India, March 7 -- Sabeer Bhatia, the founder of Hotmail, which is now known as Microsoft Outlook, said that while "Stanford teaches what's happening now, much of IIT academia is stuck in the past" and that "free knowledge from internet is the real teacher."

The 56 year old veteran entrepreneur who is also a Stanford alumnus, said in a post on X that he "got into Apple on my grades, but built Hotmail by learning on the job."

"Innovation comes from doing, not just studying," he added.

Bhatia isn't alone with this view. India's G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant had also said in August last year that the IIT curriculum is outdated and needs a significant overhaul to align with current industry demands, especially when it co...