60,000th degree presented at IIT-MConvocation, 2,084 students pass out

Chennai, July 13 (UNI) A total of 2,084 students graduated during the 59th Convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), in which the 60,000th degree of the Institute since its inception was also presented. As many as 2,620 degrees (in- including Joint and Dual Degrees) were awarded to the students on the occasion.
The convocation was held in physical mode after a gap of two years. A total of 306 PhDs were also awarded, which includes PhDs, Joint Degree Ph. Ds with foreign institutions, and Dual Degree PhDs. Padma Bhushan N.Chandrasekaran Chairman, Tata Sons, and Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Madras, presided over the convocation in the presence of Prof.V.Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, faculty, staff, and students. In his convocation address, Chan- drasekaran said, “It is a great privilege for all of you to have studied in this wonderful institution and I am pretty sure, it has prepared in you in multiple different ways that you probably may not recognize today.”
Speaking about the opportunities for the graduating students, he said “I think it is an exciting time to start one’s career and definitely so in India. Our economy has grown 100 times in the 75 years from 1947 to today. Our economy was 50 percent agriculture at that time. Now, it is less than 20 percent. Nobody would have predicted India would play a significant role in the technology sector”. Stating that the country’s per capita GDP is going to increase significantly in the next de- cade and decades to come, he said it is clear that it is going to be a digital world and a digital economy. He said “the adoption of digital technologies by everyone, rich and poor, has demonstrated that it has become a behavioral change. Already, businesses that have proprietary AI and Data are differentiating themselves. Businesses have to not only adopt AI and Data but lead with AI and Digital and that requires tech talent.”There is going to be no domain industry that is going to lead by itself, whether it is healthcare or manufacturing- ing and that can happen only when all of you (students) play a role and it is going to be an exciting role driving transformation across sectors”