IIT Bombay was founded in 1958. In 1961, the Parliament decreed IITs as Institutes of National Importance. A committee formed by the Government of India recommended the establishment of four higher institutes of technology to set the direction for the development of technical education in the country in 1946. Planning had begun in 1957 and the first cohort of 100 students was admitted in 1958. Since its establishment in Powai, the institute has expanded to include more than 584 major buildings, with a combined area of more than 2.2 square kilometers.
IIT Bombay is known for two- or three-year Master of Technology (M.Tech.), the four-year Bachelor of Science (B.S.), the two-year Master of Science (M.Sc.) and the five-year Inter-Disciplinary Dual-Degree Programme (IDDDP) among many others. It also has a comprehensive graduate program offering doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It currently has a total of 15 academic departments, 20 additional education centres, a school of excellence and four interdisciplinary programmes including a management programme and industrial design programmes.
History
IIT Bombay was the second Indian Institute of Technology to be established in 1958 with assistance from UNESCO and with funds endowed by the Soviet Union. UNESCO agreed to provide equipment whilst technical experts mainly came from the Soviet Union. The Government of India held the mantle for all other expenses including the cost of the buildings and any recurring expenses. The proposed site for the institute was Powai with an area of 550 acres (2.2 km) which the Bombay State Government rendered. While construction was being completed, the first academic session of the institute opened on 25 July 1958, in its temporary home at the Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Research Association (SASMIRA) building in Worli with 100 students. The following is the status quo of the assistance received from the UNESCO under the UN Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance:
Equipment costing Rs.57,35,000 has so far been received (USSR—Rs.55,50,000; UK—Rs.1,50,000; USA—Rs.18,000 and Germany—Rs.19,000)
12 Professors (10 Russians, 1 American and 1 Yugoslavian) and 3 Russian Translators are working at the Institution.
For advanced training in USSR, 4 Indian teachers were deputed in 1958 and 6 more teachers were selected.
These students were selected from over 3,400 applicants for admission to the first year undergraduate engineering programmes of Aerospace, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Engineering Physics, Energy, Mechanical, Metallurgical Engineering, and MSc Chemistry. One of the main objectives of establishing the institute was to develop facilities for studies in a variety of specialized engineering and technological sciences. The need for establishing adequate facilities for postgraduate studies and research was kept uppermost in mind in the founding years. While the institute was functioning provisionally at Worli, an effort was made to expedite the progress of the building project at its permanent location and Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the Institute at Powai on 10 March 1959.
On 9 July 2018, IIT Bombay was conferred the status of Institute of Eminence by the Ministry of Human Resources & Development, along with 5 other institutes in India which would provide it additional autonomy and government funds.
Campus
The IIT Bombay campus, having an area of about 545 acres, is located at Powai, in East Mumbai, between the Vihar and Powai lakes. The campus is divided into clusters of buildings. The academic area chiefly comprises the main building, various departmental annexes and auditoria. All department annexes are connected by a corridor named Infinite Corridor. Beyond the Convocation Hall lie most of the hostels. There are a total of 18 hostels, of which three hostels (Hostels 10, 11 and 15) and a wing of the newly constructed hostel (Hostel 16) are for female students.
Due to its proximity to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the campus has significant green cover and is mostly untouched by the pollution of the rest of the city. The proximity of the campus to the national park has also led to occasional sightings of leopards and mugger crocodiles along the banks of the Powai lake. Sometimes they stray into the campus in search of prey.
The institute has two swimming pools; football, hockey and cricket grounds; and tennis, basketball, squash and volleyball courts. It also has a Students' Activity Center (SAC) for various cultural and other extracurricular activities. In addition to these facilities, the campus also houses two high schools, one of which is a Kendriya Vidyalaya and the other is called IIT Campus School.
Organization and administration
Governance
At the institutional level, IIT Bombay is governed by a Board of Governors with its chairman nominated by the Visitor (the President of India) guided by the IIT Council; the Director as a member; the Registrar as secretary. Besides this, there are four persons having specialized knowledge or practical experience in respect of education, engineering or science nominated by the council. Two professors are nominated by the Senate. Additionally, one technologist or industrialist of repute is nominated by the government of each of the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
For all academic matters, the Senate is the authority having control and responsibility for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examinations and all other allied academic matters. The Senate is constituted of all the professors of the institute, a few nominated members and the director, appointed by MHRD for five years, the executive head of the institute is the chairman.
The key people in the execution of the institute's activities are the director and two deputy directors (Academic & Infrastructural Affairs and Finance & External Affairs) who are assisted by seven Deans (Infrastructure Planning & Support, Research & Development, Academic Programmes, Students Affairs, Alumni & Corporate Relations, Faculty Affairs and International Relations) and the Heads of the Departments, Centres and Schools. The other administrative functions are managed by the Registrar, with senior administrative officers being assigned for specific areas such as Estate Management, Materials Management, Personnel Management, Finance and Accounts, and Academic Affairs.
The Institute Advisory Council is a non-statutory body comprising eminent personalities from business, industry and academia, which reviews and makes suggestions on long-term policies and short-term goals.
Academic Office
The Academic Office of the institute exists to facilitate, initiate and co-ordinate the academic work of the institute, particularly the teaching and assessment of students. It acts as the repository of grades and academic records of all students, both past and present. It provides administrative support to the Senate, which is the highest academic body of the institute.
The head of the Academic Office is the dean of academic programmes, who is a senior professor of the institute. The Dean is helped by a permanent administrative set-up headed by a deputy registrar (education). The Academic Office closely interacts with the dean of student affairs (DoSA), who looks after all non-academic problems of students. The DoSA, as the ex-officio president of the Student Gymkhana, coordinates various co-curricular activities of students.
Departments, centres, and schools
Lecture hall complex
IIT Bombay has 15 departments, 36 multi-disciplinary centres, 3 schools of excellence and 4 interdisciplinary programs.
The academic departments in IIT Bombay include the following:
IIT Bombay offers a wide range of educational programmes including physical sciences, engineering, designs, humanities and social sciences such as economics, English, philosophy, psychology and sociology and management studies with a primary focus on engineering. The institute also offers short-term courses through continuing education and distance education programmes. The university is a member of Links to Asia by Organizing Traineeship and Student Exchange (LAOTSE), an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars.
The institute conducts educational programmes leading to the degree of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.), Bachelor of Sciences (B.S.), Dual Degree (B.Tech. and M.Tech. in 5 years), Master of Science (MSc.), Master of Technology (M.Tech.), Bachelor of Design (B.Des.), Master of Design (M.Des.), Master of Business Administration (MBA), formerly Master of Management, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.) in various subject domains.
Every year, IIT Bombay awards degrees, B.Tech., M.Tech., Dual Degree (B.Tech. and M.Tech.), M.Mgmt, MSc and Ph.D. to more than 1,000 students. The undergraduate students at IIT Bombay are selected through the Joint Entrance Examination of the IITs. The graduate students are selected through Joint Admission Test for Masters (JAM) and Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) conducted by IIT's and IISc on behalf of MHRD [Ministry of Human Resource Development]. At a given time, the campus is home to more than 6,000 people: students, professors, and non-academic staffs.
In 2015 the National Virtual Academy for Indian Agriculture launched a free online agriculture course in collaboration with ICRISAT Hyderabad and IIT Bombay. From July 2016, IIT Bombay is planning to offer a four-year undergraduate programme in economics.
IIT Bombay was also ranked 3rd in the overall category, 4th among research institutions, 3rd among engineering colleges and 10th among management schools in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2024. Outlook India ranked IIT Bombay 3rd among government engineering colleges in 2023. IIT Bombay was ranked 1st in the QS India Rankings of 2025 and 118th in the QS World University Rankings. In India Today Best engineering colleges 2024, IIT Bombay was ranked 2nd.
Development activities
The Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM)
Faculty members from IIT Bombay undertake industry-sponsored research and consultancy projects that are made available through the institute. These are funded by various national agencies like the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Electronics, Department of Space, Aeronautical Development Agency, Department of Atomic Energy, and Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC). Many are also working on projects of national importance. A few projects are also being funded by international agencies. Typically in one year, there are about 400 on-going sponsored projects. The sponsored research has ushered in intense research activity leading to the formation of active research groups and has helped in the creation of modern research facilities in key areas.
The office of the Dean (R&D) provides the necessary liaison with industry and sponsoring agencies. The office helps industry to identify faculty expertise and institutional facilities, and assists faculty in identifying industry problems.
There are also a number of central facilities such as the Central Library, Central Workshop, and Printing Press. The Computer Centre started functioning in 1986 with facilities which have been continuously updated. The Computer Aided Design Centre with its own minicomputers and workstations, supplemented by additional computing facilities, caters to CAD activity in chemical engineering and metallurgical engineering. Research groups like VLSI Design, CAD/CAM also have computing facilities which are accessible to other departments for development activities. The OrthoCAD Network Research Cell was established in 2007 to jump-start indigenous research and development activities in orthopedic reconstruction systems. Experimental facilities set up by various departments include laboratories for robotics, biotechnology, microelectronics, microprocessor applications, telematics, remote sensing, low-temperature physics, and aerodynamics.
IIT Bombay announced online classes for the batch 2020-21 from August 10. A fund raising campaign was launched to help the students in need. The batch of 1994 of IIT Bombay donated Rs. 1.25 crores to provide students with laptops and internet connections.
In 2024 India's first Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager was proposed by PQuest Lab of IIT Bombay, in an alliance with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The student's Gymkhana is the parent body of all student councils and institute bodies responsible for organizing student activities and fests around the year. The major councils under Gymkhana include Hostel Affairs Council, Undergraduate Academic Council, Postgraduate Academic Council, Sports Council, Tech Council and Cultural Council. Apart from councils bodies like Mood Indigo, Techfest, Entrepreneurship Cell, Student Alumni Relationship Cell, etc. also come under the student's Gymkhana. The heads of all councils and institute bodies are elected annually for a term of one year.
The annual Science & Technology festival of IIT Bombay, Techfest, which was started in 1998, is held in December every year and is Asia's largest Science and Technology festival.
NCC IITB Republic Day Parade 2024 at Gymkhana GroundSign board near the NCC office
The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay (also known as E-Cell, IITB), started in 1998, organizes several activities throughout the year to promote entrepreneurship. Eureka! is Asia's largest business model competition conducted by E-Cell, IITB and receives participation from more than 12,500 startups. E-Summit is a two-day entrepreneurship conclave organized in the campus of IIT Bombay by E-Cell to bring together all the stakeholders of the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The annual cultural festival Mood Indigo, usually held in December is an event hosted by the student body and is Asia's largest college cultural festival. The most attractive feature of this 4-day event is the influential personalities who have graced the festival like R D Burman, Aamir Khan, Sir Mark Tully, Sachin Tendulkar, Porcupine Tree, Simple Plan, Mike Portnoy and many more.
These college festivals are organised, financially managed and conducted entirely by the students of this institute. All these festivals and organisations are sponsored by private enterprise.
Abhyuday, the social body of IIT Bombay also hosts one of its kind two-day social fest started in 2013 to provide a link between the real-life problems faced by the people to the students who wish to bring about a change society. The two-day fest is home to Action Plan - a social entrepreneurship competition, movie screenings, workshops and events on varied social issues. Many eminent personalities and social workers like Sonam Wangchuk, Dia Mirza, Ashish Vidyarthi, Tukaram Munde and such have graced the social fest since its start.
Apart from these festivals, various other engineering streams based festivals are also being organised to motivate students towards Science and Technology. These include Radiance (Mechanical Engineering), Zephyr (Aerospace Engineering), AZeotropy (Chemical Engineering), Padarth(Metallurgy and Material Science Engineering), IMPULSE (Electrical Engineering) and recently, Aakaar (Civil Engineering).
The institute has music clubs "Symphony" and "Roots" which pertain to western and Indian music respectively. It also has an LGBT alliance club called "Saathi". The institute has an active NCC unit, the 2 Maharashtra Engineer Regiment which is an attachment of the Bombay Sappers.
