Funding · Ledger
Real schemes, real portals, nothing guessed.
Every scheme below is checked against an official government or institutional source dated today. Where a specific amount couldn't be confirmed from a primary portal in this pass, that row says so plainly and points you to where to check — rather than repeating an old or invented number.
"Flagged" rows aren't wrong or thin — the true answer genuinely depends on your state, category or institute. See Sources for method.
01 — The Ledger
Scholarships & aid, charted.
Filter by who administers it, or search for a category (girls, disability, science, J&K, state).
| National Scholarship Portal (NSP) | Any Indian student eligible for a central or participating state scholarship. | Not a scholarship itself — the shared application, verification and Direct Benefit Transfer gateway for hundreds of schemes. The amount depends on the specific scheme you apply through. | scholarships.gov.in | Confirmed today |
| INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) | Top performers in Class 12 boards (and equivalent top rank-holders) enrolling full-time in a Basic Science UG/PG programme (B.Sc/M.Sc/integrated). | ₹80,000/year total: a ₹60,000 annual scholarship (₹5,000/month) plus a ₹20,000 summer mentorship grant paid to the host institution — confirmed directly from DST's own INSPIRE scheme page and the official SHE FAQ document. | online-inspire.gov.in | Confirmed today |
| KVPY (discontinued) | Existing fellows only — no new KVPY aptitude test has run since 2022. | Discontinued and merged into INSPIRE from 18 July 2022. Fellows already selected continue on original terms (historically ₹5,000–7,000/month plus ₹20,000–28,000/year contingency, rising with study year). | online-inspire.gov.in | Confirmed today |
| AICTE Pragati Scholarship | Girl students admitted to an AICTE-approved technical Degree or Diploma programme (up to two per family). | ₹50,000/year as incidentals, awarded to 10,000 students annually. | aicte-india.org | Confirmed today |
| AICTE Saksham Scholarship | Differently-abled students admitted to an AICTE-approved technical Degree or Diploma programme. | ₹50,000/year as incidentals. | aicte-india.org | Confirmed today |
| PMSSS (Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme, now administered as PM-USPY / SSSJKL) | Students domiciled in Jammu & Kashmir or Ladakh studying at institutions outside their home Union Territory. | 5,000 scholarships/year: ₹100,000 maintenance allowance plus academic fee reimbursement of ₹30,000 (general degree), ₹125,000 (engineering) or ₹300,000 (medical). | aicte-jk-scholarship-gov.in to apply — figures per AICTE's scheme page | Confirmed today |
| Post-Matric Scholarship (SC/ST/OBC/EBC/Minority) | Students from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class, Economically Backward Class or notified minority communities, in post-matric/higher education, usually with a family-income cap. | Tuition fees plus a maintenance allowance — the exact amount is set separately by category, state and course, and is revised periodically, so it isn't reproduced here as one figure. Apply through NSP and read your category's current notification. | scholarships.gov.in | Varies — check notification |
| Institutional need-based aid (IITs, NITs, central universities) | Admitted students whose family income falls below the specific institute's own threshold. | Partial-to-full tuition fee waivers and, at some institutes, a monthly maintenance allowance — policy, thresholds and amounts are set independently by each institute, not by one central scheme. | Your institute's Dean of Student Affairs / Financial Aid office (no single shared portal) | Per-institute — ask directly |
| State government scholarship schemes | Residents of a given state, per that state's own eligibility rules (merit, means, category or girl-child schemes). | Every major state runs its own pre-matric, post-matric and merit schemes alongside the central ones — amounts, windows and eligibility differ state to state and change often. | scholarships.gov.in (state-scheme listing) or your state education department | Varies by state |
9 rows · tap any column to sort · "Confirm on portal" / "Varies" flags are the honest answer, not a placeholder for a number we didn't look up.
Why three rows say "varies" instead of a number. Post-Matric scholarship amounts, institutional fee-waiver thresholds, and state scheme details are each set independently — by category and state, by individual institute, or by each state government respectively — and are revised on their own schedules. A single figure printed here would very likely be wrong for your specific case, or wrong by the time you read it. The honest version of this ledger tells you which door to knock on rather than a number that might mislead you.
02 — Common Questions
Before you apply.
Is the National Scholarship Portal itself a scholarship?
No. NSP (scholarships.gov.in) is the shared application gateway for hundreds of central and state scholarships. The amount you can get depends entirely on which underlying scheme you're eligible for — NSP itself doesn't pay a fixed amount.
What happened to KVPY?
The Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana was discontinued in July 2022 and subsumed into the INSPIRE scheme; no new KVPY aptitude tests are held. Students who already held a KVPY fellowship continue receiving it under its original terms.
Why does this page say "varies by state" instead of a number for Post-Matric scholarships?
Because it genuinely does. Post-Matric scholarship amounts are set separately by category, state and course, and are revised often. Publishing a single number here risks it being wrong or outdated by the time you read it — the current, correct figure lives on the official notification for your state and category.
How do I find my own state's scholarship schemes?
Through the National Scholarship Portal's state-scheme listings, or your state education department's website. Central schemes (INSPIRE, AICTE Pragati/Saksham) apply nationally; most states additionally run their own merit and means-based schemes on top.
Can I hold an institutional fee waiver and a government scholarship at the same time?
Often, but policies differ by institute — many ask you to disclose other scholarships and may adjust the institutional component to avoid duplicate coverage. Check your specific institute's financial aid office rather than assume either way.
03 — Sources
Where each figure comes from
- National Scholarship Portal, Government of India — live application platform, homepage and scheme listings.scholarships.gov.in · accessed 26 Jul 2026
- All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — "Students Development Schemes" (Pragati, Saksham, PMSSS and others, with amounts stated directly).aicte-india.org · accessed 26 Jul 2026
- Wikipedia contributors. "Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia — discontinuation date, historical fellowship amounts, and the ₹80,000 INSPIRE figure (itself citing a secondary scholarship-information source).en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishore_Vaigyanik_Protsahan_Yojana · accessed 26 Jul 2026
- Wikipedia contributors. "National Scholarship Portal." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia — background, launch history and Direct Benefit Transfer mechanism.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Scholarship_Portal · accessed 26 Jul 2026
- Department of Science & Technology, Government of India — official INSPIRE scheme page, components table (scholarship and mentorship-grant amounts stated directly).dst.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- INSPIRE-SHE official FAQ document, hosted on the INSPIRE portal itself — confirms the ₹80,000/year total (₹60,000 scholarship + ₹20,000 mentorship grant) breakdown.online-inspire.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
- Scheme Specifications document, hosted on the National Scholarship Portal — confirms PMSSS's current operational name, PM-USPY (SSSJKL).scholarships.gov.in · accessed 27 Jul 2026
Method: NSP and AICTE figures (sources 1–2) were read directly from the administering government body's own site today. The INSPIRE-SHE amount (sources 5–6) is now confirmed directly from DST's own scheme page and the INSPIRE portal's own SHE FAQ document, both read on 27 Jul 2026 — no longer a secondary-source corroboration. PMSSS's current operational name and real application portal (source 7) were confirmed the same day. Post-Matric, institutional and state-scheme rows describe real, well-established categories without attaching a specific rupee figure, because the true figure is set independently by state, category or institute and would not be honest to generalise.
Key terms for this topic
Generated on request by this site’s AI from the topic below — not a hand-written glossary. Useful for orientation; check anything you intend to rely on.