The Department of Science and Technology has opened applications for the INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) 2025. It is for students who passed Class 12 in 2025 and are now studying basic or natural sciences. Applications are open on online-inspire.gov.in from 7 November to 7 December 2026, 11:59 PM.
Who can apply
- Top 1% of your Class 12 board in 2025, and now in a BSc, BS, four-year BSc with research, or integrated MSc or MS in a listed science subject; or
- A JEE Main, JEE Advanced or NEET rank within 10,000, and studying one of these courses; or
- An NTSE or JBNSTS scholar or international Olympiad medallist in a science course.
You must be 17 to 22 years old. Students in integrated MSc and BS-MS programmes get first preference. Students at IITs, IISERs, NISER, IISc and the other institutes once covered under a separate route must also apply through this call.
How much you get
The scholarship is Rs 5,000 a month (Rs 60,000 a year). A mentorship grant of Rs 20,000 a year is paid only in the third and fourth years.
How seats are shared between boards
There are 12,000 scholarships, divided between boards by their share of Class 12 candidates. Big boards get the most: UP Board 2,095, CBSE 1,397, Maharashtra 1,234, Bihar 1,056, Rajasthan 725, Tamil Nadu 654 and CISCE 82. Within a board, you compete only with students of that board.
Documents to keep ready
- Passport-size photo (JPEG, up to 50 KB)
- Class 10 marksheet or certificate as proof of date of birth, and the Class 12 marksheet (PDF, up to 1 MB each)
- Endorsement form signed by your college principal, institute director or university registrar
- Your board’s top-1% eligibility note, if it issued one, and any rank or award certificate
Queries go to [email protected]. Read the guidelines on the portal before you apply.
Source: DST call for applications under INSPIRE-SHE (2025), with annexures on subjects and board-wise quota, on online-inspire.gov.in.
