Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 57th Convocation Ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi as Chief Guest on Saturday, 8 August, addressing over 3,000 graduating students and inaugurating Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility at the institute's Sonipat campus. The ceremony, which began at 11 am, marked one of the most significant convocations in IIT Delhi's history, combining academic honours with a landmark infrastructure launch.

Degrees and Academic Honours

A total of 3,000-plus students, including 587 PhD scholars, were conferred their degrees at the ceremony. Prime Minister Modi personally presented IIT Delhi's most prestigious academic awards to meritorious students. These included the President's Gold Medal, the Director's Gold Medal, the Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal, and the Perfect Ten Gold Medal.

'Recognizing outstanding academic excellence, Prime Minister will present the Institute's most prestigious honours, including the President's Gold Medal, Director's Gold Medal, Shankar Dayal Sharma Gold Medal, and Perfect Ten Gold Medals to the meritorious students,' an official statement noted.

Param Pragya: India's AI Supercomputing Push

The headline infrastructure moment was the inauguration of Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility established at IIT Delhi's Sonipat campus. The facility is designed to bolster the institute's capabilities in artificial intelligence, data science, advanced computing, and interdisciplinary research. The Department of Science and Technology has identified Param Pragya as a flagship AI-based supercomputing installation.

'Emphasising India's commitment to advancing cutting-edge research and artificial intelligence, Prime Minister will inaugurate Param Pragya, an AI-powered high-performance supercomputing facility established at the Sonipat Campus of IIT Delhi,' the official statement said.

This comes amid the Centre's broader push to scale high-performance computing infrastructure across premier institutions and accelerate research in emerging technologies — a priority underscored by repeated policy signals from the government over the past two years.

IIT Delhi's National Academic Network

IIT Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee, addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, 7 August, confirmed the Prime Minister's participation and highlighted a parallel milestone: IIT Delhi has formalised a national academic and research collaboration network through the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 18 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country. The network is expected to enable joint research, faculty exchange, and shared infrastructure access between IIT Delhi and its NIT partners.

Broader Significance

The convocation comes at a moment when India's premier technical institutions are being positioned as anchors of the country's AI and deep-tech ambitions. The combination of a supercomputing inauguration and a pan-India NIT collaboration network signals IIT Delhi's intent to move beyond campus-level excellence toward a systemic role in national research infrastructure. With 587 PhD scholars graduating in a single cohort, the institute is also visibly scaling its research output. How Param Pragya's capacity is allocated — and whether the NIT MoUs translate into funded joint projects — will determine whether Saturday's announcements have lasting institutional impact.