BITS Pilani's Rs 2,200 Cr Expansion: AI Campus in Amaravati

New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) BITS Pilani, an Institution of Eminence, will invest over Rs 2,200 crore on expansion, including an 'AI+ Campus' at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, its Chancellor and industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Sunday.

The investment will be made over a period of five years.

In his address at the 2025 convocation of the institution, Birla reaffirmed BITS Pilani's "commitment to nation-building with three transformative initiatives", as "India aspires to become a 10 trillion dollar economy and a knowledge superpower".

Elaborating, he said the first is 'Project Vistaar' of building capacity at scale.

"This project is among BITS Pilani's most ambitious physical expansions in its history. The total investment earmarked for this phase of expansion is over Rs 1,200 crore," he said.

Covering the Pilani, Hyderabad, and Goa campuses, the vision is to deliver new academic blocks, cutting-edge research facilities, student hostels, faculty residences, and a broad range of amenities to accelerate the creation of a truly holistic, future-ready learning environment, he noted.

Stating that the fresh investment will enable next-generation programmes aligned with emerging global needs and the strengthening of advanced research partnerships with industry and academia worldwide, Birla said the initiative will also expand the student capacity at these three campuses to 21,000 from the current 16,000 over the next five years.

"Overall, the total student strength across all BITS Pilani campuses is expected to grow from over 18,700 to approximately 26,000 in the same period," Birla said.

In a statement, BITS Pilani said under the 'Project Vistaar', it has committed Rs 1,219 crore, including Rs 60 crore for upgrading undergraduate laboratories to world-class standards.

Terming the second initiative as "the AI+ Campus in Amaravati", Birla said, "BITS Pilani is ready to set up a one-of-a-kind AI+ Campus at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore".

The focus of this campus will be to "prepare Indian talent for leadership in the defining technologies of our time", he said, adding that "this future-ready campus will specialise in AI, data science, robotics, computational linguistics, and cyber-physical systems".

The Amaravati campus will also serve as a hub for research and entrepreneurship, with smart, sustainable infrastructure built in two phases to support over 7,000 students.

"The undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes have been designed with global best practices in mind, offering industry internships, joint PhDs with top international universities, and hybrid twinning models that give students true international exposure," Birla said.

Birla, the Chairman of diversified Aditya Birla Group, said the third initiative of the institute -- "BITS PILANI Digital is about democratising access and fulfilling a national mission".

Over the next five years, BITS Pilani Digital will launch 32 programmes, including 11 degree and 21 certificate courses, serving over 1,00,000 learners from high-school graduates to college students to working professionals, he said.

The digital initiative has been launched as India's education challenge also demands scale, flexibility, and inclusivity, with nearly 65 per cent of its population under 35, but "the stark reality is that too many of our bright, ambitious minds still lack access to the kind of high-quality, flexible education that transforms lives".

"BITS Pilani Digital is our response. It is not merely an EdTech platform but an extension of BITS Pilani's spirit of excellence and innovation into the homes and communities of learners," Birla asserted.