Named for Stanford MBA Program :

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS —Five compelling individuals from diverse regions throughout India have been selected as the first-ever class of Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows. They will receive full financial support during their two-year MBA studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, starting in September 2009.

The Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship was established in 2008 to support promising Indian students with financial need who earn admission to the Stanford MBA Program based on merit, and who are committed to contributing to the development of India. The Fellowship program, made possible through a generous gift from Reliance Industries Limited under the leadership of its chairman, Stanford Business School alumnus Mukesh Ambani, will cover such costs as tuition, course-related fees, living stipend, and travel allowance—an estimated total value of $170,000 per Fellow.

Honored at a private reception at Reliance Industries offices in Mumbai April 17, the 2009 Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows are Nitish Bandi, Namita Dalmia, Arvind Iyengar, Varun Jain, and Aditi Pany. Commenting on the initiative, P.M.S. Prasad, President and CEO of the petroleum business of Reliance Industries Ltd., said, "We take pride in supporting these outstanding young minds from India who will be able to learn and grow as they engage on the global level. The Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship is an integral part of our continued endeavor to support education-based initiatives across various levels. We wish the youngsters the very best in their academic pursuits and also all success in their future endeavors."

"We are grateful to have had a tremendous response to our call for applications in this inaugural year of the fellowship," said Robert L. Joss, Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "Selected from more than 1,500 applicants, the accomplishments of this first class of Fellows speak to the excellent caliber of Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship applications, and we look forward to the diversity of viewpoints, experiences, and backgrounds they will bring to the classroom in the fall."

Nitish Bandi, Vijayawada A.P.

Nitish Bandi describes himself as          a small-town boy from a farming family in Vijayawada, in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Now living in Bhopal in central India, he is vice president of operations at Big India Farms, a food supply chain company serving central and western India. He studied agricultural and food engineering at IIT Kharagpur, receiving both bachelor's and master's degrees in technology in 2005. Among many achievements, Bandi received a merit certificate from the Central Board of Secondary Education for outstanding performance in mathematics, and was honored with various awards for his volunteer work in the area of the welfare of underprivileged children. An avid basketball player, the 6-foot-2-inch Bandi played throughout college, and shares his love of the game with those he encounters, from villagers back home to underprivileged children.