A number of top institutes and industries offer MBA scholarships to deserving candidates. Shutterstock
Doing an MBA from a premier institute brightens up your CV and prepares you for a high-flying career. But it doesn’t come cheap and may seem out of reach for many students and young professionals. So, should you shelve your dream of a career in the business world? Discard that idea — you can take advantage of the MBA scholarships offered by a number of top institutes and industries and move up the career ladder.
When to apply for an MBA scholarship:
You can apply for an MBA scholarship in India after completion of your admission process and at the beginning of the academic session. IIMs and other top B-schools usually invite MBA scholarship applications in July-August every year.
Here's a list of MBA scholarships:
BML Munjal University MBA Scholarship
You’ll be eligible for this scholarship if you apply for the MBA programme at BML Munjal University, Gurgaon. You can get up to 100% waiver in the tuition fee, depending on your CAT/ XAT or GMAT score. Applications can be submitted online through the varsity’s official website.
Aditya Birla Group Scholarship
Students of premier institutes, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore, IIM Shillong and XLRI Jamshedpur, are eligible for this scholarship. It covers a part of the tuition fee of the management programmes offered by these institutes.
Top 20 students (based on their entrance exam ranking at the time of admission) can submit applications for the scholarship to the dean of the respective institutes. Around 180 students from IIMs and XLRI are assessed based on their applications.
Overall, the achievements and extracurricular excellence of the candidates are used as a screening process, which comprises essay writing and an interview round, for the next stage. The top 16 students are selected, provided they produce valid documents, and are offered Rs 1,75,000 each per annum.
IMT EWS Scholarship
IMT scholarship covers 100% of the total academic fee of a select number of students from the Economically Weaker Sections of Society (EWS). It is given to students enrolled in any AICTE-approved two-year PGDM programme at IMT. A maximum of 10 eligible candidates from IMT Ghaziabad are selected for the scholarship and five each from IMT Nagpur and Hyderabad.
OP Jindal Engineering and Management Scholarships (OPJEMS)
Top management institutes participate in the OPJEMS programme, which aims to provide financial support to Postgraduate Programme in Management (PGP) students. Top 20 students from different management institutes from each year are selected. First-year students are selected on the basis of the entrance exam ranking by the college at the time of admission. Second, third, and fourth-year students are reviewed based on their previous year’s academic performance.
You can apply online by visiting the OPJEMS official website. All selected students will be awarded Rs 1,50,000 each for every academic year.
SPJIMR Mumbai: MBA Scholarship Scheme
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, offers special scholarships to meritorious and deserving students. You need to send a scholarship request letter to the institute along with an application stating your credentials and reasons for applying. The admission committee decides on the reduction to be offered based on the criteria drawn up by the institute.
IIM Ahmedabad MBA Scholarship
The IIM-A Special Needs Scholarship is available to PG students whose gross family income is below Rs 15,00,000. The scholarship amount is decided based on different criteria like annual family income, ownership of assets and the number of dependents in the family.
IIM Bangalore MBA Scholarships
PG students can apply for IIMB Financial Aid if their household income is below Rs 8,00,000. Students facing financial difficulties owing to unforeseen circumstances are also considered.
The Citi Women’s Leader Award is a merit scholarship that covers the second year’s tuition expenses. Candidates are selected from the top 25% of the batch at the end of the first year. All nominated students are selected based on their statement of purpose and subsequent interviews scheduled by the Citi Group.
The IIMB Alumni First Batch (1976) Scholarship aims to assist a girl student with special needs every year. The scholarship carries a purse of Rs 75,000, a medallion and a certificate. If there is no eligible girl student, a male student is considered.
NTPC Scholarship Scheme
Students belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes or students with disability in the second year of management studies are eligible for the scholarship amounting to Rs 48,000 a year. The criterion for eligibility is that a student must clear the first-year examination in one attempt.
IIM Lucknow MBA Scholarship
The Need-based IIML Scholarships are available to any candidate with a family income of less than Rs 4,00,000. Eligible candidates are shortlisted for a reward based on merit. The scholarship covers the tuition fee charged by the institute in a year.
IIM Indore MBA Scholarship
All students admitted to the Management and Human Resource Management programmes and the Integrated Programme in Management (IPM), as well as with an annual family income of less than Rs 9,00,000, are eligible to apply for Need-Based Financial Assistance (NBFA). The NBFA Committee assesses the applicants’ financial needs and calls selected candidates for personal interaction.
Industry/Bank-sponsored scholarships
Several industry-sponsored scholarships are offered to students on the basis of merit. The scholarship value ranges from Rs 6,000 to Rs 1,00,000 per annum. Key benefactors for these scholarships include Hindustan Lever Ltd., Reckitt Benckiser, Ratan Tata, Citibank, EXIM Bank, Hughes Software Systems, Nestle India Ltd., Central Bank of India, Apeejay Trust and Bharti Foundation, PNB Housing Finance, IDFC and Yes Bank.