Pilani, Nov 2 (KNN) Encouraging students to start their own ventures, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani has agreed to allow students and faculty members to take up to a year off.

“In case (a) student intends to take a year off to pursue entrepreneurship on a full-time basis, his application would be routed through the dean for approval…,” said the policy document shared by BITS with its students, a copy of which was reviewed by Moneycontrol.

Currently the startup and unicorn ecosystems in the country is dominated by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

BITS aims to take on the IITs with this initiative.

At least one founder of over 73 of India's more than 100 unicorns came from one of the country's 23 IITs.

Meanwhile, according to Tracxn Technologies data, BITS Pilani alumni have founded over 900 startups, with over 13 of them making it to the list of Indian unicorns, including Zeta, MPL, Swiggy, BigBasket, and Groww.  (KNN Bureau)