The Anandi Fellowship by Bombay Shaving CompanyRegister

Registrations open for Anandi-NEAT 2026

Nurturing India's best high school entrepreneurial talent.

Identifying, skilling and investing early in India's best entrepreneurs. If you are in 11th or 12th grade and want to build your company, this is for YOU.

The Fellowship snapshot

Annual Scholarship
1 Lakh Per Annum for every year of college (doesn't matter which college, which course)
₹1 LPA
Pit-Stop-Internships (PSIs)
Every summer, you will intern with India's best founders in India's hottest startups (30+ Partner Mentors)
₹1 LPM Stipend2 Lakhs per Summer
Pre-Placement Offer
You will be awarded a full-time E-I-R (Entrepreneur in Residence) job at Bombay Shaving Company on successfully graduating the Fellowship and college
₹25 LPA
Seed Investment in YOUR startup
1 Cr No-Questions-Asked investment in your company if founded before your 27th birthday
₹1 Crfor 10% equity

Open to students in grades 11 and 12. Entry is through Anandi-NEAT 2026 (Nationwide Entrepreneurial Acumen Test).
No prior startup experience required.

Register for Anandi-NEAT 2026Read the FAQs

Pit-Stop-Internships every summer at India's hottest startups

As an Anandi Fellow, you will spend every summer inside a Partner Mentor Organisation working with India's top entrepreneurs. You will earn a stipend of INR 1 LPM.

Shantanu Deshpande & Deepak Gupta

Abhiraj Bhal & Varun Khaitan

Aman Gupta

Shashank Mehta

Avnish Bajaj

Abhishek Ganguly

Nitin Kaushal & Chakradhar Gade

Revant Bhate

Chirag Taneja

See the whole list of Partner Mentors

Your life as an Anandi Fellow

5 December 2026

Anandi-NEAT 2026

You sit a 2-hour pen-and-paper test, at one of 7 centres in India.

7 to 9 May 2027

Grit Bootcamp

If you are in the top 50, you are invited to Gurgaon. 10 of you are awarded the Fellowship.

₹1 LPA scholarship

Every summer

Pit-Stop Internships

You intern at a Partner Mentor Organisation, alongside college.

₹1 LPM stipend

On graduation

Entrepreneur-In-Residence

You join BSC in a fast-track role, with access to the founders.

₹25 LPA

Before 27

Seed funding

If you start a company, BSC invests. No questions asked.

₹1 Cr for 10%

Dec 2026

May 2027

Every summer

On graduation

Before 27

Bulletin

Registrations open

Who can register
Students in grades 11 and 12
Registration fee
₹199
Registration closes
15 October 2026
Anandi-NEAT 2026
5 December 20262-hour pen-and-paper test
Test centres
Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata
Shortlist
Top 50 candidates invited to the Grit Bootcamp
Grit Bootcamp
7 to 9 May 20273 days, in person, Gurgaon
Final selection
10 Anandi Fellows

The schedule will not clash with your board exams or other competitive exams. We scheduled Anandi-NEAT 2026 and the Grit Bootcamp around them deliberately.

How do I become an Anandi Fellow?

You go through two stages.

Stage 1 · 5 December 2026

Anandi-NEAT 2026

You appear for the Anandi-NEAT 2026, the Nation-wide Entrepreneurial Acumen Test. It is a pen-and-paper test lasting 120 minutes, conducted at 7 centres across India. It has both multiple-choice objective questions and subjective questions.

  • 01Quantitative Reasoning and Numeric Proficiency
  • 02Logic and Inferencing
  • 03Data Interpretation and Verbal Reasoning
  • 04General Awareness
  • 05Business Judgement

Stage 2 · 7 to 9 May 2027

Grit Bootcamp

If you are among the 50 highest scorers in Anandi-NEAT, you are invited to Gurgaon for a 3-day in-person bootcamp. It includes group discussions, personal interviews, case study competitions, business simulations and physical endurance circuits. These fundamentally test all elements of grit.

  • Resilience
  • Perseverance
  • Toughness
  • Positivity
  • Ambiguity management
  • Character

All our partner mentors take part in the Grit Bootcamp. At the end of it, 10 of you are awarded the Anandi Fellowship.

Mission

Every year we give the Anandi Fellowship to 10 high-schoolers with extraordinary entrepreneurial acumen. It runs alongside your college life. You get high-pay summer internships at top startups, plus mentorship and apprenticeship from India's top entrepreneurs. Once you graduate, you get a guaranteed placement at Bombay Shaving Company as a fast-track Entrepreneur-In-Residence.

The Fellowship aims to identify, skill and invest in India's best founders as early as possible.

Why the Fellowship is designed this way

We believe entrepreneurship is a long game. The entrepreneurs with proven outcomes at scale have all followed a 4-step path. The Anandi Fellowship gives you the first two through college life, and a shot at the third as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence.

  1. Rigorous Selection

    They have shone through in their early years in a chosen pursuit, such as IIT/IIM, CA or elite sport, which gave them self-confidence.

  2. Apprenticeship

    Spent 3 to 4 years at an organisation doing solid work, finding mentors and building skills. For example, McKinsey, HUL, Google or the civil services.

  3. Inspiration

    At this point, found a market opportunity or need worth pursuing full time, and went all in to build a company.

  4. Perseverance

    Stayed with their idea through ups and downs, at least 7 to 8 years, to finally build a large organisation.

Frequently asked questions

Who can sit for the Anandi-NEAT?

Students in grades 11 and 12 at any school in India. You do not need a startup, a prototype, revenue or any prior experience to register.

What is life like as an Anandi Fellow?

You are awarded an annual scholarship of ₹1 lakh, for as long as you are in college. Every summer, you go through a Pit-Stop Internship (PSI). This is either at Bombay Shaving Company or at a partner mentor organisation. Each PSI has a fixed stipend of ₹1 lakh per month.

  1. After grade 12

    Pit-Stop Internship: Consumer Insights and Marketing at Bombay Shaving Company

    ₹1 LPM

  2. Through college

    Annual scholarship, for the full duration of the degree.

    ₹1 LPA

  3. After year 1

    Pit-Stop Internship: Supply Chain at Country Delight

    ₹1 LPM

  4. After year 2

    Pit-Stop Internship: Business Development and Sales at Mosaic Wellness

    ₹1 LPM

  5. After year 3

    Pit-Stop Internship: Corporate Finance at Urban Company

    ₹1 LPM

  6. On graduating

    A guaranteed offer to join Bombay Shaving Company as a fast-track Entrepreneur-In-Residence.

    ₹25 LPA

  7. Before turning 27

    If you start your own company: a ₹1 Cr for 10% no-questions-asked investment, if you choose to take it.

    ₹1 Cr

The four Pit-Stop Internships listed above are an example, not a fixed path. PSIs are designed to give you exposure and apprenticeship across different aspects of business and entrepreneurship.

Do I need to already be an entrepreneur to have a higher chance of being selected?

No. We are looking for entrepreneurial acumen, not proven entrepreneurs. High school is a very early stage where one is still building skills and learning the basics. We are strictly focused on acumen and intrinsics, not commercial proof or experience.

We also strongly discourage performative entrepreneurship. That means science projects or half-baked prototypes commercialised for the sake of social media or resume-buffing.

Does it matter what college I go to or what degree I pursue during The Fellowship?

No. We encourage you to pursue a fulfilling college life in a course of your choice. This is a period when one adults. Study hard, participate in college activities, build hobbies, make lifelong friendships, experience independence and hostel life if possible, find mentors. Expand your horizons in the classroom and outside.

We strongly discourage dropping out. You should complete your college education and PSIs, unless you have an exceptionally compelling and immediate opportunity to start up.

Will the dates clash with my board exams?

No. We set the schedule for Anandi-NEAT 2026 and the Grit Bootcamp so that it does not clash with your board exams or other competitive exams.

Which are the Partner Mentor Organisations where Anandi Fellows do their PSIs?

Each Partner Mentor Organisation has been carefully chosen. These are places where you will get access to rich entrepreneurial environments, sharp colleagues and challenging problem statements. Many of them have been founded by mentors of Shantanu Deshpande and Bombay Shaving Company leaders.

  • Mosaic Wellness

    Revant Bhate

  • Agilitas

    Abhishek Ganguly

  • GoKwik

    Chirag Taneja

  • Urban Company

    Abhiraj Bhal

  • Urban Company

    Varun Khaitan

  • Country Delight

    Chakradhar Gade

  • Country Delight

    Nitin Kaushal

  • Leap

    Arnav Kumar

  • The Whole Truth

    Shashank Mehta

  • Rebel Foods

    Ankush Grover

  • Optimist

    Ashish Goel

  • Go Zero

    Kiran Shah

  • Atomberg

    Arindam Paul

  • OZiva

    Arti Gill

  • Treebo

    Sidharth Gupta

  • Treebo

    Rahul Chaudhary

  • Bain & Company

    Navneet Chahal

  • Prescient Capital

    Anubhav Mukherjee

  • ABN Capital

    Aniket Nikumb

  • Anandi School

    Prachi Pawar

  • HealthKart

    Sameer Maheshwari

  • Allen Education

    Rakesh Ranjan

…and many more. You also get access to larger organisations in your later PSIs.

How do I prepare for the Anandi-NEAT?

Read.

That is the whole answer. The Fellowship deliberately does not require coaching or a prep course. We are strictly focused on acumen and intrinsics, not commercial proof or experience.

Do I need to compulsorily do the PSIs?

No. The PSI is a very good internship opportunity. However, if you have secured another internship you are excited about, we encourage you to pursue it.

We do expect you to pursue a gainful apprenticeship in your vacation. We will fully encourage other options too. For example, an academic project at a US university, or a meaningful opportunity in the development space.

How do I graduate from Anandi Fellow to E-I-R?

You complete your college and all PSIs, or the equivalent. You then go through an interview process to graduate from Fellow to E-I-R.

This is not a selective interview. Unless you have performed poorly, you can expect to graduate.

Can I join a partner mentor organisation as an E-I-R instead of Bombay Shaving Company?

Yes, absolutely. A partner mentor organisation may offer you an equivalent E-I-R opportunity. If you are keen on accepting, we will encourage it.

Apprenticeship, exposure and growth is important. Not working at Bombay Shaving Company.

Shantanu Deshpande on why The Anandi Fellowship exists.

Register for Anandi-NEAT 2026

Enter your full name.
Enter a valid email address.
This is your registration ID. We verify it by OTP, so use a number you can receive messages on.
Enter a 10-digit mobile number.
Enter a 10-digit mobile number.
PDF, JPG or PNG. Up to 5 MB.Attach your 10th standard marksheet.
PDF, JPG or PNG. Up to 5 MB.Attach your Aadhaar card.

You do not need a startup, a prototype, revenue or any prior experience to register.

Before you register

  • Eligibility. Open to students in grades 11 and 12 only.
  • The registration fee is non-refundable, including for anyone outside grades 11 and 12.
  • Your phone number is your registration ID, verified by OTP. One registration per candidate.

Trouble registering? Write to care@theanandifellowship.com and we will help.

Register for Anandi-NEAT 2026