BITS-Pilani honours 13 eminent alumni at award ceremony

The Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, has honoured its 13 eminent alumni at an award ceremony, according to an official statement.

The Distinguished Alumnus Awards (DAA) were conferred on Sushil Kumar Roongta, ex-chairman of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Pramad Jandhyala, the co-founder of Latentview Analytics and others, it stated.

This year, BITS Pilani has introduced two more awards – BITS Ratna Awards – the highest recognition the institute will have for an alumnus, and the Distinguished Service Awards (DSA).

Prashanth Palakurthi, the founder of Reflexis Systems and a noted philanthropist, received the BITS Ratna Award for his service to the corporate world, community, and to BITS-Pilani.

The Distinguished Services Award has been conferred on Late Capt. K Ravi Shanker of the 118 Engineer Regiment posthumously. He was killed during Operation Rakshak in the year 1997. DSA was also conferred on four other alumni.

The recipients were nominated by their peers from around the world and were selected by a committee led by Amitabh Chaudhry, the MD, Axis Bank, and a previous BITS Pilani DAA Awardee himself. Arya Kumar, the Dean of Alumni Relations, said, “Entrepreneurship as a career option continues to be their passion in life as around 10 per cent of the alumni plunge into this journey eventually.” At present 10 unicorns such as Swiggy, MPL, Bigbasket and Groww in India have been founded or co-founded by a BITSian. These awards are a humble way to recognise the contribution of our alumni to society,” Kumar said.