Distinguished Alumnus Awardees 2023



Prof. Atish Dabholkar

(MSC5/PHY/1985)
Director, Assistant Director General , International Centre for Theoretical Physics, UNESCO
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Prof. Pankaj Jalote

(BT/EE/1980)
Distinguished Professor (Founding Director 2008-2018) ,Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi
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Dr. Charu Chandra Aggarwal

(BT/CSE/1993)
Distinguished Research Staff (DRSM) at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
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Prof. Ashish Goel

(BT/CSE/1994)
Professor at Stanford University
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Mr. Anup Bagchi

(BT/CHE/1990)
Managing Director CEO, ICICI Pru Life Insurance
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Mr. Durga Shanker Mishra

(BT/EE/1983)
Chief Secretary Uttar Pradesh
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Mr. Prashant Jain

(BT/ME/1989)
Former Chief Investment Ofcr/Exec Dir, HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd.
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Prof. Yashwant Gupta

(BT/EE/1985)
Centre Director National Centre for Radio Astrophysics Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
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Dr. Renu Mehra

(BT/EE/1991)
Vice President, Engineering, Synopsys Inc.
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Mr. Rajnish Kumar

(BT/CSE/2001)
Co-Founder & Group CPTO, ixigo (Le Travenues Technology Ltd)
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Dr. Venkat Krishnamurthy

(BT/CSE/1992)
President and co-founder of Alignable, Inc
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Mr. Anil Bansal

(BT/MME/1977)
President, Reality National Management, Inc.
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Distinguished Alumnus Awardees 2022



Mr. Deepak Dev Raj

(BT/EE/1970)
Founder & MD, Raj Associated, New Jersey
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Dr. Ruchir Puri

(MT/EE/1990)
Chief Scientist, IBM Research, New York, USA.
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Dr. Smita Agarwal Hashim

(BT/EE/1986)
Vice President, Microsoft Inc., USA
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Mr. Rajendra Bhattarai

(BT/CE/1976)
President, Clean Water Strategies University of Texas, Austin, USA
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Prof. Vivek Sarkar

(BT/EE/1981)
Chair, School of Computer Science Stephen Fleming Chair for Telecommunications College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
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Mr. Aloke Bajpai

(MT/EE/2001)
Co-founder & Group CEO, ixigo
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Prof. Sanjay Ranka

(BT/CSE/1985)
Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida
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Mr. Ranodeb Roy

(BT/CSE/1990)
Co-founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer RV Capital Management, Singapore
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Prof. Ratnesh Kumar

(BT/EE/1987)
Palmer Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department Iowa State University
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Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi

(BT/MT/ME/1972/1974)
Director,Trustee & Hon. Secretary
Nimbkar Agriculture Reserach Institute,Maharashtra
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Prof. Deepak Dhar

(MSC2/PHY/1973)
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
IISER Pune
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About the Award

The Distinguished Alumnus Award (DAA), started in 1989, is the highest award given by IIT Kanpur to its alumni in recognition of their outstanding achievements. Every year, the institute works with its alumni to honour individuals who have made a mark in their respective fields of expertise. They are selected for the award based on specific meritorious services on behalf of the quality and advancement of IITK, distinguished accomplishments in business and professional life and/or distinguished human service in community affairs.

Nominations can be made for outstanding achievements in various pursuits under the following categories:

  • Academic Excellence
  • Professional Excellence
  • Entrepreneurship and Management
  • Any other activity pertaining to the service of Humanity at large.

Evaluation Committee

The evaluation committee for the award, as approved by the board of governors of IIT Kanpur, comprises of:


  • Director, IIT Kanpur as the Chairman.
  • One Past Distinguished Alumnus Awardee (Entrepreneurship Excellence) as a Member.
  • One Past Distinguished Alumnus Awardee (Management Excellence) as a Member.
  • One Past Distinguished Alumnus Awardee (Professional Excellence) as a Member.
  • One Past Distinguished Alumnus Awardee (Academic Excellence) as a Member.
  • Dean of Students Affairs as Member.
  • Dean of Resources and Alumni as Member.
  • Faculty member, IIT Kanpur (non-alumnus) as a Member.
  • Secretary, Alumni Association as Member Secretary.



Distinguished Alumnus Awardees 2021



Mr. Rakesh Bhargava

(BT/CHE/1973)
Former Chairman Fresenius Kabi Oncology Ltd.
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Ms. Vartika Shukla

(BT/CHE/1988)
Chairperson & Managing Director Engineers India Limited
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Mr. Hemant Jalan

(BT/CHE/1977)
Managing Director Indigo Paints Ltd.
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Shri Ashwini Kumar Vaishnaw

(MT/IME/1994)
Cabinet Minister Ministry of Railways Govt. of India
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Mr. Mukesh Bansal

(BT/CSE/1997)
CEO and Co-founder CureFit
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Mr. Saurabh Chandra

(BT/EE/1976)
Director & Chairman Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd.
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Mr. Rahul Garg

(BT/EE/2001)
Founder & CEO Moglix
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Prof. Rajesh Kumar Gupta

(BT/EE/1984)
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of California, San Diego, USA.
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Prof. Vijay Vittal

(MT/EE/1979)
Regents Professor Arizona State University, USA.
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Prof. Abhay Lalit Deshpande

(MSC2/PHY/1987)
Department of Physics & Astronomy Stony Brook University, USA.
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Dr. Dev Joneja

(BT/ME/1984)
Chief Risk Officer Exodus Point Capital Management, USA.
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Distinguished Alumnus Awardees 2020


Prof. Deepak Divan

(BT/EE/1975)
Director, Center for Distributed Energy Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Prof. Ashok Gadgil

(MSC2/PHY/1973)
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Prof. Rupak Majumdar

(BT/CSE/1998)
Director, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, Germany.
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Prof. Meenakshi Narain

(MSC2/PHY/1984)
Professor of Physics at Brown University, USA.
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Prof. C. Mauli Agrawal

(BT/ME/1982)
Chancellor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, USA.
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Prof. Mukul M. Sharma

(BT/ChE/1980)
Professor at Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
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Air Marshal Raj Karan Singh Shera

(MT/EE/1990)
Air Marshal, Air Officer Commanding in Chief Maintenance Command (retd.).
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Mr. R. K. Mathur

(BT/ME/1975)
First Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
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Mr. Neelkanth Mishra

(BT/CSE/1997)
The Indian Strategist and Co-head of Equity Strategy, Asia Pacific, for Credit Suisse
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Mr. Gokul Rajaram

(BT/CSE/1995)
Executive team at DoorDash.
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Dr. Ashish Gupta

(BT/CSE/1988)
Co-founder and Senior Managing Director, Helion Advisors.
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Dr. Subrata Mitra

(BT/CSE/1988)
Partner at Accel
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Mr. Rajiv Batra

(BT/EE/1982)
Founder of Palo Alto Networks
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Mr. Ranjan Tandon

(BT/ME/1972)
Founder of Libra Advisors LLC
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Dr. Anand Jagannathan

(BT/EE/1974)
Founder, CEO at Engage Social.
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Dr. Rajeev Gautam

(BT/CHE/1974)
President and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials & Technologies.
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Mr. Ved Arya

(BT/AE/1979)
Founder at Srijan, Founder at Buddha Fellowship Program, Founder at SRIJAN Infratech & Development Services (SIDS).
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