Bharti Airtel Foundation announces Rs 100 cr scholarship programme for underprivileged students

Bharti Airtel Foundation on Tuesday announced 'Bharti Airtel Scholarship Programme', committing Rs 100 crore annually to support 4,000 underprivileged students in pursuing technology-based engineering programmes at top institutes. Bharti Airtel Foundation (formerly Bharti Foundation) -- the philanthropic arm of Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprises -- entered its 25th year in 2024.

The merit-cum-means-based scholarship programme's first cohort will commence in August 2024, with 250 students.

"The ambition is to expand reach to 4,000 scholars with an outlay of Rs 100+ crore per year as the programme reaches its peak," the company said in a statement.


It aims to support deserving students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds with a focus on girl students, pursuing technology-based engineering UG and integrated programmes (up to five years) in the top-50 NIRF colleges, including IITs, it said.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises and co-chairman of Bharti Airtel Foundation, said the foundation has touched over 6 million lives over the last 25 years through its educational initiatives.

"The selected institutes have always showcased a confluence of exemplary learning and accessible education to students across different strata. Our endeavour is to strengthen these tenets in Indian academia, towards nurturing professionals equipped to handle the dynamic evolution of the technological landscape of tomorrow," he said.

The scholarship will be given to students whose annual family income does not exceed Rs 8.5 lakh.

Bharti Scholars, as the recipients of the scholarship shall be called, will receive 100 per cent of their college fees throughout the duration of their course, and will be given a laptop.