Mumbai: Five thousand first-year undergraduate students from 27 states and four Union Territories will be awarded the Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships for 2022-23. Selected scholars will receive a grant of up to Rs. 2 lakh and an opportunity to be part of an enabling alumni network.

“By enabling access to education, the Reliance Foundation Scholarships hope to give wings to dreams of young people. This is a diverse group of scholars as they are from varying disciplines of study, from nearly all the states of India and with girls and boys being equally represented. We congratulate every selected scholar and we are confident that they will build a strong future for themselves while contributing to India’s progress,” said Jagannatha Kumar, CEO, Reliance Foundation.

The Reliance Foundation Undergraduate Scholarships are awarded on merit-cummeans basis to students in any stream of study. For this year, selected scholars are from streams including Engineering/Technology, Science, Medicine, Commerce, Arts, Business/Management, Computer Applications, Law, Education, Hospitality, Architecture and other professional degrees. The 5,000 scholars for 2022-23 cycle, of which 51% are girls, were selected from nearly 40,000 applicants studying at over 4,984 educational institutions through a rigorous selection process, which involved an aptitude test, Class 12 marks and other eligibility criteria. Further reflecting the diversity inherent to the programme, this round saw selection of 99 students with disabilities for award of scholarships.

Strengthening its commitment last December, Reliance Foundation had announced it will award 50,000 scholarships over the next 10 years. The award of this round of scholarships takes forward Reliance’s legacy of facilitating access to education for all and nurturing talented students towards building India’s future. Since 1996, the Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarships have been awarded to nearly 13,000 undergraduate scholars on merit-cum-means basis, of which 2,720 scholars were people with disabilities.