Shashvat Nakrani To Azhar Iqubal, Famous IIT Dropouts Who Made It Big

he Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are considered to be the most prestigious education institutes for engineering and there’s a cut-throat competition to secure a seat here. Cracking the test and securing a seat is a dream for many students. Many could not crack the entrance exam and some chose to drop out after getting into IIT. But just because they have dropped out does not mean they did not succeed.

Many students made it big despite dropping out and they are now billionaires, administrators and quite successful in their fields. Here are 5 students, who made it big in life after dropping out of IIT-

Shashvat Nakrani

One of the most successful fintech companies in India is BharatPe, which launched UPI payments for offline retailers and businesses. Along with Ashneer Grover, the company was co-founded by IIT drop-out Shashvat Nakrani in 2018 who was 19 then. He was in his third year at IIT-Delhi. He was the youngest person who made it to the IIFL Wealth Hurun Indian Rich List in 2021 and is one of the self-made billionaires.

Prashant Bhushan

Prashant Bhushan gained recognition for being a politician as well as a well-known lawyer. He dropped out of IIT Madras in the first semester and later went to study law at Allahabad University. He was also a part of the movement called India Against Corruption where he supported Anna Hazare in the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. He is also a founding member of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.

Azhar Iqubal

Anunay Arunav, Deepit Purkayastha and Azhar Iqubal came up with the now-famous news app called Inshorts. This Noida-based company is a platform that provides concise news in 60 words on the go so that you can stay updated all the time. Azhar Iqubal and the other co-founders are IIT dropouts.

Mukesh Ambani

Did you know that Mukesh Ambani was an IIT dropout? Reportedly, he enrolled in IIT-Bombay but dropped out to join his friends at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Bombay. Today, he is the richest person in India and is the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.

Rahul Yadav

Rahul Yadav enrolled in IIT-Bombay in 2007 and dropped out in the final year. He founded Housing.co.in which was renamed Housing.com in 2012. He founded it in response to the difficulty of finding accommodation to stay in Mumbai. It was one of the hottest tech start-ups with SoftBank as its financial partner. The company also partnered with Tata Housing and Tata Value Homes and in its first week, it reportedly sold 8 million dollars worth of real estate.