IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal pledges Rs 100 cr to alma mater IIT Kanpur

The funds would be invested in establishing the School of Medical Sciences and Technology on the IIT Kanpur campus.

In one of the largest private donations made to an educational entity, IndiGo Co-founder Rakesh Gangwal has pledged to donate Rs 100 crore to his alma mater Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, to establish a medical school on the campus.

The agreement was signed between the institute and Gangwal on Monday to support the flagship medical project. The proposed school will be named ‘Gangwal School of Medical Sciences and Technology' where he will join its Advisory Board. 

“The proposed medical school will play an important role in driving IIT Kanpur’s innovations in medical research and technology and catapult India into the global league of institutions that are converging medical sciences and technology to benefit humankind,” said IIT Kanpur Director Abhay Karandikar.

“I am proud to see the institution that has produced thousands of leaders across various sectors, is now paving the way in the healthcare sector. More than ever, healthcare is intertwined with technological advances and this school will accelerate innovation in healthcare,” Gangwal noted.

With this development, IIT Kanpur will converge its technology and innovation capabilities with medical sciences to catapult the institute into the league of global institutions. This will be achieved through the Centers of Excellence (CoE) on futuristic medicine and a super-specialty hospital.

The proposed institution will be completed in two phases. Phase I of the project will include a 500-bed super-specialty hospital, academic block, residential/hostel, and service block with a total built-up area of 810,000 sq ft., which will include setting up CoE for R&D as well. This phase is tentatively planned to be completed over the next 3-5 years.

Phase II will see the hospital capacity grow to 1,000 beds, expand in clinical departments, research areas, the inclusion of paramedical disciplines, alternative medicine, hospital management, sports medicine, and public health programmes over a period of 7-10 years.