In 1946, a committee established by Government of India recommended to establish 4 technical institutes in India similar to that in the United States and Europe. The committee felt the need for such institutions to expand knowledge horizon and to follow the pace of changing socio - economic structure of the modern society. The government began planning for one such institution at Bombay in 1957 and the IIT Bombay was set up in 1958 at Powai with the cooperation of UNESCO and the then Government of USSR. The first batch of 100 students was admitted for training in sophisticated engineering technologies. Powai is a northern suburb of Mumbai. The UNESCO has offered 27 fellowships for training of Indian faculty members in USSR. Under the bilateral agreement of 1965, the USSR Govt. provided additional assistance to supplement the Aid Program already received by the Institute through UNESCO

Today, the IIT Bombay is recognized as one of the institutions of excellence for training and research in engineering sciences and several other academic disciplines. Since its establishment the institute has attained excellence in academics, infrastructure and faculty.

The institute is aiming towards producing leaders of the future and hence offers the best value education in humanities, sciences, engineering and other disciplines. The emphasis on the basic sciences removes to some extent the fear of rapid obsolescence, while studies in the Humanities help the students to interact more positively with the society in which he / she lives.

The institute caters the top class engineers, scientists and academician who contribute towards enriching the countries economy by offering their excellent services for different task of the industry, society and nation.