1972/BT/EE Retired, Apollo Global, India
Shri Komal Krishnamurthy Raman, widely known as K K Raman, is an alumnus of IIT Madras whose singular dedication to his Alma Mater over more than three decades has transformed the institution’s capacity to grow, innovate, and serve the nation. A graduate of IIT Madras with a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering (LC) from the class of 1972, and an MBA from IIM Calcutta in 1974, Raman went on to build a distinguished professional career spanning corporate leadership, serial entrepreneurship, and senior advisory roles. Beginning his career in Blue Star Ltd, he turned an Entrepreneur pioneering India’s mosquito mat industry with the brand “ Vape”, a forerunner to Good Knight, built a technical trade fairs business and a computer education franchise with IBM India, led South operations at DLF Limited where he built the DLF IT Park in Porur, Commander’s Court, Egmore and served as Senior Advisor at Apollo Global’s Indian private equity subsidiary, AGM Advisors India. Yet it is his selfless, sustained, and transformative service to IIT Madras that defines his legacy above all else.
In 1992, at the behest of the then Director Prof N V C Swamy, Raman founded the IIT Madras Alumni Charitable Trust (IITMACT) and has driven its mission for over 33 years with unrelenting energy and commitment. Under his stewardship, annual fundraising grew from Rs 1 lakh in 1998 to Rs 10 crores around 2011, and now exceeds Rs 530 crores for 2025-26, with cumulative fundraising crossing Rs 2,000 crores. He built IITMACT into a professionally governed organisation of over 60 people, widely regarded as the most successful alumni fundraising body among all IITs, IIMs, and universities in India. He personally prepared the Five Year Strategic Plan for fundraising in 2019, assembled the senior management team through a rigorous search process, and has attended review meetings every Wednesday for over a decade, embodying a level of personal commitment that is rare and remarkable.
When IIT Madras sought additional land for expansion and had repeatedly failed to secure it from the State Government, Raman stepped in. Drawing on his experience heading DLF and his access to district land maps, he identified a 250-acre parcel of vacant land near Thaiyur in 2011-12. He served on a three-member committee with the Dean of Planning and the Registrar, met with district authorities, and navigated a significant bureaucratic obstacle when the land was classified as grazing land and initially deemed ineligible for allotment. Undeterred, he researched an alternative legal provision, identified substitute land parcels of equivalent area, and persisted over two years until the Tamil Nadu Government, under Chief Minister Palaniswami and with the support of Shri Gagandeep Singh Bedi IAS, allotted the 250-acre parcel to IIT Madras free of cost. This land has since been developed into IIT Madras’s Discovery Campus.
Raman’s contributions to IIT Madras extend across many fronts. He was the only alumnus appointed to the Steering Committee of the IIT Madras Research Park, where he played a pivotal role in architect selection and project conceptualisation, championing the appointment of renowned architect Hafeez Contractor to create a landmark institution, which it has become. He facilitated the establishment of the International Centre for Clean Water by personally securing a Rs 10 crore commitment from Shri Deepak Parekh of the HDFC Group, and continues to serve on the Centre’s Advisory Board. He chaired the Exhibition Committee for the only Pan-IIT Convention ever held on an IIT campus, hosted by IIT Madras in 2008. He has mentored several startups at NIRMAN and the Incubation Cell for over eight years, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, guided a mentee startup to create over 3,000 hospital beds across several states, benefiting an estimated 22,000 patients. He has also served on the Steering Committee for master planning and design of IIT Tirupati’s greenfield campus.
Beyond IIT Madras, Raman has rendered distinguished service to his second Alma Mater IIM Calcutta, founding the IIM Calcutta Endowment Management Foundation and serving as its Chairman. He has been formally appointed Advisor to the Board of NIT Trichy for establishing a startup ecosystem and fundraising foundation. As a Rotarian leader of 35 years, he has executed numerous community projects in vocational training, sanitation, dialysis, and public health, and is a Paul Harris Fellow. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Madras Dyslexia Association and is currently working towards building a STEM Museum in Chennai in collaboration with Rotary and IIT Madras.
In recognition of his extraordinary and selfless service to IIT Madras spanning over three decades, his pivotal role in building the institution’s fundraising capability and physical infrastructure, and his tireless commitment to education, entrepreneurship, and community welfare, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and its alumni are proud to confer Shri Komal Krishnamurthy Raman with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award for the year 2026.
