He was speaking at the 47th annual convocation of IIT Kanpur where 510 students were awarded degrees.
"The world is experiencing a rapid technology-based development and India has to play a crucial role in it," Zainulbhai said.
On the occasion, Rakesh Jain, professor of tumour biology at Harvard Medical School and physicist T V Ramakrsihnan were awarded honorary doctorates by IIT Kanpur.
Meanwhile, 512 persons were awarded degrees in Chandrashekar Azad Agricultural Uniersity.
Of the 512, 321 were graduates, 168 post graduates and 23 PhD scholars. Ten of them were awarded Chancellor's gold medal and ten others the silver medal.