In recognition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's achievements as an economist, his Cambridge alma mater St John's on Thursday said it would launch a scholarship in his name in New Delhi next week to spot and develop potential Indian leaders in the fields of economics, science and technology and social sciences.

A spokesman of the university said the privately-funded Manmohan Singh Scholarship will send three serving scholars from India every year to St John's College, Cambridge, where the prime minister had studied economics and won the Wright's prize for distinguished performance in the mid-1950s.

"There has always been an important tradition at Cambridge University of identifying, developing and nurturing leaders," Stephen Teal, Development Director of St John's, said.

"There have been leaders such as India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and of course, Manmohan Singh. We want to continue that tradition in the areas of science and technology, economics and social sciences."

The scholarships, sponsored by Tatas, British Petroleum and Rolls Royce, will initially fund three PhD places beginning January 2008, but seek to take the number up to at least four by 2009. The closing date for the first year's applications is the end of January 2008.

The prime minister as well as St John's Master, Prof Christopher Dobson, will attend the launch in New Delhi on November 27, Teal said. Prof Dobson held a high-level meeting in the University.