Last Date to Apply – Sunday 12th July 2026
TIH IIT Bombay CHANAKYA Fellowship Program 2026
About TIH IIT Bombay
TIH Foundation for IoT & IoE (TIH-IoT) has been setup as a Section-8 company (not-for-profit) by IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Technology Innovation Hub for IoT & IoE (TIH-IoT) at IIT Bombay is focusing on creating a self-sustaining innovation continuum by fostering translational research for technology & product development, building highly knowledgeable human resource and a vibrant start-up ecosystem, in the technology vertical of Internet of Things (IoT). The goal is to help India become a pioneer in technology led economic growth and prepare the country to be the world leader in the technology arena.
CHANAKYA Fellowship Program
Comprehensive and Holistic Advancement of National Knowledge Yield and Analytics (CHANAKYA) is an initiative under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) with a focus on human resource development.
Engineering colleges/ Technical institutes in India are a huge pool of human resource in the form of students, but they are not sufficiently oriented towards reaching out to industry or solving problems that can benefit society. To overcome this gap and produce graduates trained in CPS who can be problem-solvers or turn entrepreneurs. In the present call for proposal, applications are invited for TIH-IoT CHANAKYA Fellowship program 2026.
This program provides an opportunity for faculty to form a group of students from various academic levels (UG and PG) to work on a project in the areas of IoT. The project is proposed by the faculty and the students are a part of that team.
Guidelines for Group Formation:
- Faculty mentor/supervisor should apply on behalf of the group/team.
- Faculty mentor/supervisor should form a team from same institute and nominate one of the students as team leader to work on the proposed project.
- The faculty can make a group as per the table below.
| Sr. No. | Group Category | No. of Students |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | UG | 02 |
| 2. | PG | 01–02 |
- Project proposals for the Fellowship must be in the broad area of IoT and IoE and its applications, including, but not limited to:
| Application Areas | Technology |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | Image processing for crop disease identification |
The Fellowship Scheme invites applications from motivated students to contribute towards the development of an image-based disease detection leveraging AI/ML techniques and computer vision for 30 crops as follows:
| Bajra (Pearl Millet) | Custard Apple | Cucumber |
| Black Gram (Urad) | Strawberry | Cashew Nut |
| Green Gram (Moong) | Ridge Gourd | Bitter Gourd |
| Turmeric | Safflower | Pea |
| Cowpea | Masur (Lentil) | Ginger |
| Kidney Bean (Rajma) | Papaya | Sunflower |
| Okra | Carrot | Citrus |
| Capsicum | Watermelon | Dragon Fruit |
| Cabbage | Muskmelon | Guava |
| Cauliflower | Cluster Bean (Guar) | Sapota (Chikoo) |
Note: The ownership of the IP will remain with the TIH-IoT, IIT Bombay. The publications of the models may not be allowed.
Expected outcomes from UG fellows with a engineering/technology background
- Development of image-based crop disease and pest detection models for identified crops.
- Data preparation, quality assessment, and support for dataset validation activities wherever required.
- Comparative evaluation of multiple modelling approaches and identification of the most suitable approach for each crop.
- Performance evaluation using standard assessment metrics and validation through field trials and expert feedback.
- Development and support of deployment-ready inference pipelines for operational use.
- Continuous improvement and refinement of models based on newly available ground-truth data and field observations.
- Preparation of technical reports documenting methodology, model performance, validation results, and recommendations.
- Support in integration of developed solutions with the project's digital platforms and decision-support systems.
- Development of standard operating procedures and documentation to facilitate future model maintenance and scalability.
- Knowledge transfer and technical support to project stakeholders during development, validation, and deployment phases.
Note:
- The labelled dataset will be provided by the project authority. Fellows are expected to develop and evaluate a minimum of 3–5 alternative models for each crop within the stipulated project timeline. Comparative performance analysis, validation outcomes, deployment support, and recommendations for operational implementation shall be delivered in a time-bound manner. Further refinement and enhancement of the models based on field-generated ground-truth data may be undertaken as part of the continuous improvement process.
- We encourage hybrid mode of working (online + offline – at TIH, IIT Bombay for 3-4 days in a month)
- Fellows are expected to work from the TIH, IIT Bombay office during the Summer and Winter vacations. The TA/DA expenses, as per the approved norms of your institute, may be met from the contingency grant.
Expected Outcomes from PG fellows with an agricultural background:
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Collect and curate image datasets of crop diseases and insect pests from experimental farms & nearby village locations.
- Annotate disease and pest images for AI/ML model development.
- Complete the responsibilities under anyone of the roles listed below:
- Role 1: Field experiment support
- Generate and validate pest – disease severity data, including Percent Disease Index (PDI) values.
- Compile and analyze weather parameters and Economic Threshold Level (ETL) data for weather-based pest prediction and hotspot generation.
- Utilize their agronomy and crop protection knowledge to accurately label disease and pest datasets.
- Learn machine learning techniques and contribute to the development of at least one ML model for a selected crop.
- Participate in field validation and performance evaluation of AI models through field visits.
- Role 2: AI/ML development Support
- Development & refinement of image-based crop disease and pest detection models for identified crops.
- Comparative evaluation of multiple modelling approaches and identification of the most suitable approach for each crop.
- Performance evaluation using standard assessment metrics and validation through field trials and expert feedback.
- Development and support of deployment-ready inference pipelines for operational use.
- Support in integration of developed solutions with the project’s digital platforms and decision-support systems.
- Prepare technical reports, evaluation reports, SoPs, datasets, and documentation related to project activities.
Note:
- Fellows are expected to work from the TIH, IIT Bombay office during the Summer and Winter vacations. The TA/DA expenses, as per the approved norms of your institute, may be met from the contingency grant.
Eligibility Criteria
A) Undergraduate (UG)
- Students can be of any discipline of engineering/technology of undergraduate course to be eligible for the fellowship.
- Students should have completed the first/second (engineering/ technology) year program and have at least 10 months left in their respective course at the time of sanction.
- Students should have a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) /Cumulative Performance Index (CPI) of 6.0 on the scale of 0-10; or a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate, till immediate previous semester/year, at the time of the start of fellowship.
- Students should not be receiving any other government funded scholarship/ Grants during the period of fellowship.
- Students who have prior experience in AI/ML will be preferred.
B) Postgraduate (PG)
- Students should be currently studying M.Sc. in Agriculture and should have cleared entrance exams like ICAR AIEEA-PG or MCAER-PG.
- Students should have a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 6.0 on the scale of 0-10 or a minimum of 60% marks in aggregate till the immediate previous semester/year at the time of the start of the fellowship.
- Students should not be receiving any other government funded scholarship/grants during the period of fellowship.
Support
A) Undergraduate (UG) Students
- Duration: up to 10 months.
- Monthly fellowship of INR 10,000/-.
- A maximum of INR 20,000/- per student towards consumables and contingency.
B) Postgraduate (PG) Students
- Duration: Till Dec 2027 or till the end of their degree. Whichever is earlier.
- Monthly fellowship of INR 12,400/-.
- Contingency Rs 50,000 per year
Note: The contingency fund can be utilized for covering the cost of travel and stay of the student, consumables, and conference/course registrations. The contingency grant cannot be used for any capital expenditure.
How To Apply
- The faculty should form a group of students and apply under the appropriate project category. Undergraduate (UG) applications must consist of exactly two students, while Postgraduate (PG) applications may consist of one or two students, as applicable. The faculty member must fill out and submit the application form on behalf of the group. Applications that do not meet the prescribed group size requirements will not be considered.
- Applications will only be accepted through the application form, link for which has been given below (Apply Now Button) (Applications will be considered only after final submission. Saving the form does not complete the submission process.)
- Please submit your proposal in any of the 2 crops. The project proposal has to be prepared in the prescribed format given in the link (Project Proposal Format) and should be submitted along with the application form. Format download & edit.
- Applicant (faculty mentor) should obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) in the given (NOC format) from their Institute and submit it along with the application form. Format download & edit.
- The executive Summary of the project proposal (max 250 words) has to be prepared in the prescribed format given in the link (Executive Summary format) and submit with the application form. Format download & edit.
- (Presentation format) has to be in maximum 2 slides as per format. Format download & edit.
- The team can make only one project application in the registration form. However, for applying for more than one project they will have to do separate registrations.One Faculty/Mentor from any institute cannot apply for more than 2 projects.
Applications Open
Last Date to Apply – Sunday 12th July 2026
Applications will be considered only after final submission. Saving the form does not complete the submission process.
Disclaimer
ONLY SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE NOTIFIED/INFORMED THROUGH EMAIL. The decision of TIH IIT Bombay in awarding the project will be final and binding and no correspondence shall be entertained in this regard.
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