Scholarships For Studying Abroad: Tata Trust, KC Mahindra, Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation

Published date: 06 Dec 2017 Updated on: 20 Feb 2019

Scholarships, grants and financial endowments help many meritorious, but financially-weak students to fulfil their dream of going abroad to the very best of international universities for higher studies. We, at GyanDhan, have identified more than 2000 such scholarships, and you can search for them here.

Four of these scholarships – all offered by Indian organizations are particularly noteworthy. In this blog, we give you a brief overview of these prestigious scholarships:

1. Tata Trust

The founder of the Tata group - Jamsethji Tata also established the JN Tata Endowment Trust in 1892. This prestigious scholarship allows top-caliber students to pursue higher studies abroad in some of the most premier institutes. However, the selection process is very rigorous and each year, only 120 candidates make the cut. The endowment awards scholarships and gift cards.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates ought to be Indian Nationals and graduates of UGC recognised Indian Universities with a good academic record
• Final year students can also apply for the endowments
• Working professionals upto 45 years of age can also apply for the endowment

Process

All the applicants are screened and then the shortlisted candidates are called in for a face to face interview. Subject experts evaluate the candidates in Mumbai and then select the final awardees according to their due process.

2. Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust Scholarships

This scholarship is exclusively awarded to female Indian graduates to pursue higher education abroad. The candidates need to have a consistently good academic record for eligibility. Part-time, correspondence, short-time courses are not eligible for the scholarship.

Eligibility Criteria

• Female Indian graduates
• Candidates should have already applied for admission or have secured admission in accredited institutions in USA, UK or Europe
• Consistently good academic record

3. KC Mahindra

KC Mahindra founded the KC Mahindra Trust in 1953 with the sole aim of giving grants to deserving candidates so that they can pursue higher studies abroad. Over the years, the trust has awarded more than Rs. 440 million to deserving candidates to realise their dream of studying abroad.

The KC Mahindra Trust offers scholarships, grants and interest-free loans. However, the trust does not offer any kind of financial assistance to candidates, who want to pursue under-graduate courses or want to go abroad to attend conferences and seminars, i.e. they exclusively cater to aspirants for post-graduate courses.

Scholarship Duration

Maximum of two years. If the student wants to extend this time period then s/he needs to take special permission from the trust.

Scholarship Amount

1) The maximum amount of Rs.8 lakhs per candidate, which is offered to the top 3 K.C. Mahindra fellows 

2) And a maximum amount of Rs.4 lakhs per candidate, which is awarded to the other remaining successful applicants 

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates ought to be Indian Nationals and graduates/equivalent diploma holders of UGC recognised Indian Universities with a good academic record
• They should have a first class division in their graduate or equivalent diploma.
• Final year students can also apply for the endowments
• Candidates should have already applied for admission or have secured admission in accredited institutions abroad

4. Narotam Sekhsaria Scholarship

In 2002, Narotam Sekhsaria founded the Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organization. The interest-free scholarship loans are awarded to Indian students who have very consistent and stellar academic records. The PG scholarship is awarded to all those students who want to pursue higher education in various fields such as Social Sciences, Architecture and Management, Applied Sciences, Pure Sciences, Social Studies and Humanities in India as well as abroad.

Scholarship Amount

All the applicants are screened and then evaluated. Finally the scholarships are awarded, which are for a maximum amount of up to Rs.20 Lakhs to the deserving candidates.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates must be of Indian nationality
• They should be below 30 years of age
• Candidates ought to be Indian Nationals and graduates of UGC recognised Indian Universities with a good academic record
• Final year students can also apply for the endowments
• Candidates should have already applied for admission or have secured admission in accredited institutions abroad

Repayment Process

The scholarship loan is granted to the student after getting their student visa and other required official documents. The repayment is expected one year after the completion of the course. 30%, 35% and 35% of the scholarship loan amount are expected to be paid back two years, three years and four years respectively after the completion of the course.

And if you don't make the cut in either of these scholarships or grants then you can always avail of an educational loan for the purpose of higher studies. GyanDhan is a pioneer in this domain and has secured loans over 160 crores and in the process helped thousands of students achieve their educational goals.