Financial Assistance For Promotion Of Guru-Shishya Parampara (Repertory Grant)

What is the Repertory Grant scheme?

Financial Assistance for Promotion of Guru-Shishya Parampara, commonly called the Repertory Grant, is a scheme of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The Repertory Grant supports registered cultural organisations that keep the traditional guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) system alive by training disciples in the performing arts under an accomplished guru.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the scheme pays a monthly honorarium to the organisation for its guru and artistes. The guru or director receives Rs 15,000 per month, and each adult artiste (18 years and above) receives up to Rs 10,000 per month. Younger disciples are paid on age slabs, so a repertory can train children alongside adults.

Key features

• Central scheme administered by the Ministry of Culture.
• Monthly honorarium paid to the organisation for its guru and disciples.
• Covers all genres of performing arts; dance, music, theatre, folk, and rare or vanishing art forms.
• Structured to help a repertory grow from a small unit into a full ensemble.

The scheme's purpose is to sustain living traditions of performance training that markets alone will not support, particularly rare and vanishing art forms that depend on direct transmission from guru to disciple.

Who is eligible for the Repertory Grant?

An organisation can apply if it:

• Is a registered cultural organisation training disciples under a guru.
• Works in any genre of performing arts; dance, music, theatre, folk, and rare or vanishing forms.
• Has a repertoire of adequate number and quality.
• Has a record of performances on an all-India basis.

Who cannot apply:

• Individual artists cannot apply. The honorarium is paid to an organisation running a guru-and-artistes repertory, not to a solo performer. Individual artists are served by separate Ministry of Culture fellowship and scholarship schemes.
• Organisations that are not registered, or that lack an adequate repertoire and an all-India performance record, are not eligible.
• Organisations that cannot meet the renewal obligation — staging at least two productions a year, one of them entirely new; will not be able to continue in the scheme.

How much does the Repertory Grant provide?

The honorarium is paid monthly on the following slabs, according to the Ministry of Culture guidelines:

A new organisation begins with one guru and two artistes. It can expand gradually up to one guru and eighteen artistes across all disciplines, but annual growth cannot exceed 100% of the existing strength. This staged growth lets a repertory build capacity while demonstrating sustained performance activity.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Repertory Grant

1. Confirm the applicant is a registered cultural organisation with a guru, disciples, an adequate repertoire and an all-India performance record.
2. Obtain a recommendation from a State Government, State Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, or the National School of Drama.
3. Submit the application online through the National School of Drama grant portal at grant.nsd.gov.in before the advertised deadline, attaching the registration certificate, guru-and-artiste roster with ages, and performance record.
4. The Ministry of Culture scrutinises the applications and sanctions the honorarium; sanctioned organisations must then meet the annual production requirement to continue.

Help and where to check details

The scheme is administered by the Ministry of Culture, and applications are handled through the National School of Drama. For queries, the Section Officer (P-Arts) can be reached on 011-24642137 between 3:00 and 4:00 PM, Tuesday to Friday. Because grant amounts and the roster ceiling are revised in updated guidelines from time to time, read the current-year guidelines on the Ministry portal and confirm the application window before applying.

How to check your application status

The Repertory Grant has no public online tracking dashboard for individual applications, so an applicant organisation has to follow up directly.

• Through the National School of Drama grant portal: log back in at grant.nsd.gov.in with the credentials used to submit the application. If the portal shows an application reference number or a status field against the submitted form, that is the first place to check before calling anyone.
• By writing to the Ministry: send a written status query, referencing the organisation's name, the year of application and the recommendation authority that endorsed it, to the Ministry of Culture's P-Arts section. Keep a copy of the acknowledgment or submission receipt from the portal to quote in this letter.
• By phone: call the Section Officer (P-Arts) on 011-24642137, but only between 3:00 and 4:00 PM, Tuesday to Friday; calls outside this window will not be answered by the concerned desk.
• Through the recommending authority: since every application must be routed with a recommendation from a State Government, State Akademi, Sangeet Natak Akademi or NSD, that recommending body often hears about sanction or rejection before the applicant organisation does, and can be a faster informal channel.
• For already-sanctioned grants: once an honorarium is sanctioned, disbursement is normally tied to the organisation's utilisation certificates and annual reports for the previous year, so a delay in receiving the monthly honorarium is usually a documentation hold-up on the organisation's end rather than a fresh review, and the fix is to confirm the last submitted utilisation certificate reached the Ministry.

Because there is no fixed processing timeline published for this scheme, an organisation should build in the 3:00-4:00 PM Tuesday-Friday call window as the routine follow-up mechanism, rather than expecting automatic email or SMS updates.

Common reasons for rejection

• No recommendation from an eligible authority. Applications submitted without an endorsement from a State Government, a State Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi or the National School of Drama are turned away regardless of the organisation's artistic merit. Fix: secure and attach this recommendation letter before submitting, not after.
• Repertoire judged inadequate. The scheme requires a repertoire of "adequate number and quality," and organisations with only one or two productions, or productions that are not fully staged and performance-ready, are commonly found short. Fix: build and document a broader, performance-tested repertoire before applying, rather than applying on the strength of work still in rehearsal.
• No all-India performance record. An organisation that has performed only locally, without touring or performing outside its home state, does not meet the all-India performance requirement. Fix: assemble documented proof of performances across states, dates, venues and, where possible, press or festival records, before applying.
• Applicant is an individual, not a registered organisation. Solo artists and informal groups are rejected outright because the honorarium is paid to a registered organisation running a guru-and-disciples repertory, never to a person. Fix: register as a society, trust or equivalent cultural organisation first, or apply instead under a Ministry of Culture fellowship meant for individuals.
• Incomplete guru-and-artiste roster. Missing ages for artistes prevents the Ministry from applying the correct honorarium slab (adult versus the three child age bands), and such applications are typically sent back or dropped. Fix: submit a complete roster with verifiable ages for every artiste, guru included.
• Requesting growth beyond the permitted ceiling. Since annual growth is capped at 100% of existing strength and the total roster cannot exceed one guru and eighteen artistes, applications asking to add more artistes than this in one cycle are rejected for that portion of the request. Fix: phase the expansion request across multiple annual cycles instead of asking for the full increase at once.
• Renewal denied for missing production activity. An already-sanctioned repertory that fails to stage at least two productions in a year, with at least one entirely new, risks non-renewal rather than outright rejection, but the practical effect is the same: the honorarium stops. Fix: plan the production calendar around this minimum every year, and keep records (posters, tickets, reviews) as evidence when applying for continuation.
• Missing or outdated audited accounts at renewal. Renewal applications lacking the organisation's audited accounts and annual reports are commonly held up, since the Ministry uses these to confirm the organisation's continued genuine operation. Fix: keep audited accounts current every financial year rather than preparing them only when a renewal is due.