IIT Madras aims to have around 1,000 startups under its fold by 2032, with the goal of at least one of them going through an initial public offering (IPO) every month, said its Director, Professor V Kamakoti. Addressing the IIT Madras Alumni Association’s Sangam 2026 meet in Bengaluru on Saturday,Prof. Kamakotisaid the institute has already incubated 583 startups, which command a valuation of Rs 83,000 crore. He said IIT Madras incubates around 100 startups each year and 75% of them are founded by individuals who do not belong to the institute. IIT Madras has backed several startups, including electric two-wheeler manufacturerAther Energy, Agnikul Cosmos, Uniphore, and Stellapps. The theme of the alumni meet this year is “Atmanirbhar Bharat: Building a Self-Reliant India”. Prof Kamakoti highlighted the need of the country to develop sovereign technologies and said thatIIT Madrashas been granted 472 patents highlighting its research prowess. Addressing the gathering, Zoho co-founderSridhar Vembualso stressed on the importance of India becoming self-reliant in technology. He said the current global political and economic climate should add further urgency to this goal. He said there is an ongoing debate around the merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions, but similar discussions have not taken place around the charges small businesses have to pay for using messaging platforms such as WhatsApp. He added that technologies imported from outside the country also carry the risk of being switched off. According to Vembu, the biggest challenge facing nations today is the concentration of technological power among a few companies. He said that unless these monopolies are broken, the benefits of technology are unlikely to reach a larger section of the population. Addressing the gathering, Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi said such meets are a reminder of creating our own technology, strengthening manufacturing and nurturing the entrepreneurs to take and take Indian innovation to the world. He said IIT Madras created a new benchmark in research innovation and has demonstrated that deep technology can be successfully built in India. “The country is increasingly going from being a technology adopter to becoming a creator and exporter,” he said.
