No, Malabar Gold did not provide scholarships only to Muslim students

The Malabar Gold & Diamonds, an Indian jewellery group headquartered in Kozhikode, Kerala, has found itself at the center of a social media boycott storm. Social media users are calling for its boycott during this festive season due to its alleged links to Alishba Khalid, an influencer from Pakistan. A group photo of students in burqas is viral online, suggesting that the Jewellery group provided scholarships only to the Muslim community. However, the claim is false.

Claim:

An X(formerly Twitter) user shared a photo tagging an activist and reporter at OnlyFacts on October 16, 2025, with the caption,“Big Breaking, Hindus, wake up! It’s high time to stand strong with @vijaygajera, the man who exposed the anti national truth of Malabar Gold. This Kerala based company owned by MP Shamlal Ahammed, he had the audacity to hire Pakistani artists to promote their jewellery even after the Pahalgam attack! What kind of Indian does that? Only Pakistan sympathisers hiding behind business suits. And that’s not all their so called “scholarship program” is openly biased, giving benefits to only one community. They’ve made it crystal clear, who they stand with, and it’s not Hindus, not India. If you truly love this country, boycott Malabar Gold immediately. Don’t give a single rupee to those who insult our martyrs and divide our people. Share this post, awaken every Hindu, and let’s show these anti India vultures their real place.” The post received around 3,49,700 views, 13,000 likes, and 6,000 likes.

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X users such as @ssaratht and @AmitLeliSlayer also shared the photo recently with similar captions. We noticed that the claim is also viral with the same image on other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Here are the facts:

We performed a keyword search using keywords such as “Malabar Gold & Diamonds” and “scholarship” and found a YouTube video dated January 21, 2023, on the official YouTube channel of Malabar Gold and Diamonds. The video is titled,”Educational Scholarship Program | CSR Initiative | Malabar Group (sic).” At 1:03 minutes, the viral photo is visible.

Subsequently, the video shows female students who do not reflect any religious connection in their attire,  receiving the scholarship. The girls in the original video do not appear to be wearing Purda as shown in the ‘viral image’.  

We also looked into the scholarship details on the official website of Malabar Charitable Trust, a trust under Malabar Group. The objective of the scholarship states that it aims to alleviate the financial burden of girl students from government schools and their families by providing financial assistance towards education-related expenses, such as tuition fees, books, and study materials. An analysis of the selection criteria provided on their official website further clarified that students are not chosen on religious grounds. 

Screenshot of the scholarship selection criteria from the Malabar Charitable Trust’s website​

Claim number two:

On October 18, 2025, an X user also shared a photo that allegedly shows an empty showroom of Malabar Gold & Diamonds. The caption used the hashtag #BoycottMalabarGold and suggests that, following the boycott trend, people stopped visiting the jewellery brand’s outlets.

      Screenshot of the X post from October 18, 2025

Fact-check:

We performed a reverse image search of the photo and found that Retail Jeweller used the same photo in their article dated October 6, 2022. 

      Screenshot of the Retail Jeweller article from October 6, 2022

The article discusses the 2022 relaunch of Malabar Gold & Diamonds showroom in Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, clarifying that the image is not recent and not linked to the recent boycott trend against the brand.

The analysis of claim number one clarifies that Malabar Gold provides scholarships to female students studying in government schools irrespective of their religious status. On the other hand, analysis of claim number two suggests that the photo is old and unrelated.