Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India has now become the second biggest startup hub in the world, and the students from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have made a major contribution in achieving this feat. 

Addressing the 54th convocation ceremony of IIT Kanpur, the Prime Minister said, "In this 75th year of independence, we have over 75 unicorns (those valued above $1 bn) and over 50,000 startups. Of these, 10,000 have come in just the last six months.”

PM Modi also said IIT Kanpur's contribution in developing 5G technology has been recognised globally.

The Prime Minister said when India celebrate sits 100th year of independence, it will include the contribution of all the students who are present here today.

"In the last 7 years, several programmes have been introduced by the Centre to help students. The youth is being readied to face bigger challenges more efficiently with the help of the new National Education Policy," he observed.

He further said that everyone should strive whole-heartedly for achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat.

"We should have achieved a lot of things by the time India completed 25 years of independence. But unfortunately, we could not do much. But now, we do not have even two minutes to waste. We must strive religiously for a self-reliant nation," he added.

He exhorted the outgoing IIT graduates and professors of the prestigious institution to lead the charge in enabling Indian companies to become global leaders in their domain.

The Prime Minister assured them that the government would extend whatever support is required to achieve this goal.

“Every Indian would like to see the country’s corporates as global leaders in their field and you all have the technological knowledge to make this happen,” he remarked.

The Prime Minister also advised the IIT graduates to “choose challenges” instead of “choosing comfort” as they go ahead with their endeavors in life.

“As your journey in life begins today, there will be people who will tell you to look for short-cuts, but my advice to you is choose challenges, don’t choose comfort,” PM Modi told the outgoing IIT graduates.

“Those who run away from challenges end up becoming the hunted. It is those who take on challenges that emerge as the hunters and the challenge becomes the hunted,” he pointed out.

He advised the students to tackle problems head-on and find solutions for solving them as they were now equipped with the required knowledge.

PM Modi also advised the IIT graduates that while they were empowered with technology and it is also a passion for them, they should not forget the human element of life.

“Work on the internet of things (IoT) but also keep in mind the emotion of things; work on artificial intelligence (AI) but keep in mind human intelligence as well. While working on coding also keep the connect with people,” PM Modi remarked.

“You should not run into a 404 error when you connect with people!” he quipped.   

He also advised them to share their joys with other people which would strengthen their personality.