Addressing the graduating students at the Convocation 2016 of BITS-Pilani, the co-inventor of the 'Simputer'and currently chairman and managing director of Strand Life Sciences, urged them to dream and innovate more to "reap India's demographic dividend".
"There is a massive wave of entrepreneurial energy coursing through the nation's arteries.
"If we could connect this enthusiasm with the excellence in basic and applied research at our higher educational institutions, the possibility of a new growth engine that has more enduring value to society seems within reach," he said.
Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chancellor of BITS-Pilani, who could not attend the function, sent a message, which was read out by its Vice-Chancellor Souvik Bhatttacharyya.
"You are privileged because the education you have received is among the best the country offers...
"This privilege places an obligation on you, to be aware of the responsibility on you to better the world around you, and reach out to those who are not as fortunate as you have been.
"Also, think big. Do not trap yourself into an insulated cocoon of timidity. Do not be slave to the small, the incremental, the usual, the routine, the accepted, or the safe.
"In setting your targets turn your gaze to the heavens, the stars, the oceans, the vast forest and the mightiest peak.
"Get your inspiration from your heroes, the titans of civilization, no matter who they are - Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Edison.
"Steve Jobs, the Dalai Lama, Don Bradman, whoever.
"You pick the star you want to navigate by," he said in his message.
were from undergraduate programmes, 268 higher degrees and 57 from PhD programmes, the institution said.
Besides, its main campus in Pilani, the famed institution has centres in Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai.
Birla in his message emphasised that the gap between the have and the have-nots, between the educated and the not-so-well educated is "widening" which could have repercussions on the social fabric.
"The Leave EU vote in Britain has brought to the fore uncertainties ... In the US radical, divisive and ugly forces of society are rearing the head ...
The conventional constructs of economics too are also proving inadequate in today's world," he said.
"So, there you have, the clouds swirling about us, as also a silver lining ...
"As part of an elite, with an enviable education under your belt, what would be your response? I say make a mark," Birla said.
Vice-Chancellor Bhattacharyyaa speaking of the entrepreneurial spirit of BITS-Pilani said, "The Technology Business Incubator at K K Birla Goa campus in 2015-16 had four start-ups incubating physically and two as virtual incubates.
Project Mudra, a start-up associated with Braille-based education for visually-impaired people is one of six Indian companies to win GREAT Tech Rocketships award 2016."
Delhi girl Meghana Bansal of Computer Science department, who received the college's Silver Medal, said, "My message to girls out there is that women bring a potent combination of creativity and analytical skills to this field.
"I am proud of my accomplishment today which I owe to my parents and teachers. But, in this field one should not talk about gender, only what is inside you, matters."
Chandru addressing the gathering of graduating youth, as a chief guest, said, "As I look at you, I am both awestruck and nervous.
"... I am nervous because you have such enormous responsibilities in the days ahead ...
"India needs to generate 115 million non-farming jobs over the next decade, to gainfully employ its workforce and reap the demographic dividend," he said.
"I exhort you to become someone whose actions inspire others to dream more, lean more, do more and become more," he said.
Alok Chaudhary of Northwestern University in the US, G Ravindra Kumar of TIFR, HelpAge India President Mathew Cherian and technologist N S Parthasarthy have been awarded this year's Distinguished Alumnus Award by BITS-Pilani.