Reliance Foundation

Choose the right route

• Students on full-time degree courses: the scholarship is the only open application among these programmes. Check your year of study and course type first.
• Young people who want skills and jobs: the Skilling Academy's open-access courses are the place to start.
• Non-profits with a project for women's digital inclusion: SheConnects is the closest fit, but Round 2 has closed.
• Social-sector women leaders and social entrepreneurs: the WomenLeaders fellowship is the closest fit, but its last call closed in July 2024.
• Private EdTech companies: the EdTech Accelerator was open to private organisations as well as non-profits, but it closed in January 2023.

How applications work

• The scholarship is applied for online, with no fee at any stage.
• SheConnects used a two-step online application, in English.
• Other calls have closed. Check the official page for any newer intake before you apply.

How selection works

• Undergraduate scholarship selection includes an aptitude assessment and a review of financial background.
• Postgraduate scholarship applicants are assessed on academic merit, aptitude and other selection parameters.
• SheConnects selected six non-profit organisations for its first round of grants.

Reliance Foundation is an Indian foundation set up in 2010. It runs scholarships, online skilling courses and grant and leadership programmes, and says its initiatives have reached people across India. Most of its programmes are for students, young people and non-profits, not for startups.

Programmes

Reliance Foundation Scholarships 2026–27 is open for applications now. It offers 5,000 undergraduate and 100 postgraduate awards for the academic year 2026–27 to first-year students on full-time degree courses across India. Selected students of both levels receive a scholarship for the duration of their programme. There is no fee at any stage of the application.

The Reliance Foundation Skilling Academy is an open-access online platform. It offers self-paced courses in 21st-century and employability skills, information on job opportunities and one-to-one mentorship led by industry experts.

SheConnects Digital Accelerator: India is a grant call for registered Indian non-profits with a project that advances digital inclusion for women. The foundation founded it. Its first round selected six non-profit organisations for grants. Round 2 closed on 4 September 2026.

The WomenLeaders India Fellowship, powered by Reliance Foundation and Vital Voices, supports social-sector women leaders and social entrepreneurs. The 2024–25 call closed on 28 July 2024, and fellows were due to start in September 2024. No later call has been published that we could find.

The EdTech Accelerator backed EdTech solutions for foundational learning among children from low-income communities in India. It was open to non-profit and private organisations, and it was set to run over two years. Applications closed on 8 January 2023. The 2022 launch release names Reliance Foundation and UBS Optimus Foundation as founding partners. The programme's own website names no partners in its text, so the partner list cannot be confirmed from there.

Who can apply

Eligibility depends on the programme. The scholarship is for first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in full-time degree courses in India. The Skilling Academy is for young people who want skills and jobs. SheConnects is for registered not-for-profits in India. The WomenLeaders fellowship is for social-sector women leaders and social entrepreneurs. The EdTech Accelerator was for non-profit and private organisations.

Scale

The foundation says its initiatives have covered 98,000 Indian villages and several urban locations, across 36 states and union territories. It also says it has touched the lives of more than 100 million people since 2010. These are the foundation's own figures, and most are not dated.

On scholarships, it says it has awarded over 33,000 scholarships to date. Last year, its 5,100 selected scholars came from 1,350 institutions across 27 states and seven Union Territories. The Skilling Academy says it has reached 1,001,802 young people and skilled 497,209 of them. These figures are self-reported.

Who runs it

The foundation is led by Founder Chairperson Nita M Ambani. Its work covers rural transformation and health, education, sports, women's empowerment and disaster management. Its pages give different counts of its focus areas, so this page does not give a number.

How to apply

Each programme has its own route. The scholarship is the only open application among these programmes, and it is made online with no fee. The Skilling Academy is open-access. Most other calls have closed, so check the official page for each programme before you apply.