Six IIMA students get Birla scholarships

Six students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have earned laurels for the institute by bagging the 11th Aditya Birla Group Scholarships.

Six of the 10 prestigious scholarships, which were recently announced in Mumbai, were awarded to first-year students of the flagships postgraduate programme of the premier business school. IIMA students earned two scholarships last year.

Expressing his excitement at being awarded the scholarship, one of the six IIMA students, Anindya Dutta, said, “I felt numb after receiving the scholarship, as it is well recognised and such an achievement remains with one for a lifetime.”

“The scholarship carries prize money of Rs1.75 lakh. However, it is not the money that is important, but the respect that comes with receiving the scholarship. It is after some time that this many students of IIMA have been awarded these scholarships at one time,” said Khushboo Gupta, another IIMA student who received the Aditya Birla Group Scholarship.

The initial shortlist for the scholarships included the top 20 students in terms of entrance examination ranking at the time of admission to the various IIMs. Their overall achievements, spanning co- and extra-curricular activities, were then weighed and assessed.

Those selected for the next round were asked to write essays which were evaluated by a panel of judges. Based on their performances, the candidates were shortlisted for the final round, which features a 20-minute interview for each candidate.

The 10 management students selected included six from IIMA; two from IIM, Bangalore; and one each from the IIMs in Kolkata and Lucknow.

These students are assessed regularly on qualitative and quantitative parameters to judge their performance on the academic and leadership fronts. This assessment forms the basis for determining the continuation of the scholarship for the next academic session. Gupta explained, “If we perform well in academics this year, we will be entitled to the scholarship in the next academic year too.”

The Aditya Birla scholarships are given to 10 students of the IIMs, 10 of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and two of BITS (Pilani).