From Sridhar Vembu (Zoho) To Vineeta Singh (SUGAR); Here Are 10 People Who Made It Big After IIT Madras

As per the latest NIRF rankings 2022, IIT Madras is the top-ranked among all the IITs. From designing India’s first hyperloop to coming up with the design for the world’s first air taxi, IIT Madras is achieving new heights in innovation and research every day. Although getting into IIT Madras is a dream that remains unfulfilled for many, those who made it to the institute have gone on to do great things in professional domains after graduation.

Also read: This Innovative Robot By IIT Madras Can Eliminate India’s Long-standing Problem Of Manual Scavenging

Let’s take a look at some of the shining stars of IIT Madras.

1. Vineeta Singh (SUGAR Cosmetics)

The founder and CEO of SUGAR Cosmetics, Vineeta Singh became a household name after appearing in the reality TV show Shark Tank India. She completed her B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras between 2001 and 2005. During her college days, she was the PR head of Shaastra - the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. After completing her engineering degree, she went on to do MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

2. Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys)

Krish Gopalakrishnan is a luminaire in India’s IT industry and a celebrated name among techies. He, along with N.R. Narayana Murthy founded Infosys - a global leader and IT services and consultancy. Gopalakrishnan has completed his M.Sc. in Physics and M.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Madras. In 2011, Gopalakrishnan was awarded the Padma Bhushan, which is the highest civilian award in India.

3. Prabhakar Raghavan (Google)

Pravakar Raghavan is the Senior Vice President at Google and is responsible for multiple products, such as Search, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments. In an article on Pravakaran published in the Wired magazine, a highly self-explanatory headline read, “Prabhakar Raghavan Isn’t CEO of Google—He Just Runs the Place”. Raghavan completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras and went on to do a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkely.

4. Animashree Anandkumar (NVDIA)

Animasree Anandkumar is one of the directors of Machine Language research at NVDIA. A Computer Scientist by profession, Anandkumar is also a Bren Professor of Computer Science at the California Institue of Technology. She completed her B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 2004 and went on to do a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

5. Sridhar Vembu (Zoho Corporation)

Sridhar Vembu is the 55th richest person in India according to Forbes magazine with a net worth of USD 3.75 billion (as of 2021). He is the founder and CEO of the Software Company Zoho Corporation. Vembu completed his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 1989 and completed her M.S. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in the US.

6. M. Jagadesh Kumar (University Grants Commission)

M. Jagadesh Kumar, the current head of the University Grants Commission (UGC) who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of JNU before that, is an alumnus of IIT Madras. He completed his B.Tech, M.Tech, and D.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras. Apart from being the Vice-Chancellor of JNU, he has also served in the same post in many other universities in India.

Also read: This IIT-grad Couple Quit Their US-based Jobs & Started Their Farm In Madhya Pradesh!

7. Prem Watsa (Fairfax Financial Holdings)

Nicknamed “the Canadian Warren Buffet”, Prem Watsa is a billionaire who founded Fairfax Financial Holdings, a financial services company based in Toronto. He graduated from IIT Madras with a degree in Chemical Engineering and later did an MBA from the University of West Ontario. The story goes that Watsa left India with only USD 8 and before he made it big, he sold furnaces and air conditioners to support his education in Canada.

8. Shivakumar Venkatraman (Google)

Shivakumar Venkatraman is the VP and head of Google Labs- a division that houses Google’s virtual reality and augmented reality initiatives- including the company’s recent venture into blockchain technology. He graduated from IIT Madras in 1990 and completed his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining Labs, Venkatraman also served as the VP of Google’s search advertising division.

9. Krishna Bharat (Google)

Hailing from the state of Bihar, Krishna Bharat is a distinguished research scientist at Google. He is best known for leading the team of developers that created Google News - a service by Google that automatically indexes 25,000 news websites in more than 35 languages around the world. Bharat did his B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Madras and then went on to do his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, US.

10. R. Prasanna

Prasanna did his Bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture from IIT Madras in 1992 and then went on to join the Berkely College of Music. A maestro of the fusion genre, Prasanna combines Carnatic music with Jazz and rock to create melodies that stay with the listeners. He is one such graduate from IIT Madras whose degree from the institute did not have much influence in the domain where he achieved fame and success later in life.

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Shamik Banerjee

Associate, Content

I'm an avid reader and a football lover. When I'm not at work, you will probably find me invested in some football match. At Unstop, I dig out obscure facts and make them relevant through compelling stories.