The Infosys Scholarship 2026, run by the Infosys Foundation, is best known through its flagship STEM Stars programme — a scholarship dedicated to supporting girl students pursuing engineering, technology, and science degrees in India. The programme addresses the gender gap in STEM education by fully or substantially funding the education of meritorious girls from low-income families, covering tuition and academic expenses for the entire duration of the degree rather than a single year.
For the 2026 cycle, the Infosys Foundation continues its focus on first-year girl students entering STEM undergraduate programmes, alongside its other education initiatives, including support for Aarohan social innovation and training programmes. This guide explains the STEM Stars amount, eligibility, documents, application steps, and selection rounds for students planning to apply in 2026.
Overview 2026
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Scholarship Name | Infosys Foundation STEM Stars Scholarship |
| Provider | Infosys Foundation |
| Who Can Apply | Girl students in first-year STEM UG programmes |
| Coverage | Tuition and academic expenses up to approx Rs 1 lakh per year |
| Duration | Full degree duration, subject to annual renewal |
| Income Limit | Family income up to Rs 8 lakh per year (lower income preferred) |
| Selection | Application screening + interview |
| Application Mode | Online only |
Scholarship Amount
- Coverage of tuition fees and essential academic expenses up to approximately Rs 1 lakh per year per scholar
- Support continues for the full duration of the degree — four years for BTech/BE, three years for BSc — subject to satisfactory annual progress
- Disbursement is made against actual fee structures, so scholars in institutions with lower fees receive support matched to their real costs
- Scholars also receive mentorship exposure and community engagement through the Foundation’s scholar network
The multi-year structure is STEM Stars’ biggest strength compared to single-year scholarships — a selected first-year student can plan her entire degree with funding certainty rather than reapplying to different scholarships each year.
Eligibility 2026
- Applicant must be a girl student and an Indian citizen
- Enrolled in the first year of a full-time undergraduate STEM programme — Engineering (BE/BTech), BSc in core sciences, or equivalent technology degrees at a recognised Indian institution
- Strong Class 12 academic record, typically 80 percent or above or equivalent grade in the science stream
- Annual family income within the programme limit, with strong preference for economically weaker families and first-generation learners
- Girls who have lost an earning parent, come from single-parent households, or belong to underserved communities receive special consideration during evaluation
Documents Required
| Document | Details |
|---|---|
| Class 12 Marksheet | Science stream marks proof |
| Class 10 Marksheet | Academic history |
| Admission Letter | First-year STEM UG enrollment proof |
| Fee Structure | Official fee document from the institution |
| Income Proof | ITR, salary certificate, or Tehsildar income certificate |
| Aadhaar Card | Identity proof of the student |
| Bank Passbook | Student’s account for disbursement |
| Photograph | Recent passport-size photo |
How to Apply
Step 1 — Find the Official Application Link
The STEM Stars application opens on the Infosys Foundation website or its designated scholarship platform during the announced window. Search Infosys Foundation STEM Stars on the official Infosys Foundation pages and follow the application link from there. Ignore unofficial websites claiming to accept Infosys scholarship applications.
Step 2 — Register and Fill the Form
Create an account and complete the form with personal details, Class 10 and 12 academic records, current admission details, family composition, and income information. The form includes descriptive questions about the applicant’s interest in STEM and family circumstances — write these thoughtfully and personally.
Step 3 — Upload Documents
Upload all documents in the specified formats. The fee structure document is specific to this scholarship — obtain the official annual fee breakup from the college office in advance.
Step 4 — Interview Round
Shortlisted candidates are invited to an online interview covering academic interests, career goals in STEM, and family context. Prepare to speak clearly about why you chose your field and how the scholarship will change your situation.
Step 5 — Result and Onboarding
Selected scholars are notified by email and complete verification and bank formalities before the first disbursement.
Selection Process
- Screening — applications checked against gender, enrollment, marks, and income eligibility
- Shortlisting — merit-cum-means ranking with weight for need and personal circumstances
- Interview — online conversation assessing motivation, clarity, and genuine need
- Final selection — offer, verification, and first-year disbursement
Renewal Conditions
STEM Stars support renews annually through the degree if the scholar remains enrolled full-time, submits her year-end marksheet, and maintains satisfactory academic performance as defined in the scholar agreement. Renewal paperwork each year is minimal — enrollment confirmation, marksheet, and the new year’s fee document — but must be submitted on time to avoid instalment delays. Scholars who take an approved academic break for medical reasons can resume support after returning, subject to Foundation approval.
Preparation Tips
- Collect the official fee structure and admission letter from the college office in the first weeks of joining
- Get the income certificate made early — it is the slowest document to obtain
- In the essay answers, connect your specific STEM interest (e.g., coding, electronics, biotech) to a concrete goal
- Practise a short two-minute self-introduction for the interview covering family, marks, and career aim
- Use your own email and check it weekly through the selection months
- Keep Class 10 and 12 originals safely — verification may require re-submission of clearer scans
Timeline 2026
| Stage | Typical Period |
|---|---|
| Applications Open | With the new academic session |
| Deadline | As per cycle announcement |
| Shortlisting | 1–2 months after deadline |
| Interviews | Online, after shortlisting |
| Results & Onboarding | Before or early in the second semester |
Because eligibility is restricted to first-year students, the effective preparation window is the summer between Class 12 results and college joining — girls who know they will pursue STEM should assemble documents in that gap so the application is ready the day the portal opens.
Interview — What Panels Ask
- Why this field — a specific answer about your branch (why Computer Science, why Electronics) beats a generic love-of-science answer
- Family context — occupation of parents, number of dependents, who funds your education today
- Cost picture — your actual annual fee and what happens without the scholarship
- Goals — a concrete five-year direction (software engineer, research, government technical services) with a first step you are already taking
- Comfort check — panels often switch to the candidate’s preferred language; clarity in any language is what scores
The strongest candidates connect all four: my father is a tailor earning about Rs 15,000 a month, my BTech fee is Rs 85,000, I chose Computer Science because I learned Python in Class 11 through a free course, and I want to work in software while supporting my younger sister’s education. That single honest paragraph is the whole interview.
STEM Stars vs Other Girls’ Scholarships
| Feature | STEM Stars | Kotak Kanya | Santoor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streams | STEM only | Professional degrees | All streams |
| Marks Bar | ~80%+ | 85%+ | Need-focused |
| Amount/Year | Up to ~Rs 1 lakh | Up to Rs 1.5 lakh | Rs 24,000 |
| Geography | All India | All India | AP/TS/Karnataka |
| Duration | Full degree | Full degree | Full degree |
A high-scoring girl entering BTech from a low-income family is potentially eligible for all three (Santoor subject to state and school-type) plus SBI Asha and Reliance Foundation. The correct strategy is applying to every programme whose criteria she clearly meets in the same season — selection committees run independently, and holding one scholarship must simply be declared to the others, which then adjust rather than disqualify in most cases.
Financial Planning Through the Degree
Multi-year coverage changes how a family should plan. With STEM Stars confirmed, the predictable annual support means the family’s job reduces to covering non-fee costs — hostel or travel, a laptop, and materials. A sensible structure is using the scholarship strictly for the fee heads it sanctions, budgeting roughly Rs 1,500–Rs 2,500 monthly for living extras from family income, and acquiring the laptop through a state free-laptop scheme or a one-time planned purchase rather than a consumer loan. Scholars should maintain a simple file per year — fee receipts, marksheet, renewal submissions — because a clean file makes every renewal a ten-minute task and protects against instalment pauses. Finally, scholars nearing graduation should use the Foundation’s mentorship network deliberately: placement guidance and referrals from the scholar community are part of the programme’s value that many recipients never fully claim.
Common Mistakes in STEM Stars Applications
- Applying from a non-STEM course — BCom or BA applicants are screened out immediately; check the eligible course list before spending effort
- Missing the fee structure document — the official college fee breakup is specific to this scholarship and applicants routinely submit only the admission letter, triggering deficiency delays
- Second-year applications — eligibility is first-year entry; later-year students should target multi-year-entry alternatives instead
- Parents answering the interview — panels expect the student herself to speak; a parent-dominated call weakens the evaluation
- Understating or overstating income — the figure must match the proof; verification calls cross-check details casually and inconsistencies end candidacies
Documents Preparation Calendar
| When | What to Do |
|---|---|
| After Class 12 results | Scan Class 10 and 12 marksheets; apply for income certificate |
| At college admission | Collect admission letter and official fee structure from the office |
| First week of college | Open/verify bank account in your own name; Aadhaar-seed it |
| When window opens | Complete the form in one sitting with all files ready |
| After submission | Check email weekly; keep phone reachable for the interview |
This calendar converts a stressful scramble into a sequence of small tasks, and girls who follow it typically submit within the first week of the window — which also means earlier interview slots and earlier results.
If Not Selected — The Backup Map
Non-selection in STEM Stars is common purely because of volume, and it says nothing final about the applicant. The immediate backups for a first-year STEM girl are SBI Asha (75 percent bar, Rs 50,000 UG), Reliance Foundation UG (aptitude-test route, Rs 2 lakh total), HDFC ECSS (55 percent bar, crisis track available), AICTE Pragati for girls in AICTE-approved technical institutions (Rs 50,000 per year through the National Scholarship Portal), and the state post-matric scholarship for eligible categories. A systematic applicant who files five clean applications in her first year almost always converts at least one, and AICTE Pragati in particular is under-applied relative to its seats — every girl in an AICTE-approved engineering college should file it as a default alongside STEM Stars.
Fraud Alert — Fake Infosys Scholarship Pages
Fraudulent pages misusing the Infosys name circulate every admission season, charging fake registration fees or harvesting Aadhaar and bank data from applicants. The genuine STEM Stars application is free, announced through Infosys Foundation’s official channels, and never demands payment, banking OTPs, or card information. Applicants should reach the application only through the official Infosys Foundation pages, refuse any payment demand outright, and report fake pages at cybercrime.gov.in. Girls applying for the first time should ideally complete the application with a parent or teacher present — a second pair of eyes catches both errors and fraud signals.
Final Submission Checklist
- Course confirmed as STEM and enrollment confirmed as first year
- Class 12 percentage entered exactly as per the board marksheet
- Official fee structure document obtained from the college office and uploaded
- Income figure identical across the form and the income proof
- Bank account in the student’s own name, Aadhaar-seeded
- Essay answers written personally, naming specific circumstances and goals
- Acknowledgement screenshot saved after submission
An application that passes this checklist has cleared the failure points that eliminate most rejected candidates before any merit comparison even begins — from that point, the marks, need profile, and interview do the talking.
First-Generation Learners — Why This Programme Fits
STEM Stars gives explicit weight to first-generation college students — girls whose parents never attended higher education — because these families face the steepest information and financing barriers in professional education. First-generation applicants should state this status clearly in the form and interview, mentioning parents’ education levels factually, since it is a positive evaluation factor rather than something to obscure. These applicants often lack guidance on basics that the application assumes: what a bona fide certificate is, where the fee structure is issued, how Aadhaar seeding works. The practical answer is using the college’s scholarship or student-welfare cell, which exists precisely for this — a single visit in the first week of college with a list of needed documents typically resolves everything. Teachers from the applicant’s school are another underused resource; a Class 12 physics teacher who knows the student’s ability can also sanity-check the application before submission. The programme’s design assumes talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not, and first-generation girls who apply with complete documents are exactly who it is built to find.
Taken together, STEM Stars is the strongest single opportunity available to a first-year girl in engineering or science from a modest family — full-degree coverage, mentorship, and a scholar community — and the entire path to it runs through five ordinary documents and one honest interview. Girls who prepare the file in the summer after Class 12, apply in the opening week, and speak plainly about their circumstances give themselves the best realistic chance at it, with AICTE Pragati and SBI Asha filed in parallel as the safety net.
For school teachers and counsellors reading on behalf of students, the single most useful intervention is identifying eligible Class 12 science girls in advance and walking them through the document calendar above — one guided hour in July routinely decides whether a deserving girl enters her degree funded or unfunded, and the STEM Stars application itself takes less than an evening once the file is ready.
The programme’s annual cohorts also feed a growing alumnae network of working women engineers who mentor incoming scholars — a resource worth asking about explicitly at onboarding, since a mentor two years ahead in the same branch shortens every decision the scholarship years contain, from elective choices to the first internship application.
FAQs
Can boys apply for the Infosys STEM Stars Scholarship 2026?
No. It is exclusively for girl students. Boys can explore scholarships like Reliance Foundation UG, HDFC Parivartan ECSS, SBI Asha, or Tata Capital Pankh.
Are BSc students eligible for the scholarship?
Yes. Eligible STEM courses include BSc in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, along with BE/BTech and recognised technology degrees.
Will one low semester affect renewal?
Not necessarily. Renewal generally depends on overall academic performance. Repeated backlogs or year loss may affect continuation, while genuine difficulties may be considered on a case-by-case basis.