IIT Kharagpur Launches India’s First Physical AI School with ₹35 Crore Investment
It is expected that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will create the country’s first educational school devoted to Physical Artificial Intelligence (AI), with an investment of ₹35 crore into the project. The new school will be called Benjamin Gupta School of Physical AI and will focus on conducting research and educating in the field of physical AI technologies.
The decision was made on October 26, 2026, after signing a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IIT Kharagpur, Vinod Gupta, the alumnus and philanthropist of the institute, and IITKGP Foundation USA.
₹35 Crore Investment: Who Will Fund the Initiative?
The ₹35-crore initiative will get ₹12.5 crore from the Vinod Gupta family, while the other ₹10 crore comes from an IIT-K alumni who prefers anonymity. The remaining sum will be provided by IIT Kharagpur itself.
The institute has been named after Benjamin Gupta, the son of Vinod Gupta who passed away. The contribution will be used to create infrastructure for the Department of Artificial Intelligence.
What Is Physical AI?
Physical AI is an entirely new domain of AI technology that differs from other forms of AI which rely heavily on data, content generation or digital prediction capabilities. Physical AI entails the ability to perceive and manipulate the physical world.
The school intends to focus on fields such as Physics-driven machine learning, Scientific AI, Digital Twin, Intelligent Robotics, Autonomous Systems, Advanced Sensing and AI-based Experimentation.
Applications of this technology include industries ranging from Advanced Manufacturing, Healthcare, Agriculture, Energy, Climate Technologies and Intelligent Infrastructure. The initiative is also aimed at ensuring the development of reliable, explainable and responsible AI.
Academic Programmes and Research Opportunities
Programmes from IIT Kharagpur will be launched in the coming session, conditional upon the necessary approvals. These will include master’s programmes with hybrid mode, executive education programmes, professional certificates and specialized interdisciplinary courses.
These courses are expected to benefit students, researchers and professionals from fields such as engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and medicine.
Professor Suman Chakraborty, Director at IIT Kharagpur, while speaking on this development, stated that this would enable the Institute to go beyond looking at AI as a black box technology and combine computational power with science and expertise.
The institute will also seek industry partnerships, healthcare organizations, research labs, startups, and global collaborations.
This ₹35 crore investment will help IIT Kharagpur build the Physical AI ecosystem in India and train professionals who can create technologies that are smart enough to solve real-life problems.
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