THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

AHMEDABAD, FEBRUARY 18, 2026

The Adani Group has announced 24 fully funded scholarships for students enrolled in India’s premier business schools under the 2025–27 cohort of the Adani Accelerated Leadership Programme (AALP), reaffirming its commitment to inclusive leadership development and long-term nation-building.

The scholars, drawn from the Indian Institutes of Management Bangalore, Indian Institutes of Management Calcutta and Indian Institutes of Management Lucknow, as well as the Indian School of Business, were formally felicitated at the Group’s headquarters in Ahmedabad by Karan Adani, Managing Director of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Director at Adani Cement.

The AALP scholarship has been designed to ensure that high-potential management students are not constrained by financial limitations. The selection process follows a rigorous evaluation framework that combines academic excellence with demonstrated financial need, ensuring that merit prevails irrespective of socio-economic background and that opportunity reaches deserving talent across the country.

Addressing the scholars and their families, Adani emphasised the Group’s belief in equitable access to opportunity, stating that the initiative is not merely a scholarship but a conviction that talent exists everywhere even if access does not. He noted that the selected students had competed at the national level, demonstrated exceptional capability and earned their place through merit, adding that the Group’s responsibility is to provide exposure, mentorship and platforms that match their ambition and enable them to contribute to India’s next phase of growth.

The 2025–27 cohort reflects the depth, diversity and promise of India’s emerging leadership pool. Among the recipients is Anand Babu Kamineni, a first-year MBA student at IIM-Calcutta who ranked in the top 0.1 per cent in national competitive examinations, including the Common Admission Test and the Union Public Service Commission examination. Raised in a small village in Andhra Pradesh, his academic journey highlights how access to institutional support can amplify perseverance-driven talent.

Ayush Srivastava of IIM-Lucknow brings professional experience in training more than 500 engineers in complex oil and gas systems and leading critical technology upgrades across European offshore operations, reflecting a rare blend of technical expertise and managerial acumen suited to an increasingly interconnected global economy.

The cohort also includes Madhu Gupta, recognised for leading large operational teams with a strong emphasis on safety and execution excellence, and Kanav Bansal, whose early career contributions to high-impact systems delivered measurable financial outcomes. Collectively, the scholars represent analytical rigour, operational capability and resilience across sectors and geographies.

Beyond financial assistance, the programme offers structured industry immersion, mentorship from senior leaders and exposure to large-scale infrastructure and enterprise platforms, effectively linking classroom learning with real-world operational environments.

As India accelerates its growth trajectory, sustained collaboration between academia and industry will be critical to building leadership capacity and creating a pipeline of professionals equipped to manage complex global challenges. Through AALP, the Adani Group aims to cultivate leaders grounded in excellence, access and responsibility, ensuring that individual achievement contributes to broader national progress.

The 2025–27 scholarship cohort marks the continued expansion of AALP as a platform where aspiration is enabled by opportunity and where inclusive support systems help transform potential into purpose-driven leadership for India’s future.