Pragati Scholarship Scheme

What is the Pragati Scholarship Scheme?

Pragati Scholarship Scheme is a scholarship of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), which functions under the Ministry of Education, to support girl students pursuing technical education. Pragati Scholarship Scheme pays Rs 50,000 per year for the duration of the course to selected girl students enrolled in AICTE-approved technical degree and diploma programmes.

AICTE awards 10,000 Pragati scholarships every year; 5,000 for technical degree courses and 5,000 for technical diploma courses. Selection within each pool is made on merit in the qualifying examination, and the family income ceiling is Rs 8 lakh per year.

The scholarship money covers the real costs of a technical course: tuition fees, books, drawing instruments, laptop or software costs and other course-related expenses. It is credited by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own bank account, not the college's.

Key objectives

• Raise the share of girl students in technical education by removing the fee and materials barrier.
• Support families where the cost of an engineering or polytechnic seat would otherwise force a daughter out of technical education.
• Give an equal opportunity to girls in both degree and diploma streams by splitting the 10,000 scholarships evenly.

Main features

• Rs 50,000 a year, paid for the full duration of the course.
• 10,000 scholarships a year, split 5,000 degree and 5,000 diploma.
• Family income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh a year.
• A maximum of two girl children per family can draw the scholarship.
• Single online application on scholarships.gov.in.

Who is eligible for the Pragati Scholarship Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a girl student and an Indian citizen.
• You have taken admission to the first year of a technical degree or diploma course in an AICTE-approved institution, or joined the second year through lateral entry after a diploma.
• Your family income does not exceed Rs 8 lakh per year, certified by the competent authority.
• You are among the first two girl children in your family claiming the scholarship.
• You have a One Time Registration (OTR) number on the National Scholarship Portal and a bank account in your own name, seeded with Aadhaar.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a male student; Pragati Scholarship Scheme is reserved for girl students. Differently-abled students of any gender should look at AICTE's separate Saksham scholarship instead.
• Your institution is not AICTE-approved, or your course is not a technical degree or diploma programme.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 8 lakh a year.
• You are the third or later girl child in the family claiming the scholarship, since the cap is two per family.
• You are already drawing another merit-based central scholarship for the same course.

What documents are required for the Pragati Scholarship Scheme?

How to apply for the Pragati Scholarship Scheme

1. Open the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in and complete One Time Registration (OTR) with your Aadhaar number or Aadhaar Enrolment ID, including face authentication.
2. Note your 14-digit OTR number, which stays valid throughout your academic career.
3. Log in with the OTR number, select AICTE as the ministry or department and then the Pragati Scholarship Scheme for degree or diploma as applicable.
4. Fill in your personal, academic, institute and family income details, and enter your own bank account number and IFSC code.
5. Upload the admission proof, income certificate, marksheets, bank passbook and the declaration on the number of girl children.
6. Preview the application, correct any mismatch against your documents, submit it and save the application ID.
7. Ask your institute nodal officer to verify the application on the portal. An unverified application never reaches AICTE.
8. Submit before the portal deadline, applications for the current cycle close on 31 October 2026, and then track the status under your OTR login.

How does merit selection work for Pragati?

Pragati Scholarship Scheme fills its 10,000 seats on merit in the qualifying examination, applied separately to the degree pool of 5,000 and the diploma pool of 5,000. For a girl in the first year of a degree, the qualifying marks are her Class 12 result; for a first-year diploma student, her Class 10 result; and for a lateral-entry second-year student, her diploma marks. AICTE draws up a state-wise merit list so that seats are spread across the country rather than concentrated in a few high-scoring states.

When two applicants have equal qualifying marks, the tie is broken by family income, with the lower-income applicant ranked higher. This is why an accurate, correctly certified income certificate matters beyond just clearing the Rs 8 lakh ceiling — it can decide selection at the margin. AICTE publishes the final list of awardees on its portal after institute verification and document scrutiny are complete.

What courses and institutions does Pragati cover?

Pragati Scholarship Scheme applies only to AICTE-approved technical programmes. On the degree side this means recognised undergraduate engineering, technology, architecture, pharmacy, management and hotel-management programmes run by AICTE-approved institutions. On the diploma side it covers AICTE-approved polytechnic diplomas. A student in a course or college outside AICTE's approval list, for example a general BA, BSc, BCom or a university programme AICTE does not regulate, is not eligible, however strong her marks. Before applying, check that your institution appears in AICTE's approved-institutions list for the current year, because approval can lapse and a course that qualified last year may not qualify this year.

How much benefit does the Pragati Scholarship Scheme provide?

Pragati Scholarship Scheme pays Rs 50,000 per year for the duration of the technical course. For a four-year degree that comes to up to Rs 2,00,000 across the course, and for a three-year diploma up to Rs 1,50,000, subject to the student continuing to meet the scheme conditions each year.

The amount is intended for tuition fees and for the purchase of books, instruments, equipment, software and other course-related material. Payment is made through Direct Benefit Transfer to the student's own Aadhaar-seeded account.

How to renew the Pragati Scholarship each year

1. Log in at scholarships.gov.in with the same OTR number in the renewal window.
2. Select Renewal and upload the marksheet of the year just completed.
3. Confirm that you are still enrolled in the same AICTE-approved course.
4. Get the institute to verify the renewal on the portal before the window closes, a missed renewal window ends the scholarship for that year.

How to check your Pragati Scholarship status

1. Log in at scholarships.gov.in using your OTR number.
2. Open Check Your Status on the dashboard.
3. Read the stage, pending at institute, verified, pending at AICTE, or sanctioned.
4. If the status shows sanctioned but no money has arrived, track the payment on the PFMS portal and verify that your account is Aadhaar-seeded.

Common reasons Pragati Scholarship applications are rejected

• Institute verification not completed before the portal closed.
• Institution not AICTE-approved, or the course is not technical.
• Income certificate above Rs 8 lakh or issued by a non-competent authority.
• Bank account not in the student's own name or not Aadhaar-seeded.
• Third girl child in the family applying, against the two-per-family cap.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, marksheet and bank records.

Help and grievance redressal

• National Scholarship Portal helpdesk: 0120-6619540, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM on all days except government holidays.
• NSP helpdesk email: helpdesk@nsp.gov.in
• PFMS payment helpline: toll free 1800 118 111.
• Scheme information: the students development schemes page on aicte.gov.in.

Applying for the Pragati Scholarship Scheme is free. Common Service Centres may charge the notified Rs 30 per application for assisted filing, but no agent can charge you to have a scholarship sanctioned.