New Delhi, Mar 9 (IANS): The alumni of the 1969 batch of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi have started an award to provide annual stipend to a graduating student of the institute every year.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed for the 'Batch of 1969 Innovation Fellow Award' that will carry a monthly stipend of Rs 1 lakh for one year, as per a statement, here on Saturday.

In exceptional cases, the awardee may be considered for further support for a maximum of six months.

"To set up a special fund for this award, the Batch of 1969 has collectively contributed over Rs 1 crore with an aim to promote the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship among graduating students at IIT Delhi," reads the statement.

"While funds are usually available for students to continue their projects in the incubation mode, most venture/angel funders do not permit their funds to be used as stipend/salary for the students themselves," it said.

"Many, if not most, graduating students thus find it difficult to continue with their projects as the alternative of a high paying jobs are much more attractive than the risk of supporting themselves using personal resources to work on projects that ultimately may not find venture capital support."

The fund will partially bridge the gap by establishing the corpus at IIT Delhi for providing annual stipend to a graduating student at any level of any discipline or programme, it said.

The award will be executed and managed by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi.