BITS Pilani alumni pledge over $15 million for endowment fund

In January, Pratul Shroff of the 1971 batch of BITS Pilani and founder and former CEO of Einfochips pledged $1 million for the endowment fund of the institute.

Three BITS Pilani alumni have pledged more than $2.5 million towards an endowment fund, taking the total commitment to more than $15 million, the engineering institutes said on August 21.

The institute is in the process of announcing a $100-million endowment fund from its alumni, which provide greater access to meritorious students to fulfil their dream of attaining education at BITS Pilani, the institute said in a statement.

“Our alumni community has shown incredible enthusiasm for the BITS endowment fund. Their passion to participate both as individuals and collectively shows their deep commitment towards the future of BITS, Pilani,” vice chancellor Prof V Ramgopal Rao said.

“This generosity by these alumni leaders - Prem, Preetish, and Sreenivasa - is extremely inspiring. They are leading the way and showing everyone the power of coming together for their alma mater.”

While Prem Jain is a 1968 batch student and a serial entrepreneur, M Sreenivasa Reddy is chairman of the Ektha Group and Preetish Nijhawan is the chairperson of BITSAA International and co-founder of Cervin Ventures and former co-founder of Akamai Technologies.

In January, Pratul Shroff of the 1971 batch and founder and former CEO of Einfochips pledged  $1 million.

An additional Rs 4.5 crore will be contributed over five years towards establishing 10 full fellowships to support cutting-edge research at BITS Pilani and another 10 for meritorious students from economically disadvantaged households, the engineering school said in a statement.