₹70,000 a Month for PhD Students: IndiaAI Fellowship Opens, Deadline November 30

If your research is about artificial intelligence, the government now wants to pay for it. Applications for the IndiaAI Fellowship Programme for the academic year 2026-27 are officially open. PhD scholars can receive ₹70,000 a month, postgraduates up to ₹2 lakh, and undergraduates up to ₹1 lakh. The last date to apply is November 30, 2026. The programme runs under the IndiaAI Mission of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, and it is open to students across engineering, medicine, law, commerce, business, and liberal arts, as long as the project centres on AI.

The headline numbers: what each level gets

The funding changes with the stage of study, so check the row that fits you.

• PhD students: ₹70,000 a month for years one and two, ₹75,000 in year three, and ₹80,000 in years four and five, including allowances like HRA. On top of that comes a research grant of up to ₹2 lakh a year and total contingency support of up to ₹10 lakh across the fellowship.
• Postgraduate students: up to ₹2 lakh in total funding support across the programme.
• Undergraduate and integrated dual degree (IDD) students: up to ₹1 lakh for the final year.
• Conference bonus: students whose research papers are accepted at select international AI conferences can get up to ₹1 lakh more for travel and accommodation.

These are among the richest student research payouts running right now. If you already hold a central sector scholarship, note that this fellowship is separate and research-focused, so check the rules of each scheme before stacking benefits.

Money for research is rare in Indian colleges. A fellowship that pays a PhD student ₹70,000 a month, on par with a starting salary, is the kind of news that spreads fast on campus. Apply while the window is open.

Who is eligible: the exact cutoffs

Eligibility is strict about three things: full-time study, enough AI coursework, and minimum grades.

PhD: Only newly enrolled or first-year full-time PhD scholars can apply. You need at least 8.0 CGPA (or 80%) in your undergraduate degree, or 7.5 CGPA (or 75%) in your postgraduate degree.

Postgraduate: You must be a full-time student in your first, second, or third semester, and you must have already completed at least three full-time AI courses with a CGPA of 7.0 (70%) or above.

Undergraduate and IDD: You must be in the final year and have completed at least three full-time AI courses with a CGPA of 7.0 or above in your last completed semester. Students in three-year UG courses become eligible after the fourth-semester (second-year) results; four-year UG students after the sixth-semester (third-year) results; and IDD students after the eighth-semester (fourth-year) results.

Part-time students cannot apply in any category. No exceptions have been announced for working professionals.

How to apply before November 30

Applications are online only. The official application portal is fellowship.indiaai.gov.in, where you register and fill the form. Get these documents ready before you start.

• An endorsement letter from your guide, department head, or institute head on official letterhead, signed and stamped.
• Original marksheets of your qualifying degrees.
• A passport-size photograph in jpg, jpeg, or png format.
• A cancelled bank cheque or the cover page of your passbook, with the account in your name.
• For postgraduate applicants only, an original GATE scorecard is optional.

Do not leave this for the last week. Portal traffic spikes near deadlines, and one rejected upload can cost you the cycle. For comparison, the big government portals run their own clocks: the National Scholarship Portal final call for 2026 closes on October 31, a full month earlier, so plan your paperwork for both if you are applying to more than one scheme.

Why this fellowship exists

The programme sits inside the IndiaAI Mission, which wants India to build its own AI talent pool instead of importing it. The idea is simple: fund students who are already doing serious AI work, and give them enough money to stay in research. Conference support for international papers is part of the same push, so that young researchers can put their work in front of the global community.

If you are already working on an AI project for your final year or thesis, this is the most direct money available to you this season. Browse more open schemes in our scholarships section while the November 30 window is still open.