1996/B.Tech/ME Founder and Managing Partner, SRS Investment Management, USA
Mr. Karthik Sarma, who was known as Fido on campus, completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1996. He stayed in the Ganga hostel and was commonly spotted playing football or bridge late into the night. He still fondly remembers his Sp Tea and bun omelettes from Tarams and Maggi noodles from Quark. Karthik believes that his four years at IIT were the most formative years of his life which set the foundation for his future endeavors.
Karthik went on to receive a Master’s degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University, and subsequently joined McKinsey as a consultant in New York. In 2001, Karthik joined the hedge fund Tiger Global within a few months of its launch. He had a very successful career at Tiger where he quickly rose to become a Managing Director and Partner at the firm. In 2006, given Karthik’s strong entrepreneurial spirit, he launched his own firm, SRS Investment Management. He named the firm in honor of his father, SRS being his father’s initials, who he lost when he was only 15. SRS invests globally across the technology, media, consumer, and industrial sectors and manages approximately $10 billion. SRS has been a partner to public and private companies helping them maximize their long-term potential, and in this capacity, Karthik has served on several Boards. Over the past 17 years, SRS has become one of the best performing hedge funds in the world.
Karthik is indebted to IIT Madras and believes he has both the responsibility and the privilege to give back to his alma mater in some capacity. Currently, Karthik is supporting the creation and development of a Wellness Centre with dedicated leadership on campus. The goal of the centre is to establish a set of services and resources including peer support, counseling, workshops, and classes to promote mental health and well-being on campus. His own experiences seeing friends succumb to academic pressures and depression has motivated him to contribute to a best-in-class program that aims to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health and offer students at IITM the services and support they rightly deserve.
IIT Madras and its alumni are tremendously elated to bestow the Distinguished Alumni Award upon Mr. Karthik Sarma and hope his achievements in the areas of entrepreneurship and finance inspire the next generation of IIT graduates.
