Former students will a fortune to Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi

International alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT-D) have vowed to draft wills and insurance policies in the name of their alma mater to help the premier institute in boosting its internal revenues. 

IIT-D is aiming to raise its internal revenues for several developmental purposes to meet standards in line with the tag of Institute of Eminence that it got from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development recently. However, it will get grants worth Rs 200 crore per year from the government in the next five years.

Amid flow of handsome contributions, at least two alumni – Ram Matta of 1967 batch and Ramesh Kapur of 1968 batch – have drafted wills specifying donations to the institute.“While Kapur has vowed to donate one million dollar in his will to the Institute, Matta has replaced the name of Stanford University from his will with IIT-D,” said Sanjeev Sanghi, Dean Alumni Affairs and International Programmes. 

The institute is reaching out to its ‘Golden jubilee batches’, based abroad, for the fund collection. Both Kapur and Matta are businessmen based in the US. “It’s more practical to rope in those who are free of responsibilities now. The young alumni, however, can also donate under our “Giving Day” campaign,” Sanghi said. 

Under the campaign, the alumni can donate through online transfers. “We had recently organised the Giving Day and collected Rs 25 lakh. The institute has around 50,000 alumni and if each of them would contribute some amount at a time it would be really helpful,” he said. 

The funds collected will be spent on research. "A Delhi-based alumnus, Arun Duggal, recently donated Rs 3 crore for a research project on air pollution," Sanghi said.

Amarjit Bakshi, a Gurgaon-based former student, has pledged to give Rs 10 crore to the institute. "He will donate one crore per year for next 9 years. We have already received Rs 1 crore from him," Sanghi said. 

The institute, however, is not considering any change in the student fee structure that is presently less than 10 per cent of its expenditure. 

The institute plans to generate at least 50 per cent of its recurring expenditure from internal resources in the next five years, which presently stands at 23 per cent. 

IIT-D Director V Ramgopal Rao said, “Presently we are generating the chunk of our internal revenue through Research and Development grants.” The current amount generated through research grants in 2017-18 is Rs 415 crore, this is expected to be doubled in the next five years. Besides, the Institution will launch specialised diploma programmes for professionals. 

“The fee structure of these programmes will be considerably high as they will be specially designed for those who are already in job and are willing to pay to polish their skills,” said Rao.

The Institution will be spending a total of about Rs 2,500 crore (which includes Rs 1,000 crore IoE grant) in enhancing its research facilities, physical infrastructure and outreach in the next five years. “We are hoping to generate this Rs 1,500 crore internally through R&D grants, sponsored courses and alumni funds,” the Director said. 

All For Alma Mater
One former student has bequeathed $1 million to the institute, while another has replaced Stanford University with IIT-Delhi in his will.