Tata Trust Scholarship Application

Tata Trust is one of the oldest grant-bestowing foundations in India. Find out how you can apply for the Tata Trust scholarship and learn helpful tips that will increase your chances of getting selected as one of the recipients.

Tata Trust is an establishment of Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate with products, services, and operations spread across all continents. The Trust was set up as far back as 1919 to support various causes such as health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation, livelihoods, social justice and inclusion, skilling, migration and urbanization, environment, sports, craft and culture, and more.

For over a century, Tata Trust has continued to empower, enable, and transform communities across India, improve the quality of life of the tribal, underserved, underprivileged, backward, and minority sections, and emphasize women and children.

The Trust achieves all these in two ways:

  1. By partnering with numerous organizations across the length and breadth of India that engage in innovative and sustainable initiatives and have the potential to make a visible difference.
  2. By providing grants to academic and non-academic institutions in the areas of rural livelihoods and communities, education, health, enhancing civil society and governance, and arts, crafts and culture.

The Tata Trust scholarship information concentrates on the grants that Tata Trust provides to educational establishments and how you can benefit from it. The grant also works like a scholarship, to help pay for the education of deserving students, and you do not have to pay back the grant.   

In this blog, you will learn how the Tata Trust scholarship works, how you can apply for it, and tips to increase your chances of getting selected for the grants. But before that, it is worth noting that we have published articles on other scholarship opportunities that may be useful to you like the Vahani Scholarship Application and the Vivekananda Scholarship (Merit-cum-Means -SVMCM).

Now, let’s get into the full details of the Tata Trust scholarship application.

Tata Trust scholarship

About Tata Trust Scholarship

I mentioned earlier that one of the ways Tata Trust is using to achieve its goal is to provide grants to academic and non-academic institutions. The grants provided to academic institutions are scholarships and that is the focus of this blog – to provide you with accurate information to get this scholarship.

India is the home of Tata Group and Tata Trust. The country is also home to many academically inclined and passionate individuals who aspire for a higher education or a foreign degree to acquire special skills but due to lack of finance, they cannot afford the very thing – higher education – that will take them out of poverty.

And that’s not all…

There are also children from marginalized sections of society and those with special needs who want to get an education but cannot afford it as well.

There is also the issue of health which is a major cause of financial stress. With the rising cost of hospitalization and medicine, the common population is unable to afford full medical treatment.

To address and tackle these issues, Tata Trust developed the Individual Grants Programme which is divided into two categories; Education and Medical.

While the Education Individual Grants Programme tackles and addresses educational challenges by providing scholarships to those in need who want to continue their schooling no matter their level of education while the Medical Individuals Grants Programme addresses health challenges by providing medical grants to needy individuals requiring specific medical treatment.

The medical grant is not the focus of this blog but the educational grant and because of that I won’t go into the details. But if you want to learn more about the Medical Individuals Grants Programme, click here.

So, back to the educational grant programme…

In essence, the Tata Trust scholarship is the Educational Individual Grants Programme. It is also known as the Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata Endowment for The Higher Education Of Indians but we are just going to stick to the Tata Trust scholarship or Educational Individual Grants Programme.

This programme was established in 1892 and over 5,600 Indian students have received the award including KR Narayanan, the former President of India. Those who have been awarded the scholarship are called JN Tata Scholars.

Remember that this educational grant is a programme and programmes usually have segments under them and this one is no different. Different types of grants make up the Educational Individual Grants Programme. So, we will look at them one after the other.

Means Grant

The Means Grant is one of the Educational Individual Grants Programme that makes up the Tata Trust scholarship. The Means Grant is based on the student’s needs and offers partial assistance to college (till graduation – except engineering stream) and school-going (STD VIII onwards) students towards their fees.

The grant is offered each year and there is usually a deadline, so apply before the deadline for your application to be considered.

Before you even start applying, you need to meet the eligibility criteria for the Means Grant outlined below:

  • The grant is applicable for the current academic year
  • Applicants must be students in colleges or schools located within Mumbai and Mumbai suburban areas
  • Students must secure at least a pass percentage in their previous examination (ATKT students are not eligible to apply).
  • Only a maximum of two children from the same family may apply
  • Students must have their original annual fee receipt in hand when

Do you meet all of the criteria above? If yes, then you can apply.

You will apply to the Tata Trusts at igpedu@tatatrusts.org along with clear scanned copies of the following documents:

  • Formal, signed application. See a sample here
  • Marksheet for the current academic year (if a single year comprises two semesters, submit mark sheets for both semesters)
  • Original fee receipt for the current academic year
  • Family income proof:
    • Complete the set of Income Tax Return for the assessment year you are applying for the grant (in the absence of the same, kindly provide a declaration to that effect)Complete set of Form 16 for the assessment year you are applying for the grant (in case the employer has not issued Form 16, submit an employer letter on the company’s original letterhead stating the same)In the absence of Form 16, please submit an employer letter on the company’s original letterhead stating the breakup of the annual gross income along with pay slips from the past year (from April to March)
    • Valid income certificate
  • Identity proof of the student/applicant – Aadhaar Card/PAN Card.

Merit-based Scholarships

The Merit-based Scholarship is one of the Educational Individual Grants Programme that makes up the Tata Trust scholarship.

Merit-based scholarships are usually offered based on your academic achievement. So, if you are an academically outstanding student, this scholarship is for you.

The Merit-based scholarships are offered in various academic streams as listed below:

  • M.Sc. in Speech Therapy – M.Sc. in Speech and Hearing, Masters in Audiology, and Speech Language Pathology, M.Sc. in Audio Speech therapy, M.Sc. in Speech Language Pathology, and M.Sc. in Audiology
  • B.Ed. and D.Ed. – Only for students pursuing studies in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.
  • Special Education – Students pursuing B.Ed. and M.Ed. in special education.
  • Medical and Healthcare Scholarships – For undergraduate and postgraduate students in Medical Sciences and Healthcare streams in India
  • M.Sc. in Neuroscience – Exclusively for women.
  • Aircraft maintenance engineering

The scholarship programme is open every year.

Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust Scholarship

Every year, the Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust Scholarship is offered to 10 women who want to pursue a master’s degree abroad in social work, social welfare including child welfare, education, and education for children with special needs.

The Lady Meherbai D Tata Education Trust Scholarship was established in 1933 and continues to offer financial support to date. It is one of the Tata Trust scholarships. The selection process for the scholarship is a rigorous one that even the trustees take a keen in.

Civil Aviation Grant

The Civil Aviation Grant supports students who want to earn their commercial pilot license or those who want to pursue a type rating after obtaining their license to fly a certain type of aircraft. Whether you want to study for your flight course in India or abroad, you can apply for the grant. It is awarded based on a candidate’s performance during the interview.

Professional Enhancement Grant

If you are a working professional looking to enhance your professional skills through any means like taking a programme abroad or attending training, workshops, and conferences, the Professional Enhancement Grant is for you.

Interested candidates are required to forward their request to igpedu@tatatrusts.org along with their resumes and the invitation letter from the organizers.

Spectrum Grants

Spectrum Grant is one of Tata Trust scholarships and it is dedicated to covering the funding for sports and caregivers of children with special needs. The supported sports are Athletics, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Swimming, Badminton, Pistol, Rifle, Archery, Chess, and Para Sports.

Interested? Send a request to igpedu@tatatrusts.org.

Lady Tata Memorial Trust

The Lady Tata Memorial Trust was established in memory of Lady Meherbai, the wife of the late Sir Dorabji Tata. The funding from this Trust is allocated to two different projects:

  1. Four-fifths of the Trust goes to facilitating research in blood disorders and leukemic diseases
  2. The balance, one-fifth, goes into research on the alleviation of human suffering from diseases in India and internationally.

The Trust also supports scientific research, offers a ‘Young Researcher Award’ to budding scientists, and conducts a Teachers’ Training Programme.

This is all the scholarships and grants from Tata Trust relating to academic institutions, specifically to address the educational challenges in India. So, if you want to study in India or overseas but cannot afford it or just need a little support, apply for any of these Tata Trust scholarships whose criteria you meet.

Helpful Tips to Apply for the Tata Trust Scholarship

The following are helpful tips to increase your chances of being selected for the Tata Trust scholarship:

1.     Apply Early

Gather all the necessary application documents and apply early. Applying early increases your chances of getting selected. So, check the deadlines and apply before the application closes. I advise that you apply within the first 2 weeks.

2.     Read the Requirements Carefully

Out of over-excitement, you are most likely going to through the scholarship eligibility criteria. Do NOT do that. Trust me.

Relax and go through the requirements for the scholarship and do not miss any detail. If you are not sure of what a particular requirement means, you can ask your teacher, or lecturer, or send an email to the Tata Trust scholarship committee for clarity.

If you rushed through the criteria and missed something, and it so happens that what you missed, you are not satisfied, your application will be rejected. So, take your time and read the requirements carefully and satisfy every single one.

3.     Reach out to Past Winners

The names of past winners of the Tata Trust scholarship are usually published online with their social media handles, mostly LinkedIn so reaching them should not be difficult.

I recommend reaching out to past winners so that they can guide you since they have firsthand experience of applying for and winning the scholarship, they can give you the best guidance.

Conclusion

The Tata Trust scholarship is not all that difficult compared to most that I have written on. There are no essays to write and there is no specific academic score that you need to achieve to apply but you have to be a smart student with lots of potential. That is what they are looking for – potential. One that would develop and contribute to the growth of India.

You can also find a list of other scholarships below that you may qualify for.

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