11 Notable IIT Kharagpur Alumni Who Made it Big With Tech

IT Kharagpur is a proud Institution that has brought out pioneers in the field of technology. The esteemed institute has been the temple of innovations. Its alumni have marked a niche in tech innovations from Google to HCL to startups. Thus, in this article, we have a look at a few brilliant tech-enthusiasts from the IIT Kharagpur alumni list.

1. Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, and Alphabet

Sundar Pichai

Well, who doesn't know Sundar Pichai? He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google LLC.

Pichai began his career as a materials engineer. He joined Google in 2004. Further, he led the product management and innovation efforts for a suite of Google's client software products, including Google Chrome and Chrome OS. He was also largely responsible for Google Drive.

Further, he oversaw the development of other applications such as Gmail and Google Maps. In 2010, Pichai also announced the open-sourcing of the new video codec VP8 by Google and introduced the new video format, WebM. The Chromebook was out in 2012. Further, in 2013, Pichai added Android to the list of Google products that he oversaw. Larry Page selected Pichai to become the next CEO of Google on August 10, 2015.

Coming from a humble beginning, earned his degree from the IIT Kharagpur in metallurgical engineering. Further, he is a distinguished alumnus from that institution.

2. Vinod Gupta, Founder of InfoFree

(with ex-US Prez Bill Clinton) Vinod Gupta

Vinod Gupta created Infofree.com. It is a subscription-based, SaaS company that provides sales leads, email lists, and CRM to businesses. Vinod Gupta was also the founder of Salesgenie, InfoUSA, and Infogroup. He is the Indian Iron Man- an inventor, businessman, philanthropist, and popular among the people as he is a Democrat Politician.

In 2010, Gupta founded DatabaseUSA.com. Gupta later founded and/or acquired a number of businesses, including A to Z Databases, Express-Copy, InfoFree, JangoMail, LocatePlus, and LP Police, which are owned by the Everest Group, Gupta's family office, and investment corporation.

President Clinton appointed Gupta to serve as a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Gupta was nominated (and confirmed) to serve as the United States Consul General to Bermuda, as well as the United States ambassador to Fiji.

3. Arjun Malhotra, Co-founder of HCL Technologies

Arjun Malhotra

Malhotra is an Indian entrepreneur, industrialist, and philanthropist. In 1975, Malhotra co-founded HCL Group, where he served as the vice-chairman. He also founded TechSpan and served as chief executive officer of US-based firm Headstrong after the two companies merged. He also co-founded SPIC MACAY along with his college friend Kiran Seth for the promotion of Indian music and culture amongst the youth.

An active alumnus, he is Chairman of Board of Vision 2020, an IIT Alumni lead initiative to help IIT raise endowment funds. He is on the Board of Governors of IIT Kharagpur- Foundation, ISB Hyderabad, IIM Udaipur, IIM Shillong. Further, he is also a member of the Indian Public Schools Society that runs the Doon School. He is also an Executive Council member of NASSCOM.

4. Rahul Jaimini, ex-Cofounder of Swiggy

Rahul Jaimini

Jaimini is an IIT Kharagpur 2010 graduate. He went on to intern with Virginia Tech and Philips Research for three months each. Then, he has worked at NetApp for almost three years. At NetApp, he was the part of the Data Protection Group where he was responsible for the development, testing, and debugging of operating and file systems that ran the app. He created data protection technologies through duplication and redundancy.

After NetApp, he joined the eCommerce firm Myntra. There he was a senior software engineer. He also headed a small team that had a project to handle discounting, pricing, and promotion engine. He was responsible to make it fast and design on revenue-impacting projects. Today, the program can handle all types of Offline Store Discounts.

Rahul founded Swiggy along with Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy in 2014. He was the primary tech developer at Swiggy. This included platform engineering, analytics, IT, and Swiggy Labs. He also oversaw Swiggy’s evolution into the complex system that harnesses the terabytes of data. He developed AI/ML to deliver personalized experiences at scale.

Swiigy had been home to Rahul for over 6 years. The three founders met through mutual friends and made Swiggy one of the largest food-tech company in India. On May 7, 2020, Jaimini joined Pesto Tech, a career accelerator startup as their cofounder.

5. Prith Banerjee, ANYSYS, Accenture and HP Labs

Prith Banerjee

Banerjee is currently the CTO at ANSYS, a leader in engineering simulation. In this role, he leads the evolution of ANSYS' technology and champions the company's next phase of innovation and growth.

Previously, he has worked as VP and CTO of Schneider Electric and as SCP at Korn Ferry. Prior to that, he was MD Global Technology R&D at Accenture. Earlier, he was CTO and VP of ABB. Earlier, he was SVP of research at HP and a Director of HP Labs. He even taught at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University. He received a B.Tech. (President's Gold Medalist) in electronics engineering from the IIT Kharagpur; and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana.

6. Dr. Mani Bhaumik, invented LASIK, Received Padma Shri Award

Dr. Mani Bhaumik

Bhaumik is a USA-based physicist. He invented the vision correction laser technology. He won the Padma Shri for his work in science and engineering in 2011. Bhaumik has also published over fifty papers in various professional journals and is a holder of a dozen laser-related U.S. patents.

Infact, he was the first person to be awarded a Ph.D. at IIT Kharagpur in 1958! The 89-year-old invented the successful and the world's first efficient excimer laser in May 1973. Subsequently, it found extensive use as the type of laser that made possible the immensely popular Lasik eye surgery, eliminating the need for glasses or contact lenses in many cases requiring vision correction.

Further, his search spanned a decade and led him to the inference that the One Source at the hub of all spiritual traditions is grounded in scientific reality and not a mere creation of blind faith. He also argues that science and spirituality are indeed two sides of the same coin, the coin being that unique human consciousness that allows us to perceive both ourselves and objective reality.

In 2014, his foundation had a 15-acre land in the heart of Kolkata which he has wanted to donate it to IIT Kharagpur to create a world-class research center to make an impact in the region.

7. Sachin Jaiswal, co-founder of Niki.ai

Sachin Jaiswal

In April 2015, four friends and graduates from IIT Kharagpur launched Niki.ai, a chatbot that is also a virtual shopping assistant for customers. The company has been backed by Mr. Ratan Tata & Unilazer Ventures among other investors.

Before co-founding Niki.ai, Sachin also confounded InnovAccer, where he was the VP of Business Development and Operations. Prior to that, he was Product Manager at Oracle Financial Services Software. At IIT Kharagpur, he was also the VP for External Relations and Local Committee President.

8. Madhumita Agarwal, Co-founder of IPexcel

Madhumita Agarwal

She is an IIT Kharagpur and IIM Bangalore Alumni. Further, she holds a B.Tech, Biotechnology, an LLB degree with a specialization in IP laws, and an MBA. She heads the Business Development of IPexcel and is responsible for the growth of the organization. Her expertise includes Technology Analysis & Consulting, Intellectual Property Protection, Commercialization, and Technology Scouting.

Also, she is highly active in the Start-up Ecosystem and brings a great network of connections to help companies find the right partners and customers. She has helped multiple companies with Technology Commercialization & Technology Scouting Services. On a social front, she is also the Secretary for the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association.

9. Suresh Vaswani, ex-Chairman, Dell Services

Suresh Vaswani

Vaswani is a Senior Director and Operating Partner of the Everstone Group. He is on the board of group companies including i.e. Innoveo AG, Servion Global Solutions, and Omega Healthcare. He is also an independent director with Vodafone Idea Limited and an external advisor to Bain Consulting.

Prior to this, Vaswani has worked as the General Manager - Solutions, Delivery and Transformation at IBM Global Technology Services and headed the global Applications & BPO services business for Dell Services. He was also the Chairman of Dell India and Joint Chief Officer of Wipro's IT Business. At Wipro, he was also the Member of the Board.

10. Dr Biswadip "Bobby" Mitra, MD, Texas Instruments India

Dr. Biswadip "Bobby" Mitra

This IIT Kharagpur alumnus has dedicated his life to Texas Instruments. He joined TI in 1986. Further, Dr Mitra holds a B.Tech degree in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, both from IIT Kharagpur. He also holds an Executive Masters of Business Administration degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

11. Chanakya Hridaya, Co-Founder of BlackBuck

(L-R) Chanakya Hridaya and Rajesh Yabaji

Chanakya Hridaya is the Co-Founder of Blackbuck. He did his Bachelor's and Master's degree from IIT Kharagpur. Later, he co-founded BlackBuck, which has been a pioneer in bringing the offline operations of trucking online. These further include matching a shipper with a trucker or reshaping the infrastructure around trucking to facilitate payments, insurance, and financial services. It is an online marketplace that connects large and small companies with truckers and freight operators across 300 locations in India on a real-time basis.

Chanakya and the co-founders met in the supply-chain division of ITC Ltd. Hridaya, prior to joining ITC in 2013, had interned at the company under Rajesh Yabaji (co-founder) in 2011.