Bengaluru : Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder and Chairman donated Rs 315 crore to his alma mater–IIT Bombay to mark 50 years of his association with the premier technology Institute.  In year 1973 Nilekani had joined   technology  institute for a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

Nilekani signed the MoU in Bengaluru in the presence of Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay and three other former directors. Nilekani has left it to the discretion of IIT  Bombay to spend the funds. “It’s as united as possible for them to identify key areas of development.” He said.

The endowment is one of the largest donations made by an alumnus i India. Taking Nilekani’s cumulative contribution to IIT-B 400 Crore as earlier Nilekani has donated Rs  85 Crore, which was partly used to build hostel facilities .According to IIT Bombay, part of the funds donated by nilekani will be pumped to boost existing infrastructure.

Explaining the reason behind his donation, Nilekani said it isn’t fair to expect the government pay for future growth of institutes such as the IITs. “First -gen IITs must look at their alumni and their firms, going forward. They have thousands of graduates and many are successful. Thy must start giving back. We wanted Subhasis to have something in his hand so that he can tell those chaps sitting in Silicon Valley, Who are making billions, that it’s pay back time.”

Over the last 50 years, Nilekani has stayed connected with the institute in multiple roles. He has served on the boarded the IIT Bombay Heritage Foundation, from 1999-2009,  and was on the Board of Governors from 2005-2011. 

Nilekani has become the anchor donor as the institute plans to raise $500 million (Rs 4,200 crore) by 2030. The funds would be deployed to accelerate R & D efforts and upgrade infrastructure. In the last financial year. IIT Bombay has raised Rs 180 crore from donors.