1 in 10 IITian is an Entrepreneur
Every IITian has created 100 jobs and that every rupee spent on an IIT-ian has ‘created an economic impact of Rs 50 at the global level, half of which is India’s share’.
- IITians have been involved in the creation of over 2 crore (20 million) new jobs.
- One in 10 IIT alumni has started their own companies, with over 40 per cent of them being serial entrepreneurs. Two-thirds of the companies founded are in India.
- The IITs have graduated about 200,000 students from the seven campuses since 1954 (including Roorkee before it became a full-fledged IIT). Of these, 40 per cent were from undergraduate programmes and 60 per cent from graduate programmes.
- The survey says that IIT alumni in senior positions in industry and government, across the world today, have a budgetary responsibility for over $885 billion (Rs 40,00,000 crore).
- When measured across industry, government, entrepreneurial activity and scientific/technological innovations, IIT alumni have been associated with over $450 billion (Rs 20,00,000 crore) of incremental economic value creation.

IIT Roorkee
- Of the IIT alumni who graduated prior to 2001, 40 per cent are in top leadership roles in corporations, educational institutions, research labs, NGOs, governmental agencies, politics, and as entrepreneurial heads of their own companies. A majority of these top leaders believe they have contributed most through their personal impact on innovation relating to product, process, services, etc.
- Among the IIT alumni who are in top leadership roles, almost 70 per cent are currently based in India, with 20 per cent of these being those who come back to India after careers in other parts of the world.
- The study says that 54 per cent of the top 500 Indian companies currently have at least one IIT alumnus on their board of directors, and these companies have cumulative revenue ten times greater than that of other companies on the list.
- Twenty per cent of the IIT alumni work in research & education. About 75-80 per cent of IIT alumni in research & education continue to work in science and technology related areas. Half of the IIT alumni in research & education are based in India, and of these 40 per cent those who returned to India after careers abroad.
- Ten per cent IIT alumni are currently engaged in social transformation working in NGOs, government administration or politics, on programs relating to education, the environment, or poverty reduction, etc. IIT alumni working in this area have founded over a 1,000 NGOs, the survey adds. (source)
These are findings from PAN-IIT survey (IIT Alumni Impact Study 2008) conducted by India Brand Equity Fund and Zinnov Management Consulting.
What’s really important to note is whether IITs can sustain their ‘premium’ appeal, post the dilution exercise by Indian govt.
What’s your opinion? Do you think being an IITian helps (in securing funding/partnerships etc)?
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I still think IITs are overhyped. It would be much better if anybody can show the whole report with full stats and data.
why would you say their is dilution? the no. of IIT graduates has been diminishing as a % of populations. Infact even if we add 10 IITs a year, we can’t match the growth in population.
I really don’t understand the argument. Why is the # of IIT graduates as a percent of population to be preserved? What is the basis of this argument?
The need for IIT graduates has a direct relationship to the # of technology jobs, and market for new tech products.
Q (Food for thought for you): Do we really need more scooters because the population is growing?
Ans: It depends whether or not there is a market for scooters.
That is absolutely correct
We should not Increase the number of IIT and dilute their Standards.
RYK’s comment that over the years Population is increasing, so we should open more and more Regional Engineering Colleges. Their numbers can be proportional to population. No society needs lot of high-technology , researchers etc etc. There needs to be a Good Balance of IITs, Regional Engineering Colleges and ITI’s. Rather we need to give a lot more attention to ITI’s I read, FICCI member companies were adopting ITI’s in each ones local area to financially and technically support them and bring them to some Good Standards.
It is very disheartening to note that there is a shortage of dedicated faculty members in all the IITs now. It is the students and faculty members keep up the prestige of an Institution. IITs do get good students through stiff competition but how to get dedicated faculty?
I completely disagree with “Sanjeev Kr Dangi” . Ask any of the IITians and you will get to know the true value of an IITian. This is not a place to vent your anger. Shame on people like you.