Reliance Industries to Offer Full Fellowship For Indian MBA Students at Stanford Business School

Business Wire,  April 23, 2008  

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MUMBAI, India -- Reliance Industries Limited and the Stanford Graduate School of Business today announced the creation of the RELIANCE DHIRUBHAI INDIA EDUCATION FUND to support promising Indian students with financial need in obtaining an MBA at Stanford.

Each year, Stanford Business School may award up to five Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowships. Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows will receive full financial support for the two-year Stanford MBA Program.

"A global perspective is essential to successful management," said Robert L. Joss, dean of the Stanford Business School. "In preparing the next generation of leaders, Stanford recognizes the importance of India's voice in the global marketplace and within our classrooms. This fellowship program, made possible by a generous gift from Reliance Industries Limited, allows the Stanford MBA Program to extend its outreach within India to the best and brightest MBA candidates."

"With India now a truly globalized and rapidly growing economy, good management talent developed at both India's top universities and at institutions abroad will be essential to supporting future innovation and growth," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited, who is a member of Stanford Business School's Advisory Council. "I am honored to help India's next generation of leaders attend Stanford Business School, an academic institution with an international reputation for innovation, diversity of student experience, and the highest quality of faculty and students from around the world."

Joss, visiting India this week, joined senior executives from Reliance Industries at Reliance corporate offices in Mumbai to ink the agreement.

Prospective Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows should visit www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/reliance for details on the two-stage application process. In the first stage, fellowship applicants complete the Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows application between May 15 and July 15, 2008. Finalists will be selected based on merit, commitment to developing India, and financial need based on a review of each individual's personal resources.

In the second stage, those finalists will go on to the standard application process for the Stanford MBA Program by October 2008. Stanford may select up to five Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows from among the finalists based on its primary admission criteria of intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential, and personal qualities and contributions.

The Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows will receive full financial support, including tuition, course-related fees, living stipend, and travel allowance--an estimated $83,000 total value per Fellow per year. (For additional details on cost of attendance, visit www.gsb.stanford.edu/finaid/cost/.) Funding is automatically renewed for the second year if the student maintains good academic standing and community citizenship at Stanford Business School. After graduation from the MBA Program, the Reliance Dhirubhai Fellows are bound to return to India for a minimum of two years of employment in the private or public sector.

About Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Stanford Graduate School of Business was founded in 1925 at the urging of Stanford alumnus Herbert Hoover, who later became president of the United States. Stanford is known globally for the excellence of its faculty, students, research, and academic offerings. The Business School has produced three Nobel laureates since 1990. Stanford's achievements are grounded in world-class research and the relevance of best practice. Located in Silicon Valley, Stanford University and the Business School have a strong history and culture of innovation.

Today, the Business School enrolls approximately 740 students in the two-year full-time MBA Program, 105 candidates in the PhD Program, 56 mid-career executives in the 10-month Stanford Sloan Master's Program, and more than 2,000 participants in Executive Education programs designed to enhance executives' professional capabilities. The faculty numbers approximately 140 men and women, including visiting professors.

In December 2008, the School will hold its third year of non-degree Executive Education programs in Mumbai and New Delhi. It also has completed the first year of an MBA exchange program with Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

About Reliance Industries Limited

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India's largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with a turnover of Rs1,39,269 crore (US$ 34.71billion), cash profit of Rs25,205 crore (US$ 6.3billion), net profit of Rs15,261 crore (US$ 3.8 billion) and net worth of Rs81,449 crore (US$ 20.3 billion) as of March 31, 2008.

RIL is the first and only private sector company from India to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list of 'World's Largest Corporations' and ranks among the world's Top 200 companies in terms of profits. RIL is among the 25 fastest climbers ranked by Fortune. RIL also features in the Forbes Global list of the world's 400 best big companies and in the FT Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.

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