Venkataramani Fellowship in Clean Energy and Green Mobility’ has been established at IIT Madras to motivate graduate students to undertake research in the area.

The Endowment is set up by the family of the late N Venkataramani, who was the Chairman and Managing Director of India Pistons and was a Fellow of The Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

An MoU towards setting up the Endowment with a sum of ₹50 lakh for this Fellowship was signed on Wednesday by Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, and Sita Venkataramani on behalf of Amalgamations Inc and the Venkataramani family in the presence of Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, officials and family members, said a press release from IIT Madras.

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Recalling Venkataramani’s contributions, Sita Venkataramani said, “This Fellowship established at IIT Madras reflects the passion that Venkataramani had during his professional life in encouraging young engineers to further their knowledge in areas that are important to society.”

R Mahadevan, Director India Pistons and an alumnus of IIT Madras, outlined the various initiatives that Venkataramani had taken in the Amalgamations Group in the areas of clean energy and green mobility.

Ram Venkataramani and Gautam Venkataramani shared the steps that are being taken in the component companies to implement their father’s vision.

The Fellowship will provide a monthly scholarship to two graduate students of the MSc, MS, MTech and/or PhD programmes for two years.

‘Encouraging research’

Bhaskar Ramamurthi said that “IIT Madras is honoured to receive this gift in the memory of one of Tamil Nadu’s automotive industry captains, the late N Venkataramani. Clean energy and green mobility are very important for India and the world, and this Fellowship will enable bright young minds to take up the study of and research in these fields.”