Who Is Himanshu Hooda, A Tea-Seller’s Son Who Cracked GATE And Secured Top Spot At IIT Bombay?

New Delhi: Getting into India’s premier engineering and technology institute – Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay remains the lifelong goal of millions of Indian youth who aspire to become engineers from there. 23 year old Himanshu Hooda is one such talented youth who has fulfilled his dream of getting admission in a prestigious engineering institute. Himanshu’s astonishing achievements came to the fore after he cracked the highly competitive Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) exam. Hooda secured an all India rank of 205. Based on his marks, he also received offers for M.Tech program from both IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore.

family background


This 23 year old youth from Haryana is the son of a simple tea seller who faced a lot of hardships and financial difficulties to make his son an engineer in one of the top institutes of India. His father, Om Prakash Hooda, took a loan of Rs 15 lakh to ensure that his son pursues his chosen path without any hindrance. Apart from preparing for GATE, Himanshu also worked at his father’s tea shop, which he runs on the Rohtak-Sonipat road in Sector 3. His family shifted to Rohtak in 1990 from a village in Mungan district.

academic career


A brilliant student right from the start, Himanshu completed his Bachelor of Technology in 2022 at YMCA Faridabad. Despite many obstacles, Himanshu always excelled in his academic career and scored 90% in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics during his senior year of secondary school. Mahendra Model School.

With his eyes set on the Advanced Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), Himanshu also prepared for it after completing his 10th and 12th standard. however, he failed.

financial difficulties

Himanshu’s father, a simple tea seller, faced many financial problems in ensuring quality education for his son. The family lived on rent in a Housing Authority colony and Om Prakash had taken a loan of Rs 15 lakh to pay for his son’s education. Euphoric with his son’s achievement, Om Prakash says he has no regrets in life as Himanshu has now realized his lifelong ambition. He also recalled how once during his preparation Himanshu wrote IIT Bombay on the walls of his house to remind himself how important IIT-B was to him.

Reflecting on his journey so far, Himanshu said that even during his school and college years, he always helped his family in every possible way. He used to serve tea to customers at his father’s kiosk. Interestingly, he was at his father’s tea stall when the GATE result was declared.