Ahmedabad

Meeting people at IIT Gandhinagar

IIT Gandhinagar sits on a green 400-acre campus at Palaj on the Sabarmati, and freshers start with a five-week Foundation Programme of art, sport and community work instead of jumping straight into classes, which sets the friendly, informal tone the campus is known for.

The story of IIT Gandhinagar

IIT Gandhinagar was set up in 2008 as one of the new IITs, mentored by IIT Bombay. Its first batch of 103 students studied chemical, mechanical and electrical engineering at a temporary campus inside Vishwakarma Government Engineering College in Ahmedabad.

The Gujarat government leased about 400 acres at Palaj village, on the banks of the Sabarmati, to the institute for 99 years at a token rent of one rupee a year. Regular classes on the new campus began around July 2015.

The campus became India's first to earn a 5-star GRIHA LD green rating, and the first academic institution to get FSSAI's 5-star Eat Right Campus rating. From the start, IITGN has leaned into a liberal, flexible approach to engineering education, with humanities and a broad foundation built into the degree.

What the campus is like socially

IITGN feels small and close-knit. Students, faculty and staff mix far more than at older IITs, and the Foundation Programme gives every new batch five weeks of theatre, sketching, music, sport, heritage walks and community service before regular academics begin, so friendships form early.

The hostel zone has no main gate and no front or back, by design, and the campus has lakes, sports grounds and plenty of open space. Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are close enough for weekend trips, Garba nights are a big event in autumn, and the calendar is packed with fests run entirely by students.

Traditions every IIT Gandhinagar student knows

• Foundation Programme: A five-week start to the BTech with creative arts, sport, ethics sessions, community service and team activities, designed to help freshers settle in and bond.
• Blithchron: The two-day cultural fest, with performances, fashion shows, rock concerts and competitions that draw students from colleges across the region.
• Amalthea: IITGN's annual technical summit, connecting students with industry and academia through talks, exhibitions and competitions.
• Hallabol: An all-night sports event where staff and faculty play alongside students in modified versions of traditional games.
• Jashn and Winter Carnation: Jashn is a three-day intra-campus cultural fest started in 2011, and Winter Carnation is the campus mela of regional food, music and dance.

Campus lore and insider spots

• Invented hostel names: Aibaan, Beauki, Chimair, Duven, Emiet and Firpeal were created by stringing English syllables together, so the names would point only to IITGN online.
• No front door: The hostel area was designed with no main gate and no defined front or rear, so students can come and go from any direction.
• One rupee a year: The campus land is leased from the Gujarat government for 99 years at one rupee a year.
• Eureka: A talent showcase for freshers, and often the first time a new batch sees what everyone can do.

How to find your people here

At IIT Gandhinagar, a hobby club, technical society, or the fest organizing crew is the fastest way to meet people outside your own department.

Fests and societies at IIT Gandhinagar

Signature fests

• Blithchron
• Amalthea
• Hallabol
• Jashn

Notable societies

• Blithchron team
• Amalthea team
• Entrepreneurship and innovation centre

Societies worth knowing at IIT Gandhinagar

• Blithchron team: Runs the cultural fest end to end, from competitions to artist nights, and is a big social circle on campus.
• Amalthea team: Organises the technical summit and works with industry partners and speakers.
• Innovation and entrepreneurship centre: Supports student startups and runs pitch and building events for aspiring founders.
• Music, dance and drama clubs: Perform at Blithchron, Jashn and campus nights, and take part in inter-college competitions.
• TEDx IITGandhinagar: Brings speakers from many fields to campus for talks.

Careers, internships and placements

IITGN runs a central placement process with recruiters across software, analytics, finance and core engineering, and its flexible curriculum lets students build a minor or honours alongside their main discipline.

The institute has produced a notable number of founders for its age, including the teams behind Wint Wealth, Affable and Recko, and many graduates also go on to research and teaching careers abroad and in India.

Notable alumni

• Ajinkya Kulkarni: Co-founder and CEO of investment platform Wint Wealth, from IITGN's first BTech batch in mechanical engineering (2012).
• Abhik Patel: Co-founder of Wint Wealth, also a 2012 mechanical engineering graduate.
• Nisarg Shah: Co-founder and CEO of Affable.ai and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, a 2014 electrical engineering graduate.
• Saurya Prakash: Co-founder and CEO of Recko, acquired by Stripe in 2021, a 2013 electrical engineering graduate.
• Aishwarya Agrawal: AI researcher and assistant professor at the University of Montreal, a 2014 electrical engineering graduate.

Rivalries and eternal debates

As a 2008 IIT, IITGN is compared with the other new IITs on every JEE forum, and its students tend to answer with the campus, the flexible curriculum and the faculty access. Locally, it sits among Gujarat's best-known campuses, from DA-IICT and PDEU nearby to NID and IIM Ahmedabad in the city.

Meeting people at IIT Gandhinagar by interest

A lot of friendships here form around a shared interest rather than a class or a hostel wing. If you are into startups and builders, coding and hackathons, gaming and esports, running, and reading and book clubs, those pages cover where that scene actually happens in India and how to find people near you who are into the same thing.

Colleges nearby

IIT Gandhinagar sits close to DAIICT, PDEU, NIFT Gandhinagar, NID Ahmedabad, and IIM Ahmedabad, all part of the same Ahmedabad student scene. Cross-college friendships often start at inter-college fests, hackathons, or shared-interest communities rather than in class.

Similar campuses across India

If you are looking beyond your own campus, students at IIT Goa, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Indore, and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad share a similar campus culture, and Zyber works the same way at each: showing you verified people nearby who match on interest, intent, or timing.

Zyber on campus

Zyber is built for meeting people nearby in real time, with verified profiles only. At IIT Gandhinagar, that means showing you people near you who share your interests or your drive, whether or not you overlap on a class or a society.

New to IIT Gandhinagar? Start here

If you are just starting out, these freshers guides are written for exactly this moment: first week of college checklist, how to choose societies in college, making friends beyond your branch, and hackathons for beginners in india.

See meeting people in Ahmedabad, events in Ahmedabad, the freshers guide, the Meet People pillar, or read what Zyber is.