The state government has created a special corpus fund worth Rs 11 crore 50 lakh to provide financial support to meritorious students of the state, who get into top-notch national institutes such as the IIT and IIM, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a meeting on Monday.

While addressing the media, Sarma said, "There are many meritorious students who hail from economically weaker backgrounds. These students often opt out as they cannot afford to study in such institutes. This corpus fund has mainly been created to assist them."

The education minister said a formal announcement will be made by March 31 and the students opting for various degrees and diplomas in the top 50 institutes of the country will be liable to get this scholarship. "At the degree level, students opting for courses like BE and B Tech will get Rs 30,000 yearly till the completion of their course."

"Similarly, in the master degree level, the student will be given around Rs 36,000 and at the PhD and M.Phil level, they will be given Rs 50,000," he said. He added that the fund will be provided to the student every year unless the student fares poorly in the exam or resorts to any unfair means.