Mumbai is the choice: 63% of top 100 JEE toppers choose IIT Bombay

Mumbai, it appears, is the new Kanpur – at least when it comes to students enrolling for IIT. According to a report in The Times of India, 63 of the top 100 students who cleared the JEE, have opted for IIT Bombay located in Powai. Second most popular is New Delhi with 30 students. IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur come third and fourth with 6 and 1 of the top 100 securing admissions respectively.

The newer IITs, which earlier did not get students below rank 1,000, saw IIT Hyderabad get a candidate below rank 500; IIT Indore too got students among the top 1,000 ranks. IITs in Goa, Dharwad, Tirupati, Jammu, Bhilai, Palakkad, Jodhpur and Mandi did not see a single student among the top 2,000 ranks sign up at any of these campuses.

 Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for improving the quality of education in institutions like IITs and invited suggestions from teachers and intellectuals in this regard.

He also stressed the need for innovation, saying that societies which do not innovate, stagnate.

Addressing the 56th annual convocation of IIT-Bombay, the prime minister announced a financial aid of Rs 1,000 crore for the institute, saying that six decades of "constant trying" had made it an institute of eminence.

Heaping praise on IIT-B, Modi said, "It is due to last six decades of constant trying that IIT-B has made its place as one of the country's eminent institutes. You will be receiving a financial aid of Rs 1,000 crore which will help in the development of infrastructure." The prime minister said several students who have graduated from the institute are actively participating in the country's development.