Innovate in India, do it for humanity: PM Narendra Modi at IIT-B convocation in Mumbai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called IITs 'India's Instrument for Transformation' on Saturday while lauding the institutes for enriching Brand India globally and catapulting the nation to the forefront of the world's technological powerhouses.

The Prime Minister, who was addressing the 56th annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), said reputable institutes such as IITs would steer the course of development with the keystones of innovation and enterprise.

Underscoring sustainable development, the PM exhorted the students to "innovate in India, innovate for humanity" in areas ranging from mitigating climate change to enhancing agricultural productivity, generating cleaner energy and conserving water.

"The nation is proud of IITs and what IIT graduates have achieved. Their success inspired engineering colleges across the country, and this made India one of the world's largest pools of technical manpower,'' he said, in his 32-minute speech.

"We must build on this. We must make India the most attractive destination for innovation. It will not happen through government efforts alone but by the youngsters here. The best ideas are born in their minds, not in government offices," he said.

PM Modi said India's emergence as a hub of start-ups demonstrated its thirst for innovation. "India is now looked upon as a nursery for unicorns start-ups," he said, referring to start-ups valued at more than a billion dollars. "This is just the beginning as in the future their value can be over USD 1 trillion," he said, conveying that the biggest corporations of today were start-ups of yesterday.