SUPREME — Support for Up-gradation, Preventive Repair & Maintenance of Equipment

What is SUPREME?

SUPREME (Support for Up-gradation, Preventive Repair & Maintenance of Equipment) is a scheme of the Department of Science & Technology's R&D Infrastructure Division, launched in 2023. According to the DST scheme page, SUPREME provides financial support for the repair, upgradation, maintenance, retrofitting or acquiring of additional attachments that increase the functional capability of existing instrumentation facilities already supported by DST.

SUPREME exists because of a specific problem in Indian research infrastructure. A sophisticated analytical instrument bought under a DST project stops working after a few years, the original project has closed, and no budget head exists to repair it. The instrument sits idle, and the research it supported stops. SUPREME creates the missing budget line.

What SUPREME support looks like

• Maximum Rs 4 crore per organisation.
• Non-recurring capital support, plus an optional Annual Maintenance Contract component.
• Duration of support not exceeding 3 years.
• One application per institution per advertisement period.

Who is eligible for SUPREME?

SUPREME is an institutional scheme. The applicant is the organisation that owns the equipment.

Institutions that can apply:

• Central, State, Deemed and Private Universities
• IITs, NITs, IISERs and AIIMS
• Colleges

Conditions the equipment must meet; all four together:

1. The facility was created under a DST-supported project that is already completed.
2. The equipment is registered on the I-STEM portal (the Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map).
3. The initial purchase cost of the equipment was at least Rs 25 lakh.
4. The facility is not more than 8 years old.

Who is not eligible:

• Individual scientists and research scholars cannot apply. SUPREME carries no personal benefit, fellowship or stipend. A researcher whose instrument is broken must route the request through their institution.
• Agency-based institutes and organisations functioning under ministries other than DST.
• Self-sustaining infrastructure: facilities that already generate enough revenue to fund their own maintenance.
• Facilities older than 8 years, equipment costing under Rs 25 lakh at purchase, and any instrument not registered on I-STEM.

What documents are required for SUPREME?

How to apply for SUPREME

1. Register your equipment on the I-STEM portal if it is not already listed. A proposal covering unregistered equipment will not qualify.
2. Check the Call for Proposals page on dst.gov.in for an open SUPREME advertisement from the R&D Infrastructure Division.
3. Download the SUPREME proposal format attached to that call.
4. Verify the four eligibility conditions for each instrument: completed DST project, I-STEM registration, Rs 25 lakh minimum purchase cost, and facility age of 8 years or less.
5. Obtain itemised vendor quotations for the repair, upgradation, retrofitting or AMC being sought, and build the budget from them.
6. Consolidate a single institutional proposal — only one application per institution per advertisement is allowed.
7. Get the endorsement of the Head of the Institution.
8. Submit the proposal online at onlinedst.gov.in before the closing date.

Proposals are then peer-reviewed, and a site visit may follow before a decision.

How are SUPREME proposals judged?

According to DST, assessment considers the academic merit of the work the facility supports, the benefit the revived facility will bring to the wider community, including scientists from other institutions, MSMEs and startups. The publications and patents already generated using the equipment, and the facility's involvement in industrial R&D. A proposal that shows the instrument serving many external users is stronger than one serving a single department.

This is also why I-STEM registration is non-negotiable: it is the mechanism through which outside researchers discover and book the facility.

Where to get help

• R&D Infrastructure Division, DST: 011-26590452
• Programme officer: Dr. Pratishtha Pandey, Scientist G
• Proposal submission: onlinedst.gov.in
• Scheme page: dst.gov.in

SUPREME works on facilities created by DST's other infrastructure schemes. See FIST, PURSE and SATHI for how those facilities are funded in the first place, and STUTI for training researchers to use them.

How to check your application status

SUPREME does not run on a year-round rolling portal with a personal dashboard, so status tracking works differently from a typical benefit scheme. Proposals are invited against a specific Call for Proposals and submitted online at onlinedst.gov.in during the window that call is open.

1. Check the acknowledgement first. When a proposal is submitted at onlinedst.gov.in, the portal generates a submission or reference number. Keep this number, along with a screenshot or PDF of the final submitted form, since it is the only record an institution has of having applied before the review process begins.
2. Watch the Call for Proposals page on dst.gov.in. The R&D Infrastructure Division typically announces shortlisting, site visits or review outcomes through updates on the same page where the original call was posted, rather than through individual portal notifications to every applicant.
3. Expect a possible site visit before any decision. Because DST's review of SUPREME proposals can include a site visit to the facility, the practical sign that a proposal is progressing is contact from the R&D Infrastructure Division or the assigned reviewers to schedule one. No contact within the review period usually means the proposal is still pending, not rejected.
4. Follow up directly if the call's stated review timeline has passed. Since SUPREME has no published SLA for a decision, the only reliable way to check on a specific proposal is to contact the R&D Infrastructure Division at 011-26590452, quoting the institution's name and the submission reference number from onlinedst.gov.in.
5. Confirm through the Head of the Institution's office. Because the Head of the Institution endorses the proposal, any formal sanction letter or rejection communication from DST is typically addressed to the institution's administration, not to an individual department. An applying department should check with that office if it has not heard about a submission from a completed call cycle.

Common reasons for rejection

• Equipment not registered on the I-STEM portal. SUPREME treats I-STEM registration as non-negotiable because it is how outside researchers discover the facility. A proposal listing an unregistered instrument is disqualified for that instrument. Fix: complete I-STEM registration for every instrument before drafting the proposal, not after submission.
• Facility older than 8 years. SUPREME only supports facilities that are not more than 8 years old from installation. Proposals for older equipment are turned down regardless of how well-justified the repair need is. Fix: check the installation date against the call's cutoff before applying; an ageing facility past the limit does not become eligible by resubmission.
• Original purchase cost below Rs 25 lakh. The scheme's floor of Rs 25 lakh at initial purchase is a hard eligibility filter, not a scoring factor. Fix: verify the original purchase invoice or asset register value before including an instrument, since a facility bought just under this threshold cannot qualify no matter how it is described in the proposal.
• No proof the equipment came from a completed DST project. SUPREME repairs facilities created under DST's own earlier support, so a proposal cannot substitute UGC, CSIR or private-grant equipment for this requirement. Fix: attach the sanction letter or completion report of the original DST project the facility was created under.
• More than one proposal from the same institution in a call. DST allows only one application per institution per advertisement period; a second submission is simply not considered. Fix: consolidate requests across departments into a single institutional proposal before the closing date, with the Head of the Institution's office coordinating which facilities are included.
• Missing or generic vendor quotations. A budget built on round numbers instead of itemised quotations for the specific repair, upgradation or AMC work weakens a proposal at review and can lead to the cost estimate being questioned or the proposal being sent back. Fix: obtain itemised quotations from vendors for each cost head claimed, matching what the proposal format asks for.
• Weak case for wider community benefit. DST's review looks at whether the revived facility will serve scientists outside the applicant institution, MSMEs and startups, not only the applicant's own department. A proposal that documents only in-house use, with no publication, patent or industrial R&D record tied to the facility, scores weaker against proposals that show broader access. Fix: document past external users of the facility and commit concretely to open access going forward, since this also reinforces why I-STEM registration matters.
• Proposal submitted by an individual or an ineligible category of organisation. SUPREME is institutional; applications from individual scientists, agency-based institutes, organisations under ministries other than DST, or self-sustaining infrastructure are not eligible categories at all. Fix: confirm the institution's category against the scheme's eligible list before starting a proposal, and route any individual researcher's request through the institution's administration instead.