An Indian American Romesh Wadhwani alone contributed $5 million of the total amount while the rest was gifted by other alumni's who had gathered to celebrate the occasion recently in New York along with hundreds of friends and well wishers of the coveted institution.
"I owe my success in life to the superior education I received from IIT Bombay, and this is my way of saying thank you," said Romesh Wadhwani. Anil Kshirsagar, president of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund, said, "Wadhwani's generosity is another example our alumni's consistent commitment to give back to IIT Bombay."
It was the largest alumni event for an Indian university, outside India. "We had set lofty and ambitious goals for ourselves and we far exceeded these expectations, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors!" said an elated Suresh Shenoy, the chairman of the conference.
Several dignitaries marked their presence to grace the occasion and spoke on the theme "Looking Ahead: The next fifty years" which included retired senior vice chairman of
Citigroup and co-chairman of the event Victor Menezes, Indian Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen, former US ambassador to India Frank Wisner and CEO of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon.