INSPIRE Fellowship is one of the components of INSPIRE scheme implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India to strengthen the Science and Technology base of the country. This Component focusses on attracting students to pursue doctoral degree in basic and applied sciences including engineering, medicine, agriculture, veterinary, pharmacy etc. after either master’s degree in science/engineering or bachelor/ master’s degree in Medicine.

Call for INSPIRE Fellowship applications is announced during the 3rd/4th quarter of each financial year. Applications are sought from the eligible students through the given below INSPIRE Web-portal: https://www.online-inspire.gov.in

One can apply for the INSPIRE Fellowship, online mode, only against the call. To apply online, please visit the link ttps://www.online-inspire.gov.in and follow the guidelines as given therein.

Yes. It is mandatory to produce a Rank certificate in the prescribed INSPIRE Fellowship Format only (Format is available at https://www.online-inspire.gov.in Provisional Rank certificate or mark sheet will not be accepted for consideration of INSPIRE Fellowship application.

Fellowship shall be tenable for a maximum period of five years from INSPIRE Fellowship “Effective Date” or completion of the Ph.D. program (i.e. up to the date of successful Ph.D. viva-voce), whichever is earlier. The fellowship shall be governed by administrative norms and guidelines of the Host University/Institute.

The entry in INSPIRE Fellowship would be only as Junior Research Fellow (JRF). There is no direct entry into Senior Research Fellow (SRF). The JRF or SRF under this scheme shall be termed as an 'INSPIRE Fellow'.

The Fellowship shall be governed through the Office Memorandum of this Ministry of Number A.20020/11/97-IFD dated 6th August 2007; 31st March 2010; 21st October 2014 [No. SR/S9/Z-09/2012] and SR/S9/Z-08/2018 dated 30th January 2019. However, HRA to the Fellows shall also be applicable as per GoI norms depending upon the location of the Host Institute.

Expenditure of contingency grant would be governed as per host institution norms. The limit of the contingency grant is Rs. 20,000/annum. The unspent balance of the contingency grant at the end of a year shall be adjusted to the next year with a maximum ceiling of Rs.20,000.

Public Financial Management System (PFMS: https://pfms.nic.in) is being implemented by the Office of Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance in partnership with the National Informatics Centre. PFMS has established a common transaction-based online fund management and payment system for the Schemes of the Government of India.

Yes. It is mandatory. Else Fellowship fund transfer shall not be done.

When you receive the Final offer under INSPIRE Fellowship please resign from the previous fellowship for switching over to INSPIRE Fellowship and put these details in Joining-cum-Acceptance letter (Format provided at https://www.online-inspire.gov.in. Please do not resign unless you receive the Final offer, ofINSPIRE Fellowship.

No.

INSPIRE Fellow need to upload a Utilization Certificate (UC), Statement of Expenditure (SE), Claim Bill (if any), and Annual Progress Report in the prescribed format(s) (available at https://www.online-inspire.gov.in) in the INSPIRE web portal at the end of every year of completion for release of the next installment.

The second installment onward release to an ongoing Fellow will be considered if the unspent balance from the previously released Fellowship grant including HRA shall be less than Rs.40,000/-. In case, multiple SE and UC have to be uploaded, please make the single file of multiple SE (s) and another file of multiple UC(s) and upload at the appropriate place. SE and UC without the Seal of Competent Authority shall not be accepted. Uploaded SE and UC should be clearly visible.

From the date of upload of requisite documents, generally, the fellowship grant will be released within 2months.

The up-gradation of Fellowship from Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) to Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) would normally be considered after completion of two (2) years of INSPIRE Fellowship. However, it can be considered after completion of one year as JRF if INSPIRE Fellow has an acceptance of at least one research paper (as a 1st Author) in any international peer-reviewed journal from the Ph.D. work carried out at the respective Host Institute.

If you join any job (full-time or part-time), there is no provision of holding INSPIRE Fellowship and rejoining again after some time. Your Fellowship will be discontinued from the date of joining of job.

Already DST approved bank details of respective institutions are available on the INSPIRE Web-portal. If you select the required bank details from the list, then need not wait for its approval. You can directly upload your joining- cum-acceptance report.

If the selected INSPIRE Fellow fails to upload JCA within one month from the date of issue of the final offer letter, the offer shall automatically stand withdrawn.

This is an automated process. If a student fails to upload his/ her Ph.D. admission documents within the validity duration, the portal will get automatically closed and then he/ she will not be able to upload Ph.D. admission documents for consideration for Final Offer. In that case, his/ her provisional offer will automatically stand withdrawn.

Once you submit the host institute Bank details, usually it takes one week for approval. You are requested to regularly check your INSPIRE web portal account for updates.