BITS Pilani Hyderabad celebrates Class of 2026 at convocation

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus conferred more than 1,500 degrees at its convocation ceremony, honouring outstanding students and researchers. Big Basket co-founder Hari Menon urged graduates to embrace challenges, while Director Prof Dharmarajan Sriram highlighted integrity, innovation and societal impact

Hyderabad: More than 1,500 degrees were conferred at the BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus convocation ceremony held here on Sunday. These included over 1,200 first degree programmes, nearly 200 higher degree programmes and over 100 PhD degrees.

Recognising exceptional academic achievement, Archith Casheekar received the gold medal, Alok Desai was awarded the silver medal, and Shreya Kunjankumar Mehta received the bronze medal among the first degree graduates.

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Among the higher degree programmes, Fahma Khadeeja (ME Civil Engineering – Transportation Engineering), Kota Rohith Raj (ME Manufacturing Systems Engineering) and Kasala Nidheesh (ME Microelectronics) were awarded gold medals, while Harichithra C (ME Civil Engineering – Structural Engineering) received the silver medal.

The Prof. Suman Kapur Memorial Best PhD Thesis Award 2025 in Biological Sciences was conferred on Velmurugan K under the supervision of Prof Nirmal Jayabalan.

In addition, the institute honoured excellence in doctoral research across broad disciplinary areas through the Best Outstanding PhD Thesis Awards. The awardees included Velmurugan K (Sciences), Ronanki Suresh under the supervision of Prof Santanu Prasad Dutta (Engineering), and Shovon Sengupta under the supervision of Prof Sunny Kumar Singh (Non-STEM).

Addressing the graduating Class of 2026, Big Basket co-founder Hari Menon encouraged the students to embrace challenges, value meaningful relationships and remember that lasting success is built on character, continuous learning and the courage to grow from mistakes.

BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus Director Prof Dharmarajan Sriram emphasised that BITS Pilani education extends beyond academic excellence, nurturing graduates who embody integrity, innovation, resilience and a commitment to creating meaningful impact in society.