MLRIT’s Two-Day Equinox 2.0 Summit Spotlights Startups

MLR Institute of Technology in Hyderabad organized a two-day Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summit that featured eight named participants, according to Telangana Today. The outlet published its report on October 31, 2026, at 11:41 PM. The report did not specify the dates of the two-day event, its venue or the number of students who attended.

Called Equinox 2.0, the program was designed to nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, promote innovation and encourage students to transform ideas into successful ventures, Telangana Today reported. The “2.0” designation identifies the event as the second numbered version of the program.

MLRIT’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), also described as the institution’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell, organized the summit through its student council. Telangana Today said that arrangement put the institute’s entrepreneurship office and students behind the event’s execution.

What did MLRIT want students to consider?

Marri Raja Shekar Reddy, Founder Secretary of MLRIT and MLA for Malkajgiri, told students to “look beyond conventional career opportunities such as placements and higher education,” Telangana Today reported. He described entrepreneurship as “an equally promising career path.” His remarks recast the summit as a career decision, not simply a student innovation exercise.

The source did not portray placements or higher education as failures. Reddy described entrepreneurship as equally promising, framing the summit as an expansion of student choice rather than a replacement for either route.

How did MLR leadership frame startups and AI?

Marri Dhiren Reddy, Vice Chairman of MLR Group of Institutions, praised the students for organizing what Telangana Today described as a large-scale initiative. He urged them to “build startups, develop their own AI models and create technology-driven solutions.” The instruction links company creation with technical ownership rather than presenting innovation as a theme without an operational goal.

The report did not identify a student AI model, startup or venture resulting from those instructions. It also disclosed no project pipeline, seed funding, revenue target or valuation for any company represented at the summit.

The published roster contains no explicitly identified external technology partner, investor or corporate sponsor. Nor did the report provide technical specifications for any AI model or a product description for a student venture.

Who appeared at Equinox 2.0?

Telangana Today listed eight featured participants:

• Jashwanth — Founder and CEO, Student Forge.
• Sathya Naga Sai — Founder and CEO, VetraiAI.
• VVS Nikhil — Founder, Soaron.
• Bhargavi — HR Professional and Founder, FreshGradPrep.
• Anany Tej Manche — Co-Founder, Paramanch.
• Vivek Vardhan Reddy — Co-Founder, Paramanch.
• Karthik — Co-Founder, Paramanch.
• Kalyan Kollaram — IPL Auction Host.

Paramanch supplied three of the eight names through co-founders Anany Tej Manche, Vivek Vardhan Reddy and Karthik. The other five covered four businesses—Student Forge, VetraiAI, Soaron and FreshGradPrep—and IPL Auction Host Kalyan Kollaram.

What will show whether the summit delivers?

Equinox 2.0 gave MLRIT’s student council a two-day platform, eight featured participants and direct backing from two senior leaders, according to Telangana Today. The program’s stated route ran from alternative career planning to venture creation and AI development.

That is the report’s clearest business takeaway: entrepreneurship was presented as a third route alongside placements and higher education. Venture building and the development of students’ own AI models were the program’s practical destinations.

The report gives no commercial terms with which to test that proposition. It names no funding round, revenue, valuation, customer, investor, launch or follow-on event for Student Forge, VetraiAI, Soaron, FreshGradPrep or Paramanch.

Telangana Today also provides no attendance figure, panel transcript, project demonstration list or outcome metric for the summit. Its scale can be judged only through the two-day format, the student council’s organizing role and Marri Dhiren Reddy’s praise for what the report called a “large-scale initiative.”

The next milestone for MLRIT is measurable: documented student ventures, working AI models, startup funding or a published follow-up to Equinox 2.0. Until one of those outcomes appears, the institute has announced the ambition and assembled the participants, but the venture outcomes remain unproven.