‘Highest in a decade’: IIT Madras raises Rs 513 crore through alumni, CSRs

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has raised Rs 513.8 crore in 2023-24 through its alumni and corporate social responsibility (CSR), the institute announced during a press conference on Wednesday. The amount raised is the highest in over a decade, it claimed – a 3,000% increase.

Kaviraj Nair, chief executive officer, Office of Institutional Advancement, IIT Madras, said the total amount raised by the alumni is Rs 368.19 crore, a 282% increase compared to the previous year. The institute claimed the increase in overall funds to be “historic” – up by 135% from that of the previous year. The lowest amount, Rs 14.87 crore, was raised in 2013-14. Further, 48 donors, including 16 alumni donors and 32 corporate partners, contributed over Rs 1 crore this year.

IIT Madras has more than 56,000 alumni who help the institute raise funds. These funds and resources are used to support financially backward students with scholarships, hostels, help set up centres of excellence, develop infrastructure and more.

V Kamakoti, IIT Madras director said that around Rs 50- 60 crore are raised every year through student fees. “We want our alumni to become friends of IIT Madras,” said Mahesh Panchagnula, dean, alumni and corporate relations. A Sports Excellence Admission programme has also been supported through this year’s “philanthropic” funds raised.

IIT Madras: Funds raised between 2013-2024

IIT Madras: Funds utilisation, breakup

Of the total Rs 513.8 crore raised in 2023-24, the IIT Madras alumni contributed Rs 368.19 crore, Rs 95.53 crore was raised through CSR, and around Rs 50 crore through other philanthropic grants, stated Kamakoti. This apart, new pledges to the tune of Rs 717.8 crore have been signed during the year, of which about two-thirds have been raised through former students and one-third through CSRs.

A total of 1,072 donors, including 960 alumni and 112 from corporate partners, helped raise the funds, Kamakoti said, adding that CSR funds saw a 11.2% jump compared to that of the previous year.

Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence received Rs 110 crore from Sunil Wadhwani, co-founder and CEO, Mastech and IGATE.

The top projects where these funds have been utilised include Krishna Chivukula Meritorious Student and Sports Scholarship Program, Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, Girish Reddy Centre and Gopalkrishnan Deshpande Centre currently running at the institute.

The new programmes started on the name of the alumnus include Shankar Centre of Excellence for Diabetes Research, Venkat and Jayshree Rangan Wind Energy CoRE, and few others.

The corporate partners supporting IIT Madras projects and research include Prizm Trading, Power Finance Corp, FedEx, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Altair Engineering, Walmart, Hyundai, OnePlus Technology India Pvt Ltd, HSBC and Mphasis.