Driving India’s growth story through the brightest young minds

India's journey toward becoming a global economic powerhouse has been fueled by strong leadership, political stability, and consistent policy reforms over the past decade. These factors have propelled the Indian economy to a point where the world is optimistic about its future growth. To ensure this trajectory continues, it is essential that policy, philanthropy, and citizen action work together to build India into a $5 trillion economy by 2047. As a nation with a young demographic, the next phase of growth will be driven and shaped by our children. Their knowledge, capability and influence will not just shape our country but also impact the world-at-large. Recognizing this, the Lodha Foundation launched the Lodha Genius Programme Initiatives to identify, nurture, and support India’s brightest young minds, guiding them from 9th grade through to their early careers.
Schools often concentrate on improving the learning outcomes of average students. This focus on providing access is largely due to the Right to Education Act, but as a result, students who excel academically frequently receive insufficient attention. The assumption is that these high-achievers, because of their good test scores, require no additional help. However, this overlooks their full potential, which remains underdeveloped due to a lack of support in areas such as mentoring, advanced skill development, opportunities, and exposure. Consequently, many gifted children in India do not reach the heights they are capable of. It is estimated that India has over 6 million high-achieving children whose talents are underutilized.
Many studies show that high performers in classrooms often contribute the most in society as well. They typically end up taking leadership positions and create major impact through their work. Hence it is important to provide the brightest students with the support that they would need in reaching their full potential.
Countries across the world are increasingly implementing practices for gifted and talented education. USA and Australia offer gifted education at the federal level as a part of public education, while private and residential schools with programs for gifted education are also prevalent. In Asia, countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong have well defined education programs aimed at gifted children. In the past decade, the Middle East and East Asia have further been showing more attention to students who have been high performers in STEM subjects.
Meanwhile, in India, there is a lack of education research, policies, and practices focused on gifted and talented education. For example, the National Curriculum Framework of India does not mention services or programs for gifted students.
We found that in India, the nurturing of exceptional talent not only receives very little attention but also limited funding. Hence, Lodha Foundation’s decision to support this important cause to build a stronger nation in the future. As India’s economy quadruples in size in the next two decades, we are likely to face a chronic shortage of high-quality talent. This will not just be in the business sphere but also in other important areas such as the political, administrative, and judicial. We believe it is imperative for national growth to significantly increase the quantum of high-calibre students who achieve their maximum potential.
The Lodha Genius Programme is a joint initiative between Lodha Foundation and Ashoka University which offers a unique blend of immersive science and mathematics courses, practical life skills lessons, sustained and regular support from mentors and exclusive access to prestigious internship opportunities. This multi-year educational programme is fully funded and nurtures India’s brightest young minds from Grade 9 through into their early career. A total of two hundred students are assessed and selected on merit alone, and are enrolled in the programme—participating in an annual 4-week campus experience at Ashoka University and a range of year-round continued learning modules. The students of the Programme have the opportunity to learn from a world-class faculty and speakers from prestigious institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, University of Warwick among others. In its second year of operation, the Lodha Genius Programme attracted over 3000 applications from 27 states across India.
ABOUT THE LODHA FOUNDATION
Lodha Foundation implements transformative projects in Education, Women's Empowerment, and Sustainable Urbanization on behalf of Lodha, to create a positive impact on the environment and society.


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