The IIT Alumni Council is to create a social initiative fund of ₹21,000 crore ($3 billion), the largest in the country, to further improve social infrastructure through deployment of innovative technology.

The mega fund will raise ₹15,000 crore from IIT alumni-controlled funds, governments, banks, corporates, global foundations and financial institutions.

It will also get ₹3,000 crore from the PanIIT Fund, a social fund launched on April 1, 2020, and another ₹3,000 crore from IIT, Mumbai University and Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) fraternity, among others.

“The mega fund is the dedication of the alumni community of IITs, MU and ICT towards supporting the Prime Minister’s mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Our alumni ecosystem includes over a hundred Padma Sri awardees and thousands of PhDs. IITians have global domination in the technology and venture capital industry,” Ravi Sharma, President and Chief Volunteer of the IIT Alumni Council, said.

“As geography becomes history and survival of the human race outweighs all other considerations -- we are heading towards a new knowledge age which will see acceleration in technology-driven economic development,” Sharma added.

ALSO READ: IIT Alumni Council to set up MegaLab in Mumbai for RT-PCR test

The IIT Alumni Council is the largest global body of alumni, students and faculty, spread across all the 23 IITs and partnering Technical Institutes of Excellence (TieNet).

“Healthcare specialist funds such as Somerset Indus are pleased to contribute to the efforts of the IIT Alumni Council through our portfolio companies which have worked closely and contributed to the testing initiative at the NSCI Dome, the IIT Covid Test Bus and the development of high-sensitivity indigenous radiological equipment, including digital X-rays and ultrasound,” said Mayur Sirdesai, an IIT alumnus who manages Somerset Indus’ healthcare-dedicated fund.

Kotak Private Equity, a part of Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd, would also be taking part in the initiative.

“These initiatives, which are speeding forward at an unimaginable pace, completely redefine what a start-up is or can be. This is indeed the y2k moment for Indian healthcare,” Nitin Deshmukh, founding member of Kotak Private Equity and co-chair of the C19 Task Force Venture Capital Group, said.

“The past few years have seen paradigm shifts in the development space with the emergence of social enterprises, both for profit as well as not-for-profit, and social venture funds which have been set up pursuant to stringent SEBI regulations. The social venture fund ecosystem has a critical role to play in the immediate context of Covid-19 and for nation-building in the longer term,” Vikesh Mehta, PanIIT Fund Independent Director in charge of CSR Compliances, said.

ALSO READ: India’s first Covid-19 test bus launches in Maharashtra

Related Topics