The Build for Bharat Fellowship returns for a second round after last year’s success, offering top engineering and design students a fully immersive, six‑month (Jan–June 2026) opportunity to work at the intersection of technology and public service. This article explains what the fellowship offers, sample projects and mentors, stipend and cohort experience, eligibility, and how to apply.
About the Build for Bharat Fellowship
The Build for Bharat Fellowship is a unique opportunity to place talented students directly inside government departments to solve high‑impact challenges using technology to improve governance, public service delivery, and social impact at scale. After last year’s program—when 25,000 applications produced 19 selected fellows—the second round continues to focus on building the next generation of public technologists.
What the fellowship offers
- Real-World Problem-Solving: Work on mission-critical tech projects that directly impact millions of people.
- Public Technologist Training: A specially curated orientation program to shape fellows into technologists who understand public service realities, the ecosystem, policy, and the unique challenges of implementing tech responsibly within complex social frameworks.
- Expert Mentorship: Engage with leading technologists from top tech firms, academia, and the public sector. All the selected fellows will get one-on-one office hours with mentors throughout the summer to hone their skills.
- Cohort Experience: Fellows join a community of India’s top design and engineering talent interested in public good.
Mentors from the last cohort included
- Kailash Nadh, CTO, Zerodha
- Rukmini S, Founder, Data for India & Author of Whole Numbers and Half Truths
- Ujaval Gandhi, Founder, Spatial Thoughts and Ex‑Google India, part of the team that launched Google Maps for India
- Shashank Srikant, PhD, MIT CSAIL
- Amit Ranjan, Founder Slideshare, Architect DigiLocker
- Devanshi Sihare, Head of Social Impact, Tinker Labs
Sample projects from the last cohort
- Redesigning the MoSPI mobile app to make official statistics accessible
- Annual Passes on the National Highways mobile app
- Connecting citizens to opportunity by improving welfare discovery in Tamil Nadu
- Strengthening Karnataka's attendance system with user‑focused tech
- GIS + AI/ML based analytics to help reduce incident response times
- Improving the quality and systems of Panchayat meetings in Karnataka
Program Details, Logistics, Eligibility & Application
The fellowship runs for six months (Jan–June 2026) as an on‑site program. Fellows will be primarily based in partner government department offices through their last semester and will be matched to projects based on skill sets after selection. Projects for the 2026 cohort will be announced in due time.
Stipend and cohort
- Stipend: Rs 40,000 per month for 6 months (Jan–June 2026).
- Cohort Experience: Selected fellows become part of a community of top design and engineering talent focused on public good.
Eligibility
- Open to students (Bachelors/Masters/PhD) graduating in 2026.
- Early career professionals who graduated in 2024 or 2025 are also eligible.
- This is an on‑site fellowship; fellows must primarily spend their time in partner government department offices through their last semester.
How to apply
Apply via the fellowship website: https://www.bharatdigital.io/fellowship. Applications will only be accepted through the Google Form on the fellowship website.
If you are graduating in 2026 or are an early career professional (2024–2025 graduates) and want hands‑on experience improving governance through technology, the Build for Bharat Fellowship is a rare chance to work inside government departments on mission‑critical projects. Apply via the fellowship website Google Form. Selected fellows will receive mentorship, a Rs 40,000 monthly stipend, and a cohort experience.
