- Accelerated Investments in Deep Tech: Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman and top leadership called for expanded funding in AI, quantum computing, and semiconductors to target 10%+ GDP growth and provide patient capital for deep-tech hardware startups with 5-to-7-year gestation timelines.
- Expanding Global Impact: Education Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi and IIT Madras Director Prof. V. Kamakoti highlighted the IIT Madras Alumni Association’s growing footprint, spanning 583 incubated startups valued at ₹83,000 crore, over 400 patents, and a global network of 51 active alumni chapters.
BENGALURU, September 26, 2026 — The 7th edition of IITMAA Sangam, the flagship annual conference of the IIT Madras Alumni Association (IITMAA), concluded today at the Taj MG Road in Bengaluru. Centered on the national ambition of “Atmanirbhar Bharat – Building a Self-Reliant India,” the summit convened policymakers, corporate leaders, technology pioneers, and academic experts to address the critical drivers required to secure India’s strategic and economic independence.
The grand inauguration was led by key dignitaries, including Shri Pralhad Joshi, Honourable Minister of Education; Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition, Indian Navy; Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras; Dr. Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist & Co-founder of Zoho Corporation; Ms. Goda Ramkumar, VP of Data Science at Flipkart; Prof. M. Vidyasagar, FRS; and Dr. Pratyush Kumar, Co-Founder of Sarvam AI.
The summit featured deliberations across vital sectors central to national development, including artificial intelligence, defence technologies, space exploration, digital financial infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, and sustainable energy. Leading deep-tech innovators from Sarvam AI, Skyroot Aerospace, The ePlane Company, and GalaxEye shared insights on scaling indigenous research and development.
Addressing the assembly, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Honourable Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, highlighted the foundational policy shifts driving India’s modern transformation:
“India’s transformation has been driven by sustained efforts to clean up institutions, restore confidence, and open sectors to private participation… The next large investments in India’s infrastructure must focus heavily on AI, semiconductor chips, and quantum computing. Our MSMEs need AI solutions to improve productivity, while pre-revenue deep-tech and hardware startups require patient capital and new early-stage funding mechanisms… India can achieve 10%+ GDP growth, but this will require greater effort across all sectors and sustained collaboration to turn talent, technology, and innovation into growth.”
Shri Pralhad Joshi, Honourable Minister of Education, emphasized the role of infrastructure and academic innovation in powering self-reliance. He noted that India’s electricity generation capacity has grown from 249 GW in 2014 to 552 GW today—including ~310 GW of non-fossil capacity—enabling massive industrial and technological expansion. He praised IIT Madras for incubating 560 startups (including 109 in 2025–26) with a collective valuation of ₹80,000 crore, generating 472 patents, and securing ₹950 crore in alumni contributions. He also commended IITMAA for expanding its global network from 16 to 51 chapters over the past three years.
In a keynote on technology sovereignty, Dr. Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist & Co-founder of Zoho Corporation, underscored the shift toward tech-driven national security and the necessity of massive industrial scale. Pointing to the asymmetric economics of modern conflict—where low-cost commercial drones can challenge multi-million-dollar defense systems—he urged India to build indigenous capabilities. He contrasted foreign card networks charging 3.5%–4% transaction fees with India’s NPCI, which processes over 25 billion monthly UPI transactions at near-zero cost on a modest budget, demonstrating the necessity of domestic platforms to prevent economic extraction.
Highlighting the summit’s strategic outcomes, Mr. Sridhar Boovaraghavan, President of IITMAA and Chair of Sangam 2026, announced the expansion of the campus mentorship ecosystem. Through the scaled Career and Life Coaching (CLIC) initiative, every student at IIT Madras will be paired with a dedicated alumni mentor for lifelong guidance.
The conference also spotlighted rapid advancements in high-tech sectors:
- Space & Defence: Mr. Pranit Mehta, Co-founder & COO of GalaxEye, identified space as the fourth domain of defence, stressing the need for sovereign satellite intelligence to maintain real-time situational awareness. Mr. Naga Bharath Daka, Co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace, credited IN-SPACe single-window reforms for enabling rapid commercialization, noting that India now boasts over 400 space-tech startups.
- Sovereign AI: Dr. Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder of Sarvam AI, declared the launch of ‘Year One’ of India’s indigenous AI mission, leveraging domestic GPU infrastructure and unmatched population scale to build human-centric AI solutions.
- Academic Reach: Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, detailed the institute’s educational outreach, noting that its core programs reach 53,000 students, while NPTEL-SWAYAM courses serve 1.5 million learners. Notably, 75% of startups incubated at IIT Madras in the last two years originated outside the campus.
- Clean Energy Stack: Mr. K R Harinarayan, Founder & CEO of U Solar Clean Energy, outlined the transition to 24×7 dispatchable clean energy. Integrating solar, utility-scale battery storage, and microgrids, U-Solar’s 500 MW portfolio across 300+ projects helps enterprises offset peak grid tariffs and replace diesel generation as it scales toward a 3 GW goal by 2032.
High-impact panels throughout the day evaluated sovereign AI development, maritime trade, and semiconductor supply chains, featuring experts from Reliance Intelligence, Flipkart, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, and Tata Electronics.
The conference was anchored by lead partners U-SOLAR and IndiaAssetz, with support from SNJ Group, ARCA Alternatives, ACR IIT Madras, Prestige, Zooper, Pratithi Investments, Unicorn India Ventures, Shivom Enterprises, and Mutual PR Consultants. The event concluded with a prestigious award ceremony followed by a cultural performance by acclaimed musician Guitar Prasanna.
