New Delhi : The Mayo Alumni Summit 2025 marked a strong
beginning to Mayo College’s 150th-year celebrations. Held at the Hyatt Regency
in New Delhi, the event brought together over 300 alumni and was organized by
the Mayo Alumni Association Delhi (MAAD). More than a reunion, the summit
served as a platform for dialogue on the institution’s future, addressing key
themes such as real estate, artificial intelligence, and mental wellbeing.
The event served as a prelude
to the main 150th-anniversary celebrations scheduled in Ajmer from November
27–30, 2025, where generations of Mayo alumni will return to campus to
commemorate the school’s heritage and continued influence.
A Look Back, A Step
Forward
The summit began with opening
remarks on the significance of the milestone and the role alumni continue to
play in shaping Mayo College’s direction.
Mr. Harmeet Singh, President
of MAAD, described the 150-year anniversary as an opportunity to reconnect and
align across generations. Ms. Pooja Kothari, President of the MCGS Alumni
Association, referred to the “silent badge of honor” associated with being a
Mayoite, adding that this legacy brings a responsibility to uphold its values
going forward.
Principal Mr. Saurav Sinha
reinforced the idea that alumni play a vital role in the College’s growth.
“When I speak to students, I remind them that every privilege they enjoy is a
result of the path carved by their seniors,” he said.
Mr. Pankaj Karna, Treasurer of
MAAD and Managing Director of Maple Capital Advisors, introduced the evening’s
themes—highlighting real estate as a topic of growing interest, AI as both a
challenge and opportunity, and mental wellbeing as an area requiring greater
attention.
Real Estate Panel:
Market Momentum and Diversification
The first panel brought
together real estate leaders to explore investment trends and sector shifts.
The discussion featured Abhishek Bansal (Pacific Group), Ankur Gupta (Aashiana
Housing), Ashwin Chaddha (Sotheby’s International Realty India), and Samir
Jasuja (PropEquity), and was moderated by journalist Manisha Natarajan.
Jasuja noted that “the real
estate index has outperformed the Nifty by three times in the last four years,
delivering a 450% return for listed property stocks,” while cautioning that
this growth was largely supply-driven—highlighting the drop in Gurgaon’s
inventory from 60 to 9 months and a doubling of rental rates.
Chaddha pointed to sustained
demand for “trophy assets in Lutyens’ Delhi and South Bombay,” and cited
Dubai’s $2.6 billion in $10 million-plus transactions in Q2 2025 as a
benchmark.
Gupta emphasized senior living
as a growing niche, observing that “senior living communities now offer rental
yields that outpace traditional residential and commercial assets,” supported
by full occupancy and limited supply.
Bansal discussed the
resilience of retail real estate, stating that “well-managed retail properties
deliver consistent year-on-year returns,” and underlined the increasing
relevance of structured investment products like REITs and AIFs that offer “a
transparent, regulated pathway to real estate returns.” The panel highlighted
how the sector has significantly outperformed broader markets post-COVID, the
supply constraints and declining inventory’s role in driving price escalation
in key urban markets, senior living and trophy assets as differentiated,
high-yield investments and Institutionalized vehicles like REITs and AIFs are
enabling more accessible real estate participation. The discussion also
identified the National Capital Region (NCR) and other Tier-1 markets as
hotspots for the next 5–10 years.
Artificial
Intelligence: India’s Roadmap for Scaled Innovation
In the session on
AI, Prof. Ravi Bapna (University of Minnesota & Author) and Abhishek Singh
(NIC, MeitY & IndiaAI, Government of India), in conversation with moderator
Saurav Adhikari (Indus Tech Edge Fund), presented India’s AI roadmap.
Singh highlighted India’s
strengths in open-source contributions—being the second-largest contributor on
GitHub—and the prior constraints due to limited computing access. He noted that
the India AI Mission now offers 40,000 subsidized GPUs at ₹65 per hour,
significantly improving access. He also introduced AI Kosh, a platform offering
standardized datasets, and referenced four indigenous foundation models being
developed to ensure inclusive representation of India’s languages and contexts.
Singh outlined thirty priority
use-cases, such as AI tools for tuberculosis diagnosis and voice-based
agricultural support and noted that a national AI framework—shaped by over 400
public comments—will be released by mid-August 2025.
Bapna tempered fears of
runaway “SuperAI,” explaining, “In my view, we are far away from that right
now,” and urged a focus on near‑term “AI–human augmentation” in education,
healthcare, manufacturing, and governance. Both speakers emphasized the
need for ethical oversight and human-in-the-loop governance. The conversation
underscored India’s investment into democratizing AI infrastructure through
subsidized compute access, AI Kosh and foundational models aimed to localize AI
to India’s diverse needs and languages, AI’s hand in helping sectors like healthcare
and education and the distant reality of SuperAI.
Mental Wellbeing:
Tools for Personal Resilience
In the final session, Dr.
Rachana Patni, Founder of The Matrix of Emotions, led a guided visualization
exercise to introduce the topic of mental wellbeing. Using a “Wheel of Life”
self-assessment tool, participants reflected on personal and professional
dimensions of wellness.
Dr. Patni discussed how
external success can obscure internal imbalances and pointed out common
behavioral patterns—from perfectionism to screen dependency—that affect mental
health. She emphasized the need for self-awareness and accountability in
maintaining long-term emotional and psychological resilience.
Honoring Alumni
and Looking Ahead
Mayo Chronicles, the official
Mayo Old Boys Society Magazine, was launched on July 19, 2025, at the Mayo
Alumni Summit 2025 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. The launch ceremony was graced
by Mr. Harmeet Singh, President MAAD, and Mr. Kirit S. Javali, Secretary MAAD
& part of the Mayo Chronicles Editorial Team. Bhanu Pratap Singh, Member
Mayo OBS executive committee also a member of the Editorial Team, virtually
joined in to mark this significant occasion.
The Mayo Alumni Summit 2025
successfully set the stage for the upcoming 150th celebrations, reinforcing the
institution’s legacy and its commitment to the future. As one speaker aptly
summarized:
“Mayo doesn’t just build students—it builds
legacies.”
Mayo College
Alumni Association of Delhi (MAAD) is a registered association for the alumni
of Mayo College both boys and girls focused on alumni initiatives and
activities that have been around networking, sports, alumni welfare and giving
back to school. Mayo College, Ajmer is a prestigious residential school in
India, It was established in 1875 to educate and nurture the princes of the
royal families of Rajasthan. After Independence it emerged as one of the
premier residential public schools with many well-known alumni across,
government, armed forces, business, education, entertainments and other areas.
Mayo College Girls school was established in 1987, a residential school
adjoining the boy’s school both schools have built a reputation of being among
the best residential schools in the country.
