IIT Kanpur Notable Alumni

Established in 1959, IIT Kanpur (IITK) is one of the oldest public engineering colleges in India. Located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, IITK is one of the most reputed and prestigious institutes in the country. The admissions to IITK are granted through the JEE Advanced examinations. The Institute has been ranked by the QS World University Rankings for 2018 at 293 in the world, 59 in Asia, and 21 among the BRICS countries. NIRF ranked it at fifth in 2018 among all the engineering colleges in India and seventh overall. In 2017, among the engineering colleges in India, IITK was ranked third by India Today, fourth by Outlook India, and fifth by The Week. The Institute shapes and churns out some of the best and the sharpest minds in the country every year and some very successful people have been the alumni of IIT Kanpur.

Today, in this article, we’re throwing light on some of IIT Kanpur’s notable alumni and their achievements.

IIT Kanpur Notable Alumni

Mr. Narayan Murthy (Founder – Infosys)

Mr. Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, commonly known as Mr. Narayan Murthy completed his master from IIT Kanpur in 1969. After initially working with Patni Computer Systems in Pune, Mr. Murthy founded Infosys in 1981 with a capital injection of Rs. 10,000 along with six other software professionals.

Today, Infosys is a global software consulting giant with its headquarters in Bangalore. Mr. Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys from 1981-2002, as the Chairman and Chief Mentor from 1981-2011, and as the Chairman Emeritus from August 2011 until May 2013. Under his leadership, Infosys was listed on NASDAQ in 1999. Mr. Murthy articulated, designed, and implemented the Global Delivery Model, which is now the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He has led key corporate governance initiatives in India and is also an IT advisor to several Asian countries. Mr. Murthy has been bestowed with many honors and recognition by the Government of India as well several International entities. Some his achievements are listed below:

Achievements and Honors

Murthy was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2000.
He was the recipient of the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of The Year, 2003.
Officer of the Legion of Honor by the Government of France, 2008.
Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India, 2008.
The Hoover Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2012.
25 Greatest Global Indian Living Legends, 2013.
Philanthropist of the Year, 2013.
The ‘Pathbreaker of the Year’ Award, 2014.

Late Mr. Satyendra Kumar Dubey

Mr. Satyendra Dubey graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur in 1994 and completed his M. Tech from IIT BHU, Varanasi in 1996. Mr. Dubey led an exemplary life and accomplished extraordinarily commendable work. He lost his life while fighting the rampant corruption in the Indian society. To celebrate his life and to commemorate his beliefs, IIT Kanpur has established an annual Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award that is given to an IIT alumnus for displaying highest professional integrity in upholding human values.

Several awards and fellowships have been set up in his name to keep his legacy alive. The Indian Express fellowship, Satyendra K Dubey Memorial Award by IIT Kanpur, Satyendra Dubey Award for civil services by IRDS, Lucknow, are a few examples.

Achievements & Honors

Whistle-blower of the year award from the London-based Index on Censorship.
The Transparency International’s Annual integrity award.
The Service Excellence award from the All India Management Association.
Nominated for the Padma awards, 2011.
R. Jindal Prize for exemplary humanitarian service, 2012.

Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi

Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi has been the director of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) at Phaltan, Maharashtra since 1981. He obtained his B. Tech. and M. Tech. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in the early 1970s and then went to the USA to pursue a Ph. D. degree at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He left a very lucrative career in the USA to work for rural development in India, where his work in the area of energy and sustainable development at NARI got national and international recognition.

Achievements and Honors

The Jamnalal Bajaj Award for the use of science and technology in rural development, 2001 (He is the only IITian to win this award).
The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) award, 2002.
The Energy Globe Award in the AIR category, 2004.
Globe Award for Sustainability Research, 2009.
The Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Florida, 2014 (The first Indian to win this award).

Mr. Lalit Jalan

Mr. Lalit Kumar Jalan is the Director, Corporate Strategy and Affairs of the Reliance Group. Mr. Jalan completed his B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1979. He later went on to pursue an MBA in Finance from Wharton School and MS in Computer Science from Moore School of Engineering, the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. After having worked with General Motors for two years in the USA, Mr. Jalan returned to India and started his own company Jalan Brothers in his hometown Kolkata. His entrepreneurial experience, during which he tried almost everything from real estate, software, logistics, distribution to even cement, is over Rs. 1,000 crores of business now. Since 2013, Mr. Jalan has spearheaded the transformation of Reliance Energy, a plain vanilla distribution company into over Rs. 23,000 crore RInfra. He simultaneously holds the post of Chairman of BSES Rajdhani & BSES Yamuna Pvt. Ltd.

Achievements & Honors

Winner of the Directors Honors and Dean’s List at Wharton School of Business.
Showcased as one of the IIT system’s top 15 achievers at the 1st PAN IIT meet in California in 2003.
Selected to the prestigious IITK@50 at the Golden Jubilee Alumni Convention, which honored the top 50 Alumni of IIT, Kanpur in the last 50 years who have excelled and had a visible and lasting impact in their areas of work.
Recognized as one of the 100 Most Powerful CEOs by the Economic Times in 2009.

Mr. Prem Das Rai

Mr. Prem Das Rai, one of the most notable IIT Kanpur alumni, is an Indian politician from the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party. In 2009, he earned the distinction of being the first and the only member of the Parliament with degrees from both an IIT as well as an IIM after being elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sikkim constituency. Mr. Rai continues to work towards the betterment of the Sikkimese people.

Being a technology and a management expert, Mr. Rai played a pivotal role in introducing IT and Sustainable Eco-tourism to Sikkim. Through social networking, he has felicitated exchange programs and promoted diversity. He has played an important role in strengthening the network of NGOs and creating an environment for proactive Sikkimese civil society. In 2002, Mr. Das was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship (USA) for making tremendous contributions to Sikkim’s economic and industrial growth.

Source: http://dora.iitk.ac.in/dora/notable-alumni.

These were some of the notable IIT Kanpur alumni.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the organizations where the recent batch of IIT Kanpur alumni is working. The following table contains the names of the companies where the IIT Kanpur 2016 alumni are placed and in what percentages.

Companies where the IIT Kanpur alumni are working

EXL – 9.77%	Axis Bank- 4.02%	Infosys – 2.87%
Microsoft – 6.9%	Cognizant – 4.02%	Fuzzy Logix – 2.87%
Samsung – 6.32%	Qualcomm – 4.02%	Axtriau002d Ingenious Insights – 2.87%
Ola (Ani Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) – 6.32%	Credit Suisse – 3.45%	iQuanti, Inc. – 2.87%
American Express – 4.6%	Indian Institute of Science (IISc) – 3.45%	Antaragni, IIT Kanpur – 2.87%
TCS – 4.6%	Juniper Networks – 3.45%	Intel Corporation – 2.3%
Goldman Sachs – 4.6%	WorldQuant LLC – 3.45%	Bank of America- 2.3%
Citi – 4.02%	Entrepreneurship Cell (IITK) – 3.45%	Deutsche Bank – 2.3
Kanpur Institute of Technology – 2.3%