3 min readNew DelhiJul 21, 2026 01:06 PM IST
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani has received a $1 million (approximately Rs 8.6 crore) endowment from its alumna Revathi Advaithi, Chief Executive Officer of Flex, and her husband Jeevan Mulgund, to establish a permanent scholarship for women students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Named the ‘Visalam Swamy and Sucheta Mulgund Scholarship’, the endowment will provide long-term financial support to deserving female students, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent them from pursuing higher education at BITS Pilani.
Revathi Advaithi, a 1990 Mechanical Engineering graduate of BITS Pilani and the only woman in her batch, announced the contribution while addressing students as the chief guest at the institute’s Convocation 2026. She currently leads global manufacturing and supply chain company Flex and has been featured multiple times in Fortune’s list of the world’s most powerful women in business, BITS Pilani shared in a statement.
Explaining the inspiration behind the endowment, Revathi Advaithi and Jeevan Mulgund said they had named the scholarship after their mothers, Visalam Swamy and Sucheta Mulgund, in recognition of the role they played in shaping their lives and their belief that educating a daughter can transform an entire family. They said the scholarship is intended to help talented young women pursue a BITS Pilani education regardless of their financial circumstances.
Welcoming the contribution, Prof V Ramgopal Rao, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani, said the endowment would support generations of women students and reflected the institute’s strong culture of alumni philanthropy.
The announcement came during BITS Pilani’s Convocation 2026, where the institute conferred degrees on 1,477 graduates. The graduating cohort comprised 1,087 undergraduate students, 271 postgraduate students, and 119 PhD scholars.
The institute also honoured several students for their academic achievements. Aditya Mittal, Shubham Kumar, and Ritvik Singh received the undergraduate Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals, respectively. Among postgraduate students, Aviral Sundli received the Gold Medal, while Cherukupalli Surya Sasank and Eesha Kancharla were awarded the Silver Medals.
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In addition, the institute presented memorial awards across disciplines. Sakshi Priya received the Prof Suman Kapur Memorial Best PhD Thesis Award 2026 in Biological Sciences, while Vinay Pratap Singh Negi was honoured with the VNMM Award for Outstanding Research Work in Mechanical Engineering. Siddharth Ganesh and Madhav Krishna received the Shri Bahadur Chand Memorial Award for Excellence in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and Sudhanshu Modi and Vagisha Chaudhary were conferred the Sneh Vardhan Memorial Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering.