The Class of 1982 of IIT-Bombay had pledged Rs 4.3 crore to address faculty compensation at their alma mater. The new faculty who have joined after January 2008 comprised Professor Rahul Patil (School of Management), Professor Dinesh Sharma (School of Management), Professor Anirban Guha (Mechanical Engineering), Professor Ramesh Singh (Mechanical Engineering) and Professor Subimal Ghosh (Civil Engineering).

Deputy director, IIT-B, J M Vasi; dean of resource mobilization Professor Shevgaonkar; dean of faculty Professor Devang Khakhar and Professor Ananth Iyer of Purdue University, US, who is also a 1982 batch alumnus were present at the function on Monday along with 25 alumni of the 1982 batch.

Currently, though there are over 400 faculty members at the IIT-B, the number of vacant positions remains high at 100.

Professor Iyer said: “The move will help in attracting professors to IIT-B. IITs across India look to attract the same group of talent and offering a joining bonus will provide an added fringe to IIT-B.” The annual remuneration for assistant professors is currently around 3.5 lakh.

The Class of 1982 which includes names like Natraj Dinkar, Bakul Desai, Ajit Ranade and Manohar Parrikar, among many others, were involved in the launch of this project.