Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has donated $50 million (approximately Rs240 crore) to his alma mater, the 143-old Cornell University in New York where he graduated as an architect in 1959.

Alumnus Ratan Tata and President David Skorton after signing their historic agreement that will provide an endowment of $50 million to Cornell for agriculture and nutrition programs in India and for the education of Indian students at Cornell. Robert Barker/University Photography

The endowment was made through the Tata Education and Development Trust, a philanthropic entity of the Tata Group on 17 October and an agreement on the endowment was signed by Ratan Tata, and David Skorton, president of the Cornell University early this week.

David Skorton announced the gift during his State of the University address the same day, calling it "one of the most generous endowments ever received from an international benefactor by an American university."

As per the agreement, the endowment consists of $25 million to establish the Tata-Cornell Initiative in Agriculture and Nutrition. This will contribute to advances in nutrition and agriculture for India.

The goal of the new agriculture initiative is to improve the productivity, sustainability and profitability of India's food system, with the aim of reducing poverty and malnutrition, said Alice Pell, Cornell vice provost for international relations.

The other $25 million is set for the Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India, to help attract more of the best and brightest students to Cornell from India.

With the Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India, Cornell will be able to welcome many more of the best and brightest Indian students in a manner that would make Ezra Cornell proud, that is regardless of their financial circumstances.

In a prepared statement, Skorton said of the gift, "Cornell is a better place thanks to its long-standing academic and research connections to India, through our faculty and researchers and, most especially, our students.

The aim of this $25-million scholarship fund will help meet the Tata Group's pledge to bring more Indian students to Cornell.

The scholarships will be offered to between six and 10 students annually, depending on level of need, and could ultimately support up to 25 Tata scholars at Cornell at any one time.

The university's entire endowment for international financial aid is about $1.5 million per year, which covers about a dozen new students a year from outside the US, Canada and Mexico, and is often allocated for students from specific parts of the world, according to Doris Davis, Cornell's associate provost for admissions and enrollment.

After being in India meeting prospective students last year, Davis recalled: "I met so many bright, talented students who would make such a contribution to Cornell. Now I can go back and tell the Cornell story with this added information -- not only is Cornell committed to admitting students from India, but now we have the resources to help students who want to attend Cornell with their financial needs."

Tata's scholarship gift comes on the heels of a new Cornell financial aid initiative that took effect this semester. About 4,500 undergraduates are already benefiting from the plan, which greatly reduces the amount of loan debt for students from families with certain income levels.

The plan covers qualifying students from the United States, as well as Canadians and Mexicans, but does not cover other international students.

The Tata scholarships will be increased to the optimal number over three or four years. During that period, Cornell will launch an extensive outreach campaign in India to build awareness of the scholarships.