Tata Capital Pankh Scholarship: Marks-Based Awards

Who can apply

You must be an Indian national studying at a recognised institution in India, in one of these lines:

• Class 11 or 12, with at least 60% marks in the previous class.
• General undergraduate degrees (B.A., B.Sc., B.Com. and similar) or diploma/polytechnic/ITI courses, with at least 60% in the preceding year.
• Professional undergraduate degrees — engineering, medicine, law, architecture and similar — under the general professional line, and a specialised-disciplines line for students in fields such as medicine, veterinary science, aerospace, astrophysics, mathematical sciences, genetics and related sciences, which asks for at least 80% marks.

Family income must fall within the programme ceiling — ₹4,00,000 a year under the current-cycle listing (earlier cycles used ₹2.5 lakh, and many guide pages still quote the old figure; the number on the live application form is the one that will be applied to you). Children of employees of Tata Capital and of Buddy4Study are not eligible, whatever their marks.

Selection preference is published and worth knowing: among equally placed applicants, the programme prefers girl students, students with disabilities, SC/ST students, students from single-parent families and orphans.

What you receive

Pankh pays a percentage of tuition with a marks-band cap — up to 80% of the tuition/course fees you actually paid, or the band amount, whichever is less:

For the specialised-discipline line, the award is 80% of tuition fees up to ₹1,00,000. Two consequences follow from the design. First, one more percentage point can move you a band — a student at 90.4% and a student at 91% are in different rows. Second, because the award is capped by fees actually paid, a student in a low-fee government college may receive less than the band figure; keep the fee receipt, since it is the receipt that fixes the payable amount. The award is essentially one-time support for the year applied, credited after verification; it is not a guaranteed four-year commitment.

Dates for 2026–27

The 2026–27 round opened in September 2026, following Tata Capital's published annual pattern, and the partner listing gives the closing date as 26 October 2026 across the Class 11–12 and undergraduate/diploma lines. That date is close — a student reading this in late October should treat the application as this week's work, not next month's, and should confirm the date on the live listing before starting, since partner-run deadlines do move.

How to apply

• Open the Tata Capital Pankh Scholarship listing on buddy4study.com and choose the line that matches your course — Class 11–12, general UG/diploma/ITI, professional, or specialised disciplines. Applying under the wrong line is a rejection, not a transfer.
• Click Apply Now, register or log in to Buddy4Study, and start the application.
• Fill personal, academic and financial details: previous-class marks (these set your band), current course and institution, family income and the fee you actually paid.
• Upload the documents below.
• Preview and submit, then watch your Buddy4Study account and phone: shortlisted applicants go through document verification and a telephonic interview before Tata Capital's final confirmation. Missing the interview call effectively ends the application.

Documents you will need

Photo identity proof (Aadhaar); passport-size photograph; income proof — Form 16A, a government-issued income certificate or salary slips; proof of admission (institution ID card or bonafide certificate); the current academic year's fee receipt; marksheet or grade card of the preceding class; bank account details of the applicant (cancelled cheque or passbook copy); and disability or caste certificate where applicable to your preference claim. For the specialised line, keep proof of the discipline and your qualifying marks ready in the same folder.

Renewal

Pankh is not structured as an automatic renewal scholarship. Past scholars may be considered again in a later round, but each cycle is a fresh application judged on that year's marks and income — do not budget next year's fees on the assumption this year's award repeats.

Where applications fail

The avoidable failures are consistent: applying under the wrong course line; quoting income from memory instead of the income document, so the form and the certificate disagree; uploading a fee receipt for a different academic year, which breaks the "fees actually paid" calculation; scoring 60% in aggregate but entering a higher figure from a best-of calculation the marksheet does not support; and missing the telephonic interview. Check the marks band you are claiming against the marksheet line by line before you submit — in a marks-banded programme, an inflated entry is not a rounding choice, it is the whole application.

Related guides on StudyDesk