2024 — course cost norms, AVGC and translation rates. Guidelines PDF
SWAYAM / NMEICT revised payment norms, December 2017. Norms PDF
UGC ODL and Online Programmes Regulations, 2020 — Annexure IV · II(iv)(a)(E) and Regulation 15(C).