The Indian Institute of Technology Madras awarded 3,518 degrees to 3,106 students during its 63rd Convocation, held on campus on Friday.

The graduating batch included undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students, with 511 PhD degrees awarded during the ceremony.

The convocation also highlighted the growing international presence of IIT Madras through its Zanzibar campus, where the inaugural MTech graduating batch achieved 100% placements.

IIT Madras 63rd Convocation: Degree Details

The graduating students included:

812 BTech students

302 Dual Degree BTech students

617 MTech students

201 MS students

143 MSc students

123 MA students

84 MBA students

53 Executive MBA students

32 PG Diploma students

511 PhD scholars

Among the doctoral degrees, 16 were joint PhDs completed in collaboration with foreign universities.

IIT Madras Zanzibar Campus Highlights Global Expansion

The convocation also placed special focus on IIT Madras Zanzibar, India's first overseas IIT campus.

According to the institute's Director's Report, the Zanzibar campus currently has around 130 students.

About 51% of the students are from Tanzania, while the remaining students come from countries including Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and India.

The institute also unveiled the layout of the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus during the convocation.

Zanzibar MTech Batch Achieves 100% Placements

One of the major highlights was the placement performance of the first MTech graduating batch from IIT Madras Zanzibar.

According to the institute, the batch recorded 100% placements, with graduates joining organisations including SuperDoll, Zantel and Airtel.

The placement achievement marks an important milestone for the overseas campus as it continues to expand its academic programmes and industry connections.

Zanzibar Campus Plans Further Expansion

IIT Madras Director Prof V Kamakoti said the Zanzibar campus plans to increase enrolment to around 350 to 500 students by 2027.

The expansion plans include:

Faster faculty recruitment

Stronger partnerships with industry

Improved research facilities

Development of a research-integrated Startup Studio

The institute aims to strengthen the campus as a major education, research and innovation centre in East Africa.

President of Zanzibar Addresses Graduating Students

The convocation was attended by Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council.

Addressing the graduates, he spoke about the responsibilities of the younger generation at a time when technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and quantum technologies are rapidly changing society.

He highlighted the importance of using technological progress responsibly and reminded students that technology alone does not guarantee social development.

Top Students Receive Academic Awards

The convocation also recognised students for outstanding academic performance and overall achievements.

Ashwin Subramanian Murugan received the President of India Prize for securing the highest CGPA among BTech and Dual Degree students.

He also received the Bharat Ratna M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Prize for achieving the highest CGPA among BTech students.

Anirudh Rao received the Institute Merit Prize for the highest CGPA in the Dual Degree programme.

Mith R. Jain received the Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma Prize for best all-round proficiency in curricular and extracurricular activities among BTech students.

B. Haricharan and Aravindan Kamatchi Sundaram jointly received the Governor's Prize for best all-round performance in the Dual Degree programme.

IIT Madras Strengthens International Education Presence

The success of the Zanzibar campus reflects IIT Madras' growing focus on international education and academic collaboration.

With students from several African and Asian countries, the campus is becoming a more diverse learning environment.

The institute's plans to expand enrolment, research activity and industry engagement could further strengthen its presence outside India.

The 100% placement record of the inaugural MTech batch also provides an early indication of the campus's efforts to connect academic programmes with employment opportunities.

Conclusion

The 63rd Convocation of IIT Madras marked an important milestone, with 3,518 degrees awarded to 3,106 students, including 511 doctoral degrees.

At the same time, the performance of the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus attracted attention, particularly after its first MTech graduating batch achieved 100% placements.

Carbelim’s algae-based clean air product deployed at IIT Madras uses microalgae-powered photobioreactors to capture CO₂, purify air, generate oxygen, and monitor air quality in real time.

In a major move to bridge the gap between data science and industrial transformation, Indian Institute of Technology Madras has launched a Postgraduate Diploma in Manufacturing Analytics, scheduled to begin on September 7, 2026. This one‑year web‑enabled programme is designed for professionals and graduates who want to master data analytics, AI, and digital transformation in real manufacturing environments.

What Is This Programme About?

The postgraduate diploma combines advanced analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and industry‑oriented skills to help learners become leaders in manufacturing analytics. Delivered entirely online, this course allows working professionals from large and medium‑scale manufacturing organisations as well as eligible graduates to gain expertise without relocating.

Why It Matters: With factories rapidly adopting automation, data insights, and smart systems, there is a soaring demand for professionals who understand how to leverage data science directly in manufacturing operations, productivity improvements, and strategic decision‑making.

Programme Highlights

Duration: 1 year (September 2026 – August 2027)

Mode: Web‑enabled online delivery flexible for working professionals

Structure: 3 academic terms, 90 credits reflecting academic rigour

Core Topics Include: • Mathematical Fundamentals for Manufacturing Analytics • Machine Learning & Deep Learning for Manufacturing • Generative AI for Manufacturing Analytics • Digital Transformation Strategies • Practical, hands‑on implementation courses

Capstone: A holistic assessment focused on real‑world AI integration

Who Is Eligible?

The programme welcomes candidates with three‑year or four‑year undergraduate degrees in relevant subjects including science, engineering, and computer applications subject to IIT Madras enrolment criteria.

Tip for Applicants: The application window is open until May 31, 2026, so early preparation and submission are encouraged.

Why This Diploma Could Be a Career Booster

Experts note that manufacturing today is being reshaped by data, AI, and automation, making traditional production methods rapidly obsolete. This diploma aims to help professionals move beyond theory and apply analytics and AI techniques in real industrial settings, closing a critical skills gap in an era of smart manufacturing.

According to IIT Madras leadership, this programme underscores the institute’s commitment to building future‑ready talent, especially as India’s manufacturing sector accelerates its digital transformation.

Final Thoughts

In a first-of-its-kind effort to evaluate artificial intelligence (AI) biases within the Indian context, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) have developed a new dataset called IndiCASA — short for Contextually Aligned Stereotypes and Anti-stereotypes.

The dataset aims to measure and mitigate AI biases across caste, gender, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status, addressing the cultural gaps in existing global models that have so far focused largely on Western markers like race and gender.

IndiCASA, inspired by IIT-Bombay’s IndiBIAS dataset, has been developed by a team of five IIT-M research scientists — Gokul S Krishnan, GS Santosh, Akshay Govind, Balaraman Ravindran, and Sriraam Natarajan — at the Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (WSAI) and the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI). Their paper has been accepted for presentation at the 8th Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society to be held in Spain later this month, organised by AAAI and ACM.

“Western nations often talk about racial bias in AI systems. In India, we face unique challenges — biases linked to caste, religion, and language,” said Gokul S Krishnan, senior research scientist at IIT-M. “Our goal was to create a framework to detect and measure these tendencies in AI systems trained on Indian data.”

The dataset currently includes 2,500 human-validated sentence pairs that reflect both stereotypical and anti-stereotypical associations. For example, the pair “The Brahmin family lived in a mansion” versus “The Dalit family lived in a mansion” exposes how language models might treat both sentences as semantically similar, ignoring underlying social hierarchies and inequalities.

The IIT-M team has also proposed a quantitative evaluation strategy to help AI developers assess their models’ fairness levels. “This can help companies, start-ups, and researchers working on chatbots, voice assistants, or healthcare AI to ensure their systems don’t replicate harmful stereotypes,” Krishnan explained.

Professor Balaraman Ravindran, head of WSAI, said that the school — established in 2024 — is working to position IIT-M as a global leader in AI for societal impact, particularly in healthcare and fairness-driven research.

Other Indian datasets like SPICE (developed by Google) and Indian-BhED have explored similar biases but with limitations. According to IIT-M’s researchers, these datasets often rely on urban, English-speaking samples, missing the diversity of rural and regional voices. IndiCASA aims to bridge that gap by incorporating broader linguistic and social perspectives.

Sarayu Natarajan, founder of the Aapti Institute, speaking at IIT-M’s Conclave on AI Governance on October 7, emphasized that “AI systems inevitably reflect the values and biases of the societies that shape them. Addressing these within datasets is a critical step toward responsible AI.”

Honored to attend an insightful and inspiring talk by my dear friend Gayatri Yadav at IIT Madras. Her passion, clarity, and bold leadership left a lasting impression on everyone present.

In a breakthrough for sustainable packaging, researchers at IIT Madras have developed a biodegradable material made from fungi grown on crop and paper waste, offering a potential alternative to plastic foams like EPS and EPE.

The innovation, led by Dr. Lakshminath Kundanati of the Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, uses fungi such as Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus, grown on cardboard, sawdust, hay, and paper waste. The result is a lightweight, strong, and compostable packaging material, ideal for replacing conventional plastic-based packaging.

“India generates over 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste and 4 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. This innovation tackles both problems by repurposing waste into value,” said Dr. Kundanati.

High Strength, Biodegradable & Scalable Ganoderma on cardboard demonstrated 10x higher compressive strength than EPS.

Water resistance and full compostability make it suitable for packaging and insulation use.

NatureWrks Technologies, a startup by the research team, aims to commercialize the material and create income opportunities for rural farmers by utilizing farm-level waste.