ASEAN-India Research Training Fellowship(AI-RTF)

Overview

About AI-RTF

The eligibility list for the ASEAN-India Research Training Fellowship opens with a line that stops most Indian readers on the spot: Indian nationals are not eligible. AI-RTF is money the Department of Science and Technology spends to bring young researchers from the ten ASEAN member states into Indian laboratories. It does not send an Indian student, scholar or faculty member anywhere. The scheme still concerns Indian scientists, because nothing under it happens without an Indian host institution that has agreed to take the visitor in, and because the same fund runs a separate scheme that an Indian principal investigator can lead.

AI-RTF is a placement, not a degree. A researcher holding the nationality of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand or Vietnam applies to spend two to six months working on a research problem inside an Indian academic or R&D institution, under an Indian host scientist, and then returns to the job they left. Fifty fellowships a year are offered, and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi manages and coordinates the programme on the Department of Science and Technology's behalf (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

The money is Indian public money. It comes out of the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund, which the fund's terms of reference trace to a Prime Ministerial announcement of an initial US$1 million corpus and an enlargement to US$5 million announced at the 13th India-ASEAN Summit in Malaysia in November 2015, the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of External Affairs putting in US$2.5 million each. The fund's Governing Council is chaired by the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (terms of reference, ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund).

Two consequences follow for an Indian reader. First, an Indian passport closes the application route entirely. Second, the useful role on this side of the border is host, not fellow: the host institution receives the grant, disburses it, arranges the accommodation and signs the fellow in.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The scheme runs as an annual call rather than a rolling window, and the date changes every cycle. The deadline printed on the scheme page for the current cycle is 31 May 2025 at 5:00 PM IST (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology). As of September 2026 no later cycle has been posted there, and the older AI-RTF page on the same portal still reads that the call for proposals under the scheme will be notified soon (AI-RTF page, AISTDF portal).

That once-a-year rhythm is itself a change. The original announcement stated that applications could be submitted at any time during the year, with no specific deadline (AI-RTF announcement and guidelines, Department of Science and Technology). An ASEAN researcher planning around AI-RTF has to watch the AISTDF portal rather than assume a fixed month, and has to open the host conversation long before a call does, because an Indian scientist's consent letter is not something that can be produced in a week.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Indian nationals are not eligible for the fellowship. The scheme page says exactly that, and the programme brochure spells it out as Indian nationals holding Indian passport are not eligible to apply under AIRTF (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology, AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI). No clause anywhere in the guidelines lets an Indian citizen apply as the fellow.

Past that bar, the scheme is built around someone who already has a research job to go back to. An applicant must hold the nationality of an ASEAN member state, hold at least a Master's degree in a natural science or an equivalent degree in technology, engineering, medicine or an allied discipline, and be working, studying or otherwise affiliated with a national R&D or academic institution in their own ASEAN country. The upper age limit is 45 years on the date the application is submitted, and fluency in English is required (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

The endorsement from the head of the applicant's institution is doing more work than a signature usually does. It has to confirm two separate things: that leave will be sanctioned for the fellowship period, and that the applicant will rejoin duties on returning from India. A candidate with no institutional post to be released from cannot produce that letter, which is why AI-RTF does not function as an entry route for someone between positions.

The research proposal carries a second, easily missed condition. The topic must be ASEAN-centric and aligned with the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation, and the work proposed in India has to be linked to an ongoing research project or scheme at the Indian host institute and add value to it. A free-standing proposal that no Indian laboratory is already pursuing does not satisfy the guidelines even if it is scientifically strong.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

AI-RTF has no standalone list of exclusions. Four separate bars are scattered across the eligibility clauses, the subject list and the brochure's footnotes, and each one removes a different group.

Passport is the first: Indian nationals holding an Indian passport are excluded by name. Discipline is the second, because the fellowship is available in all fields of natural and engineering sciences including mathematics and statistics, and humanities and behavioural sciences are not covered at all (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI). Recent Indian support is the third: an ASEAN applicant who has availed any fellowship scheme of the Government of India during the last three years cannot apply (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology). The fourth is a cooling period on repeat winners. A past AI-RTF fellow may not apply again within two years of completing the earlier tenure, though someone who applied in an earlier year and was unsuccessful, or was selected but could not take the award up, is free to reapply in the current year (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

AI-RTF is awarded once, for a number of months fixed at the award stage, and the scheme page closes off moving that number in either direction: no request for extension or reduction in the duration will be entertained after the award of the fellowship (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology). A fellow who finishes early cannot bank the balance, and one whose experiment runs long cannot buy time from the scheme.

The only published route back in is a fresh application in a later cycle, and not before the two-year gap that follows a completed tenure (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

What you get

Award & benefits

The award is a package, and none of it is handed to the fellow directly. The airfare, the fellowship and the contingency grant are released to the Indian host institution for disbursement (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology), and the brochure sequences it further: the selected fellow approaches FICCI for the air ticket, and only once that ticket is issued does FICCI disburse the fellowship amount to the Indian host institute (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

Accommodation is not free. The host institution arranges suitable accommodation on a payment basis, which means the consolidated monthly amount is what the fellow lives on and pays rent from. The fellow, or their home government or institution, bears passport and visa costs at home, any medical examinations and vaccinations, travel to and from the departure airport, and their home salary arrangements. Neither the fund nor the host institution accepts responsibility for compensation in the event of death, disability or loss of belongings, or for anything spent by dependants who travel along.

The contingency grant is narrower than it looks. It stays with the host institute and is spent in consultation with it, and the programme brochure rules out furniture, utensils, items an institution normally provides, admission, registration, tuition or examination fees, any honorarium for the host scientist, and institution or laboratory fees (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

The rate has moved. The Department of Science and Technology's original announcement and guidelines set a consolidated non-taxable amount of Rs 50,000 per month and promised 100 fellowships a year, allocated 10 to each ASEAN country, with the note that the allocation could be readjusted according to how many applicants each country produced (AI-RTF announcement and guidelines, Department of Science and Technology). The live scheme page carries the revised figures.

The left-hand column is superseded, not an alternative. It is what the original announcement PDF still says, and that PDF is still sitting on the department's own website, which is how the old email route and the old amount keep resurfacing. Only the right-hand column governs an application made now.

• Full financial assistance will be provided to the selected Fellows which includes the following:-
• a) Round trip international airfare by lowest economy class and by the shortest route from the international airport in the home country of the applicant to the international airport nearest to the host institution in India; visa fees, overseas medical insurance, etc.
• b) A consolidated Fellowship amount of Indian Rupees (INR) 60,000/- per month.
• c) One-time grant of INR 40,000/- as research contingency expenses, airport transfers, domestic travel for attending scientific /events, and field trips within India.
• d) Institutional overhead charges @ INR 2,500/- per month.
• e) The allowance as in (a), (b) & (c) will be released to the host institution in India for disbursement to the Fellow. The host Institution will arrange appropriate accommodation for the Fellow on a payment basis.
• The selected Fellow is advised to take an appropriate policy for health insurance coverage for the period of stay in India. The cost of obtaining an overseas insurance policy is covered and reimbursable under AISTDF.
• Individual Fellow, or his/ her government/institution, is required to bear the following costs:
• a) All expenses in the home country incidental to travel abroad, including expenditure incurred to obtain passport and visa and for medical examinations and vaccinations as may be required as well as other miscellaneous expenses such as internal travel to/ from the international airport of departure in the home country.
• b) Salary and other related allowances in the home country, if applicable, during the Fellowship period.
• Neither the AISTDF nor the host institution in India will assume any responsibility whatsoever for the following expenditure of the Fellows during the tenure of the Fellowship:
• a) Compensation in the event of death, disability, or loss of personal belongings or compensation for damage caused by climatic or other conditions.
• b) Travel and other costs incurred by the dependents, who might accompany the Fellows.

What to prepare

Documents required

The paperwork arrives in two waves, and only the first wave decides whether the application is read at all.

The scheme page's application list runs to five enclosures: two CVs, the applicant's and the proposed Indian host's, the relevant pages of a valid passport, the employer endorsement, and the Indian host's acceptance letter. The brochure adds a sixth the scheme page's list leaves out, a copy of a medical insurance policy covering potential medical expenditure in India, and it is the brochure that states the consequence: applications without any of the mandatory enclosures will be rejected, not queried. It also fixes the language. Every application form must be in English, and where a supporting document was issued in another language an authenticated English translation has to go with it (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

The second wave falls due only after approval, and it is signed on the Indian side rather than by the fellow: the parent institute's acceptance letter, the Indian host institute's letter of consent, the host institute's RTGS details endorsed by the institute, itinerary options for a secretariat that books the tickets itself, and the joining notification the Indian host issues. Every one of them has a prescribed format published on the scheme page (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

Step by step

How to apply

Applications are accepted online only. Hard copies are not required, and an application sent through any other form or channel is not considered. The applicant registers on the ASEAN portal first, then completes the Profile Detail section under User Profile with bio-data, photograph and institute address, and enters the proposal summary fields at submission: project title, abstract, keywords, objectives, and expected output and outcome. Everything else that supports the proposal is uploaded as a single PDF of not more than 10 MB (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

Finding the Indian host is the part that takes longest and the part the portal cannot do for the applicant. The scheme strongly advises making contact with an Indian institution or scientist working in the area of interest before applying, and enclosing that consent letter. Annexure-I to the announcement is a suggestive list of Indian institutions with the research areas they offer, and an applicant is explicitly free to approach an institution that is not on it (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

The portal also carries a Find Indian Host search by subject area, with a caution worth reading before relying on it: the department states that the information there is compiled from data available on the internet in the public domain and through various DST schemes and programmes, and that it takes no responsibility for the authenticity of that information. Applicants are told to contact a listed host directly and offline to seek consent (Find Indian Host, AISTDF portal).

There is no application status tracker on the portal and no stage-by-stage counter, so an applicant learns the outcome from a published list or from the award letter itself. The portal keeps an awardees page under its Results menu, but it is thin, carrying a single awardee entry from 2018 (list of AI-RTF awardees, AISTDF portal); the fuller record sits on the Department of Science and Technology's own site, which has published cycle-wise lists of selected candidates. Where a published list answers nothing, the named FICCI contact on the scheme page is the only route left.

How winners are picked

Selection process

Two bodies thin the pile before a subject expert reads any science. The call goes out in the ASEAN member countries, the Department of Science and Technology and the ASEAN Secretariat run the initial screening between them, and only what survives that reaches a selection committee of subject-matter experts, which shortlists on scientific merit and the proposed research plan. What comes out of that is an announcement of the selected fellows on the programme website and an award letter issued to each of them by FICCI, New Delhi (AI-RTF programme brochure, Department of Science and Technology and FICCI).

The scheme page is blunt about what a host's consent letter is worth at this stage. Securing prior consent from an Indian institution or scientist does not guarantee selection; all applications are scrutinised scientifically by the department, which decides on the quality of the research proposal, the applicant's academic merit and the slots available (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

The country allocation in the original announcement has not survived contact with the applicant pool, which the announcement itself anticipated. The department's published list for the cycle ending 30 June 2019 named 47 selected candidates, of whom 16 came from Myanmar and 11 from Malaysia, while Cambodia and Singapore produced none. Tenures on that list ran from two months to six. The Indian hosts ranged from IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the National Chemical Laboratory and several NITs and state universities (list of selected candidates, ASEAN India Research Training Fellowship 2019-20).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Breach of the fellow's obligations means withdrawal of the fellowship, and the obligations are specific. The fellow must stay in India continuously through the tenure and concentrate on the scientific work at the host institution, must not take up any other work, paid or unpaid, must follow the host institution's rules, and must not commit research misconduct such as fabricating or falsifying results or misusing research funds. A human rights clause bars any infringement on others inside or outside the host institution, including racial or gender discrimination. A completion report in the prescribed format goes to the department, FICCI and the ASEAN Secretariat at the end of the tenure. One clause matters more than its single line suggests for anyone in the life sciences: transfer of any type of biological material during the fellowship is not permissible (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

On the fund's side, the terms of reference reserve up to 90% of the ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund for scientific activities and project funding and 10% for the secretariat's administrative and recurring expenses, and the corpus is held in a nationalised bank in India. The same document puts the fund's validity at 31 March 2022 (terms of reference, ASEAN-India Science and Technology Development Fund), a horizon the scheme has plainly outrun, since the deadline the scheme page carries is years later and no revised terms of reference have been posted in its place.

Get help

Contact

The programme contact for AI-RTF, named on the scheme page, is Mr Vivek Kumar at FICCI, reachable at airtfscholars@ficci.com and vishal.khanna@ficci.com. The AISTDF Secretariat sits with the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, 3rd and 4th Floor, Block-II, Technology Bhavan, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi - 110 016, on 011-26552215 and 011-26552279, with email at arvind@serb.gov.in and aistdf.serb@gmail.com (AI-RTF scheme page, Department of Science and Technology).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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