DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARDEE | 2026

Mr. Subrata Rakshit is a retired Distinguished Scientist and former Director General (Technology Management) at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He previously served as Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru.

After graduating with a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay, where he was awarded the Silver Medal, he pursued his M.S. (1989) and Ph.D. (1994) from the California Institute of Technology, USA. He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA, in 1994.

Mr. Rakshit joined DRDO in December 1994 as a Scientist C at CAIR, Bengaluru, where he began work on algorithms for multi-season, multi-year baseline SAR image matching. Over the years, he held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility. As Head of the Computer Vision Group and Scientist E (2003) and later Project Director and Scientist F of IVP-NCO (2007), he built and led teams working on progressive image transmission, content-based image retrieval, multi-sensor data fusion, and distributed hierarchical image and video processing systems operating over military communication networks.

Between 2012 and 2017, as Security Systems Division Technical Mentor and Scientist G, he guided diverse communications and cybersecurity projects. As Associate Director and Scientist H (2017–2021), and subsequently as Outstanding Scientist and Director, CAIR (2021–2023), he was responsible for the overall technical, human resource, and financial leadership of the laboratory — ensuring focus on research, development, and deployment while maintaining compliance with Government of India processes and quality standards.

From June 2023 to January 2025, as Distinguished Scientist and Director General (Technology Management) at DRDO Headquarters, he played a key role in defining strategy and performance metrics for sponsored research across academia, industry, and MSMEs, strengthening academia–DRDO–industry transitions.

Throughout his career, Mr. Rakshit focused on building teams capable of cutting-edge research within the context of DRDO, leveraging real-world military challenges to maximise R&D output through internal and academic industry collaboration. He contributed to policy formulation in cybersecurity, software-defined radios, and AI adoption in military applications, helping balance rapid technology adoption with requirements of security and scalability. He also spearheaded ecosystem development models for low-, medium-, and high-TRL technology projects, introducing metrics to distinguish productive high-risk R&D from unproductive failures — streamlining approval, oversight, and closure processes for grant-in-aid projects across DRDO.

He often reflects that his exposure to the humanities in semesters I–IV proved invaluable later in life.

He is a recipient of the Silver Medal in Engineering Physics (1988, IIT Bombay), the DRDO Technology Group Award (1996), and the DRDO Scientist of the Year Award (2012).

Interests & Hobbies: Casual sports and reading.

A Personal Note: Solving problems from first principles as a physics student became a lifelong habit. The broad base provided by Engg. Physics in comprehending any technology was key.