Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC Students for Studying in India

What is the Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC students?

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC Students for Studying in India is a scholarship run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for students belonging to Other Backward Classes. It supports study at the post-matriculation level, that is, from Class XI upwards, through to degree, postgraduate and professional courses, so that OBC students from low-income families can complete their education.

According to the scheme listing on the myScheme portal, the scholarship has two parts: reimbursement of compulsory, non-refundable course fees, and a monthly maintenance allowance that depends on the course group and on whether the student is a hosteller or a day scholar.

As a centrally sponsored scheme, it is funded jointly by the central and state governments and administered by the states and union territories, with applications routed through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).

Key features

• Monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 160 to Rs 750 by course group and residence.
• Reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable course fees.
• Family income ceiling of Rs 1.5 lakh per year.
• Additional reader allowance for blind students of Rs 90 to Rs 175 a month.
• Applied for and renewed online on scholarships.gov.in.

How much does the OBC Post-Matric Scholarship pay?

The maintenance allowance is set by grouping courses into four categories. The monthly rates, according to the scheme listing, are:

Blind scholars receive an additional reader allowance of Rs 175 a month for Groups A and B, Rs 130 for Group C and Rs 90 for Group D. The scheme also allows limited support for study tours (up to Rs 900 a year) and thesis typing/printing (up to Rs 1,000) for eligible courses. On top of the allowance, the compulsory non-refundable fees charged by the institution are reimbursed.

Who is eligible for the OBC Post-Matric Scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You are an Indian student belonging to a notified Other Backward Class, with a valid OBC caste certificate.
• You are studying full time in a recognised post-matriculation course (Class XI onwards) at a recognised institution.
• Your parents' or guardian's income from all sources does not exceed Rs 1.5 lakh per year.
• You are not already drawing another scholarship for the same course.

You cannot apply if:

• Your family income exceeds Rs 1.5 lakh a year.
• You are not from a notified OBC: Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students have their own separate post-matric scholarship schemes.
• You are already receiving another scholarship or stipend for the same stage of study.
• You are a third or further son of the same parents applying together. The scheme caps benefit at two boys per family, though there is no limit for girls.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the OBC Post-Matric Scholarship

1. Go to the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in and register as a fresh applicant with your Aadhaar and mobile number.
2. Log in and select the Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC Students under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
3. Fill the application form with your personal, academic, family income and bank account details.
4. Upload the documents; OBC caste certificate, income certificate, previous marksheet, Aadhaar and fee receipt.
5. Submit the application and note the reference number. It is then verified by your institution and the state department in turn.
6. Once approved, the fee reimbursement and maintenance allowance are paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account. Renew the scholarship each year on the portal.

A student can re-submit an application only after 30 days if it was returned for correction, so fill the details carefully the first time.

Help and contact

• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk: 0120-6619540
• Portal: scholarships.gov.in
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment: socialjustice.gov.in

The scholarship is free to apply for. No agent or middleman can secure it for you, the application is verified only by your institution and the state department, and payment reaches your bank account directly.

How to check your application status

Once you have submitted your application on the National Scholarship Portal, you do not need to visit any office to know where it stands. Every stage of verification is visible online.

1. Go to scholarships.gov.in and click on "Login" (not the fresh registration link).
2. Enter your application ID, password and the captcha to sign in to your student dashboard.
3. Open the "Application Status" or "Track Status" tab on the dashboard. It shows the current stage your application is at, for example:
   • Submitted to institution, pending institute verification
   • Verified by institution, forwarded to the state department
   • Under scrutiny at the state or district level
   • Approved and sent for disbursement
   • Returned for correction (with the reason noted)
   • Disbursed, with the payment date and amount credited
4. If the status has not moved for several weeks, check whether it is stuck at the institution level or the state department level, since the two are verified separately and delays commonly happen at whichever stage your application is currently parked.
5. For payment-specific queries, banks and DBT credit can also be checked through the PFMS (Public Financial Management System) link on the NSP dashboard, which shows whether the amount has actually been transferred to your Aadhaar-seeded account or only approved on paper.
6. If the online status is unclear or has not updated, call the National Scholarship Portal helpdesk at 0120-6619540 with your application ID ready, or contact your institution's nodal officer, who can see the same verification queue from their login and tell you exactly why an application is held up.
7. You can also raise a grievance directly on the NSP portal under its grievance redressal section if the status has been stuck for an unreasonable time, which puts your complaint on record with a ticket number.

Keep your application ID and registered mobile number handy for every one of these checks, since the portal and helpdesk both use the application ID as the primary reference.

Common reasons for rejection

Most rejections under this scheme happen at the document or eligibility-matching stage rather than because a student is genuinely ineligible. Knowing the specific cause lets you fix it and resubmit instead of losing an academic year.

• Income certificate exceeds or is close to the Rs 1.5 lakh ceiling. Applications are rejected outright if the certified family income crosses the limit. Fix: get an updated income certificate from the competent authority reflecting the correct, current financial year figures before applying, and do not round up an ambiguous figure that could push you over the ceiling.

• Caste certificate does not name a notified OBC category, or is issued by the wrong authority. Some certificates list a sub-caste or community that is not on the central or state OBC notification, or are issued by an authority not recognised for scholarship purposes. Fix: confirm your caste is on the applicable central/state OBC list and obtain the certificate from the specific competent authority named on the NSP checklist for your state.

• Aadhaar and bank account details do not match, or the bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded for DBT. Since the maintenance allowance and fee reimbursement are paid only by Direct Benefit Transfer, a mismatch between the name on Aadhaar, the bank passbook and the application form causes the transfer to fail even after approval. Fix: ensure your bank account is Aadhaar-seeded and that the name spelling matches across Aadhaar, bank passbook and the NSP form before submission.

• Applying for a course or institution not registered on the National Scholarship Portal. If your college or course has not completed its own NSP institutional registration, student applications routed through it get stuck or rejected at the institution verification stage. Fix: check with your college's nodal officer that the institution and course are live on NSP before you apply, and ask them to complete registration if not.

• Already receiving another scholarship for the same course or stage. The scheme does not allow double benefit for the same period of study. Fix: withdraw or clarify any other central or state scholarship you are drawing for the same course before applying, and declare it honestly on the form; a mismatch discovered later leads to rejection or recovery.

• Application submitted or renewed after the portal's cutoff date. Late submissions, including late renewals for students already receiving the scholarship, are generally not entertained once the academic year's window closes. Fix: apply as soon as the portal opens for the academic year and do not wait until the last week of the deadline, since document verification queues get long near the cutoff.

• Incomplete or illegible document uploads. A blurred marksheet scan, a cropped certificate, or a missing signature page is a frequent reason for applications being returned for correction. Fix: re-check every uploaded document for legibility and completeness before final submission; once returned for correction, the scheme allows resubmission only after a 30-day gap, so getting it right the first time avoids losing that time.

• More than two sons from the same family applying together. The scheme caps the maintenance allowance at two boys per set of parents or guardian. A third son's application is rejected on this ground alone, regardless of income or caste eligibility. Fix: there is no correction possible here beyond the scheme's rule itself; daughters in the same family remain unaffected by this cap and can apply without restriction.