Vidyasaarathi Scholarship

Vidyasaarathi is a technology-enabled initiative by Protean eGov Technologies Limited (formerly NSDL e-Governance infrastructure limited). Vidyasaarathi enables underprivileged students to receive financial assistance via corporate-funded scholarships. It aims to bridge the gap in education finance in the country through an online platform. Students can search and apply to various education finance schemes they are qualified for. Fund providers, industries, and corporates can promote skill development by designing education finance schemes provided on merit by fund providers, industries, and corporates. Ever since its inception, Vidyasaarathi has received tremendous response from the student community. More than 10 lakh students have registered on the Vidyasaarathi portal and many leading names from the Indian corporate sector have disbursed scholarships through the platform (as on January 2022). Vidyasaarathi and CSR for corporates: Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act as well as the provisions of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 (CRS Rules) which came into effect from 1 April 2014. Section 135 of the Companies Act provides the threshold limit for applicability of the CSR to a Company i.e. (a) net worth of the company to be Rs 500 crore or more; (b) turnover of the company to be Rs 1000 crore or more; (c) net profit of the company to be Rs 5 crore or more. Further as per the CSR Rules, the provisions of CSR are not only applicable to Indian companies, but also applicable to branch and project offices of a foreign company in India. Vidyasaarathi can be used by fund providers, industries, and corporate entities to promote skill development by designing and managing education finance schemes using this platform to disburse their CSR fund in higher education.