IIT Kharagpur has instituted eight new student grants for the autumn semester scheduled to begin in August this year as a group of alumni and their families have raised a corpus of over Rs 2 crore. The institute has received generous grants from eight alumni and their families, who have come forward to support the students in need, according to a statement issued by IIT Kharagpur on Friday. The aids are collectively valued at around Rs 2.

25 crore which will be utilised to support undergraduate and postgraduate students of chemistry and various engineering departments through merit-based scholarships and awards, it said. A memorandum of understanding was signed with the former students and their families for instituting the grants at a recently-concluded virtual event, the institute said in the statement. A key feature of these grants is that over Rs 65 lakh has been allocated for undergraduate female students exclusively. IIT Kharagpur Director Prof VK Tewari congratulated the former students for their contributions.