‘The IIT story is India’s story’

In conversation with Prabhat Kumar, IRS (Principal Additional Director General, NACIN, Mumbai, and Chairman of Pan IIT Alumni India)

An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Prabhat has authored the landmark book IIT: The Story of India’s Most Prestigious Educational Ecosystem. In this free-wheeling interview, he talks about his journey from a small Bihar village to leading the world’s most influential alumni network, his vision of “From Silicon Valley to Indus Valley”, and why IITians must now become the architects of a Viksit Bharat.

Q. Your journey began in a village in Bihar. What was the turning point that set you on the path to IIT Delhi and then the Indian Revenue Service?

A: I often say I was a “boy with no dreams” until Class VIII. My school in Dumka once invited a young lady IAS officer to speak to us. She spoke about service, not power. That one interaction changed my life. Later, I cracked the IIT entrance. After my Master’s, I chose the IRS - not because I had a second option, but because I believed that revenue administration is the backbone of nation-building. Every tax collected builds a road, a school, a hospital. That was my covenant.

Q. You are now the Chairman of Pan IIT Alumni India. How has the organisation evolved under your leadership?

A: Pan IIT was already a strong network - over 500,000 alumni across 23 IITs. But we were seen largely as a networking and social platform. I wanted to turn it into a catalyst for national transformation. We have launched focused initiatives: the PARINITI AI Think Tank to shape sovereign AI policy, a proposed venture fund for deep-tech startups and a series of high-impact summits - Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai - with more coming in Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Patna and a mega event in Delhi.

Q. You often use the phrase “From Silicon Valley to Indus Valley”. What does it mean?

A: For decades, the brightest IITians left for America. That was brain drain. But today, India has changed. The Government has created an enabling atmosphere - the Rs 1.2 lakh crore RDI fund, the India AI Mission, the National Quantum Mission, PLI schemes, a semiconductor push and a massive data centre push. The world is looking at India as a destination for innovation and manufacturing. So my appeal is simple: return to the new Indus Valley — not with nostalgia, but with purpose. Build here, scale here, die here.

Q. Your book, IIT: The Story of India’s Most Prestigious Educational Ecosystem, has just been published. What is its central theme?

A: The book is not a memoir. It is a mirror and a compass. It traces the IITs from the Hijli Detention Camp - where freedom fighters were once imprisoned - to 23 campuses producing world class talent. It celebrates the Bhakra Brigade, the early graduates who chose nation before self. But it also asks hard questions: the salary hype, the mental health crisis, the flight from core engineering, and the pressure of placements. My message is that the IITs were not built to produce crorepati coders alone. They were built to not only to create the physical and digital infrastructure of India but India itself.

Q. What kind of response have you received from the IIT diaspora?

A: Overwhelming. When I was in Los Angeles earlier this year, Shashi Tripathi, the event Chair of Pan IIT Long Beach event that happened in April, hosted a dinner in my honour. More than 50 IITians from across Southern California came to listen. They asked sharp questions: “Is it really the right time to return?” “What about my children’s education?” “Can I really build a global company from India?” My answer is: look at the evidence. IITians have already built Flipkart, Zomato, Zoho, Ola, Razorpay — billion-dollar companies from Indian soil. The Government is actively courting deep tech and hardware ventures.

Q. You have launched the PARINITI AI Think Tank. Why is sovereign AI so critical for India?

A: Most Indian enterprises and government applications run on foreign foundational models. That is convenient, but dangerous. Sovereignty in AI means owning the entire stack - data, models, compute, applications. We cannot allow sensitive citizen data to be processed by models trained on foreign values and subject to foreign laws. PARINITI is not an academic exercise; it is a policy action group. We are preparing to work with policy makers, regulators and industry to create frameworks for frugal compute, Indian language models, and AI native digital public infrastructure.

Q. You also speak about a proposed venture fund. What gap will it fill?

A: Deep-tech startups in India struggle to get patient capital — long-term, risk-tolerant funding. Most venture capitalists want quick exits. The Government’s RDI scheme has a Rs 20,000 crore fund-of-funds and Rs 80,000 crore debt fund but that works at scale. We need an alumni-driven fund that can write the first cheque for a semi-conductor design startup or a space-tech venture. The Pan IIT venture fund will fill that gap — providing capital, mentorship and access to global markets.

Q. Many IITians today are focused on high-paying jobs in finance or software. How do you convince them to think about nation-building?

A: A high-paying job can still be a platform for giving back. But I ask them to expand their definition of success. The salary hype is a trap a Rs 1.2 crore domestic package leaves barely Rs 55-60 lakh in hand after taxes. A $2,00,000 US offer often saves less than $40,000 a year after living costs. Meanwhile, India is offering unprecedented opportunities to build real assets factories, rockets, AI models, semiconductor fabs.

Q. You have been waking up at 4.30 am to write your book. What drives that discipline?

A: (laughs) It’s not heroism; it’s necessity. I have a full-time job as a senior IRS officer, and I chair Pan IIT. The only time I could steal was early morning. For more than a year, I wrote for four hours before my official day began. My family made sacrifices. But I believed that the IIT story needed to be told — not by an outsider, but by someone who has lived it. That conviction kept me going. Discipline is not about motivation; it is about commitment to a purpose larger than yourself.

Q. JEE Advanced result has just been published and the admission season is on. What is your final message to young IIT entrants and current students?

A: First, congratulations on cracking the JEE - it is an extraordinary achievement. But do not let the rank become your identity. You are entering a temple of learning, but the real pilgrimage is what you do after you leave. Read my book - not because I wrote it, but because it will help you make informed choices about branches, about careers, about life. And remember the watchtower of Hijli. Its light now falls on Bengaluru, Delhi, and California. Carry that lantern forward. Build here, scale here, die here. The IIT story is India’s story — and the next chapter is yours.