Can a Polytechnic Student Get This Scholarship?

Yes, and the diploma arm exists for exactly that student. What matters is that the polytechnic and the diploma course are AICTE approved for the academic year you are admitted in; an institute or course without that approval is a direct rejection, whatever the marks (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). AICTE prints each awardee's institution beside her name, and entries such as Government Polytechnic Diglipur and Women's Polytechnic, Kolkata sit on the 2025-26 diploma list (List of the Selected Students under AICTE Pragati Scholarship Scheme (Diploma) A.Y. 2025-26).

I Joined the Second Year of a Diploma by Lateral Entry After ITI. Am I Eligible?

Yes. Lateral entry into the second year of a diploma is written into the eligibility clause alongside first year admission, and the ITI certificate and marksheet are the documents AICTE asks such an applicant to upload (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). Your Class 10 percentage still decides your rank, and two years is the most you can draw.

How Many Years Does the Diploma Scholarship Run For?

Three years if you were admitted to the first year, two years if you came in by lateral entry, at Rs 50,000 for each of those years (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Each year after the first has to be claimed by renewal, and a year you fail to clear ends the payments.

My Name Is Not on the Diploma Merit List. What Can I Do?

Raise a grievance with AICTE within one month of the provisional list being published on its web portal, because queries about the merit list are not entertained after that month (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). If your name is on the list but no money has arrived and the cause is a wrong account number, that is a different complaint with a six month window from the same publication date.

Is This the Same Thing as the AICTE Saksham Scholarship for Diploma Students?

No. Saksham pays the same Rs 50,000 a year to a diploma student, in the same first year or lateral entry positions and under the same Rs 8 lakh income ceiling, but it is written for a specially abled student with a disability of not less than 40 percent, and it earmarks no number of awards and publishes no state wise distribution at all (AICTE Saksham scheme guidelines, diploma). The portal marks the split too: Pragati diploma is listed there as a merit based scheme and Saksham diploma as a welfare based one (National Scholarship Portal scheme list).

Does It Matter That My Polytechnic Is Private?

Ownership is not the test; AICTE approval is. A private polytechnic whose diploma course carries AICTE approval for your admission year is inside the scheme, and a government institute running a course AICTE has not approved is outside it (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). Confirm the approval before you apply, because the check happens at verification, after the closing date for your own submission has already passed.

Is there a validity to the scheme benefits?

The benefits are provided for a period of maximum 3 years for first year admitted students and maximum 2 years for second year admitted students through lateral entry.

How many slots are there in this scheme?

A total of 5,000 scholarships are earmarked per annum under this scheme.

What would be the mode of payment of the scholarship?

The payment of the scholarship will be through DBT.

Are there any additional grants that may be payable in lieu of hostel charges and medical charges?

No other additional grant will be payable in lieu of hostel charges and medical charges etc.

I belong to a NorthEastern state. Am I eligible to apply for this scholarship?

Yes. All eligible girls who submit the online scholarship form, from following 13 Union Territories and North Eastern States will be given scholarship by AICTE.

Is there a tie-breaker in case of multiple applicants for the last available slot?

The procedure to be adopted for breaking ties (similar percentiles) shall be as under: - Age: In case qualifying examination percentile does not break ties, then the candidate of elder age will be ranked higher. Annual family income: If above method does not break ties, and then the lower annual family income will settle on in higher ranking for the scholarships.

Will I be eligible for the scholarship if I fail to get promoted to the next semester?

No. The scholarship will be terminated in that case.

Can I apply offline for the scholarship?

No. You need to visit https://scholarships.gov.in/ to apply.

Is there any application fee?

No. The entire application process is completely free of cost.

Am I eligible for this scholarship if two of my girl siblings are availing the benefits of this scheme?

No. You won’t be eligible in this case.

Do I need to complete the application in one sitting?

No. You can save the application as draft and continue at a later time before the deadline.

How do I track the status of my application?

You can check the same anytime by visiting the Applicant Dashboard and clicking “Track Status” in the left pane.

What should be the type and size of the documents to be uploaded?

The format should be.pdf or .jpeg. The size of each document should not be greater than 200 kb.

In what cases a Bonafide Certificate from the institute is needed?

The Bonafide Certificate is needed to be uploaded with the application in a case where the institute is located in a State/UT different from the domicile State/UT of the applicant.

How do I know if a field in the application form is mandatory?

The mandatory fields have a red asterisk () mark at the end.

How do I prove that my Family Income (all sources) is less than Rs. 8 LPA?

A valid income certificate issued by State/ UT Government need to be enclosed as a proof of income.

Scholarship

Pragati Scholarship Scheme For Girl Students (Technical Diploma)(PSGS-DIP)

Cash

CentralCentral Sector Scheme DBT

Ministry of Education All India myScheme record

Eligibility

The applicant must be a Girl Student.1. The applicant must be pursuing either the First year of the Diploma course OR the Second year of the Diploma course through lateral entry.1. The annual income of the family (from all sources) must not be more than ₹ 8,00,000 per annum during the current financial year.1. All eligible girls (who submit an online scholarship form) from the following 13 Union Territories and North Eastern States i.e., Andaman and Nicobar Islands (UT), Jammu and Kashmir (UT), Ladakh (UT), Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu (UT), Lakshadweep (UT), Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, & Tripura will be given a scholarship by AICTE.

Region

All India

Award

Cash

Deadline

Not published by the source

Overview

About PSGS-DIP

A polytechnic student competing for this scholarship is ranked on the percentage she scored in Class 10, and only against other girls from her own state. AICTE writes the diploma arm of Pragati as a separate scheme document with its own quota table, its own merit rule and its own tenure, and the numbers in it are not the ones the degree arm uses.

AICTE funds 5,000 diploma scholarships a year and divides them between 23 states and union territories before any ranking begins, with a floor of 50 and a ceiling of 700 for any single state, proportionate to that state's share of approved diploma seats (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Thirteen north eastern states and union territories sit outside that quota entirely: every eligible girl who files the online form from there is awarded, with no cap and no cut off rank.

Those awards are made over and above the 5,000, so the roll AICTE eventually publishes is longer than the headline. Its list of selected students for the 2025-26 diploma batch closes at serial number 6,389 (List of the Selected Students under AICTE Pragati Scholarship Scheme (Diploma) A.Y. 2025-26), ordered state by state from Andaman and Nicobar through to West Bengal.

Who runs it

Provider

Ministry of Education

Central Government

Department Of Higher Education

At a glance

Key details

Level	Central
Scheme type	Central Sector Scheme
Category	Education & Learning, Social welfare & Empowerment, Women and Child
Beneficiaries	Individual
Benefit type	Cash
Application mode	Online
Direct Benefit Transfer	Yes
Tags	Scholarship, Girl, Diploma, Education, Student, Higher Education, College Fee
Source record	myScheme, 2026-07-08official-site· 2026-07-08

Calendar

Important dates

Applications are invited once a year, and the notification that opens them is signed by AICTE's Member Secretary. The one for 2026-27 is dated 19.06.2026 and sets a single closing date for fresh and renewal applications across Pragati, Saksham and Swanath (AICTE Pragati Scholarship A.Y. 2026-27 notification). The portal shows the diploma arm open from 1 June 2026.

Closes on	The step that has to be finished by then
31 October 2026	Your submission on the portal, fresh or renewal
15 November 2026	Institute level verification, and any application sent back as defective, corrected and resubmitted
30 November 2026	Second level verification by the district, state or ministry nodal officer

A defective application therefore has to be found, fixed, resubmitted and reverified inside the same fortnight the institute is using to clear everything else. AICTE posts the diploma merit list separately from the degree one on its Pragati page, in an unbroken run from 2021-22 to 2025-26 (AICTE Pragati scholarship scheme).

Important dates by cycle
Cycle	Stage	Date
Current	Applications open	2014-01-01

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

The course you are admitted to, and the year you are in, decide this before anything else. AICTE accepts a girl admitted to the first year of a diploma level course, or to the second year of a diploma through lateral entry, in an institution the council has approved for that year (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Family income from all sources must not exceed Rs 8 lakh a year in the current financial year, proved by an income certificate from the state or union territory government, and no more than two girls in one family may hold the scholarship.

A third year diploma student is outside the scheme, whatever her marks, and AICTE says so plainly in its scheme FAQ (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). The same document adds two conditions the guidelines leave implicit: the applicant must not already hold a Central, State or AICTE sponsored scholarship, and the money is released only into a general savings account in her own name, seeded with her Aadhaar, because a frill, minor or joint account is not accepted.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Most of what AICTE throws out is thrown out before a single mark is compared. The scheme FAQ lists the applications rejected at first look: a student admitted to a non technical course, a course or institute that AICTE has not approved for the current academic year, a dual degree enrolment, a postgraduate enrolment, incomplete or wrong information in the form, and any applicant already drawing another scholarship (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs).

The income certificate is its own category of failure. AICTE rejects one that is not for the current year, one issued in a name that is neither the applicant's nor a family member's, one signed by anybody other than a competent authority such as a Tehsildar, a Magistrate, a Revenue Officer or a Block Development Officer, and one that arrives without that officer's signature and stamp.

If a candidate failed/drops out in a subsequent year, she will not be eligible for further scholarship.
If it is found that the student is in receipt of financial assistance in the shape of scholarship/any emoluments, salary, stipend, etc. from any other source during her course of study in the institute, the scholarship shall be discontinued.
If the gap period between the year of passing the qualifying examination and the admission session in a degree course is more than two years.
The scholarship is only applicable to a maximum of two girl children of a family.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

A renewal claim is not open to every batch. AICTE's 2026-2027 notification reopens renewal for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 diploma batches, and reopens the 2023-2024 batch for degree students alone (AICTE Pragati Scholarship A.Y. 2026-27 notification). The shorter diploma run is the reason: a girl who entered the first year of a three year diploma in 2023-2024 finished it in 2025-2026 and has no further year left to claim.

Each additional year is claimed on the National Scholarship Portal, with the passing certificate or marksheet and a letter from the head of the institution attached (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Failing to move up ends it, and the exclusion list treats a girl who drops out the same way.

The FAQ names the attachment more narrowly: a promotion certificate certified by the head of the institution, on the form AICTE prints at the back of that document, and it warns that a blank or incomplete certificate, or one missing the college stamp and the principal's signature, is a rejection (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). No separate renewal window exists; the notification puts fresh and renewal cases on one closing date.

What you get

Award & benefits

Rs 50,000 a year is the figure in both arms of Pragati; what the diploma guidelines change is how many times a girl can collect it. College fee, a computer, books, stationery, equipment and software are what the lump sum is written for, and no receipt against any of them is ever asked for (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Nothing extra is payable in place of hostel or medical charges, so a girl staying in a polytechnic hostel receives the same figure as one living at home.

Entry route	Years of study covered	Amount each year
Admitted to the first year of a diploma	3	Rs 50,000
Admitted to the second year by lateral entry	2	Rs 50,000

Payment reaches the awardee by direct benefit transfer, once a year, after selection.

₹ 50,000/- per annum for every year of study, i.e. maximum 3 years for first-year admitted students and maximum 2 years for second-year admitted students, through lateral entry as lump sum amount towards payment of college fee, purchase of computer, stationeries, books, equipment, software, etc. No other additional grant will be payable instead of hostel charges medical charges, etc.

What to prepare

Documents required

One upload on the list belongs to this arm alone. A girl entering the second year of a diploma by lateral entry uploads her ITI certificate and marksheet, where a lateral entry candidate on the degree side uploads a diploma certificate instead (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). Everyone uploads the Class 10 certificate and marksheet, because that is the document the ranking is built from.

Several of the papers are AICTE's own printed forms rather than certificates a student already holds: the study or bonafide certificate is Appendix I of the scheme FAQ document, the family income certificate Appendix II and the parent's declaration Appendix III, with the renewal promotion certificate printed after them. Two of those four carry the seal of the head of the institution, the income certificate is signed by a Tehsildar, District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner, and the declaration is signed by the parent. That declaration is what catches families out: it asks the parent to state the total number of daughters and to name which daughter is applying, and it commits the parent to repaying the scholarship if that statement turns out to be false.

Copy of the SSC/10th certificate.

Copy of HSC/12th certificate (In case of degree level).

Copy of ITI certificate (In case of lateral entry for diploma level).

Copy of Diploma certificate (In case of lateral entry for Degree level).

Bank Passbook

Category Certificate

Aadhaar Card

Applicant’s Passport-Size Photo

Study Certificate (Appendix-I)

Annual Family Income Certificate (Appendix II)

Parent’s Declaration (Appendix-III)

Bank Mandate Form (Appendix-IV)

Step by step

How to apply

There is no form to open until a One Time Registration exists. The portal opened for the 2026-27 academic year on 1 June 2026, and a student first generates that OTR, a 14 digit number issued against her Aadhaar or Aadhaar enrolment ID and valid for her whole academic career, authenticated through the NSP OTR app (National Scholarship Portal). Face authentication fails when the Aadhaar holder has locked biometrics, so unlock it in mAadhaar before starting. A Common Service Centre will do the whole sequence, reference number, biometric authentication, OTR and the filled form, for a fixed Rs 30.

The portal carries this arm as its own entry, "AICTE - Pragati Scholarship Scheme For Girl Students (Technical Diploma)", classed as a merit based scheme, so open that one rather than the degree listing sitting directly above it (National Scholarship Portal scheme list).

The application then travels through two verification levels, and neither of them is AICTE. Your polytechnic verifies the online application first, and the Department of Technical Education of your state or union territory scrutinises it second (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). An application that reaches the deadline unverified is not considered, so the practical deadline is the one your institute keeps, not the one the portal shows.

To follow it afterwards, use the Application Status and Track Your Payment services on the portal home page (National Scholarship Portal). If you spot an omission or an error after submitting, AICTE's instruction is to go to your institute immediately and have it corrected there, then ask the institute to verify and forward the application inside the portal's window; portal faults themselves go to helpdesk@nsp.gov.in (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs).

1
Apply online
http://www.scholarships.gov.in/

How winners are picked

Selection process

No interview, no essay and no discretion at the institute: the rank is a percentage. AICTE ranks verified applicants on the percentage of marks obtained in the Class 10 or equivalent examination, and prepares a separate merit list for each state and union territory sized to that state's allotted number (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). Marks reported as a CGPA are multiplied by 9.5, letter grades are averaged into a CGPA before that step, and total marks override a CGPA whenever the sheet prints both.

Two students on the same percentage are separated by age, with the elder ranked higher, and if that still ties them, by annual family income, with the lower income ranked higher. A girl who qualifies in the general merit list is counted there even if she belongs to a reserved category, which frees her reserved seat for someone else; beyond that clause the guidelines set no percentage of their own and leave reservation to Government of India norms.

The rule that hands Tamil Nadu 700 awards is the rule that hands Goa 50, and neither figure moves with the number of girls who apply.

State or union territory	Diploma scholarships
Tamil Nadu	700
Uttar Pradesh	700
Maharashtra	624
Karnataka	365
Andhra Pradesh	318
Gujarat	284
Punjab	208
West Bengal	184
Bihar	84
Chhattisgarh	62
Goa	50

The provisional shortlist is published on the AICTE web portal, and a candidate who disputes the merit list has one month from the date of publication to raise a grievance. Nothing about the list is looked at once that month has run out.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

The gap rule is the one that quietly disqualifies late starters: the interval between passing the qualifying examination and the session of admission to the diploma course cannot exceed two years (AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma). The guidelines let AICTE bin an incomplete form without reading it, which puts a blank field on the same footing as a wrong entry.

Take money from a second source while the diploma runs, whether a scholarship, a salary, a stipend or an emolument by any other name, and the award stops and everything already paid goes back, by demand draft in favour of the Member Secretary, AICTE, payable at New Delhi.

A payment that never lands has a deadline of its own. Where the cause is an invalid or wrong account number, AICTE reads the complaint for six months from the day the merit list went up, and not after.

Get help

Contact

AICTE runs a scheme specific helpline for Pragati at pragati@aicte-india.org and 011-29581118, and directs portal problems to helpdesk@nsp.gov.in (Pragati scholarship scheme FAQs). Questions about your own application's status inside your college, such as why it has not been verified, belong with your polytechnic's institute nodal officer rather than with either helpline.

Source

Official links

Guidelines Official Portal FAQs Registration Link myScheme (Government of India)

Questions

PSGS-DIP – FAQ

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

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.

References

Sources

AICTE Pragati scheme guidelines, diploma – aicte-india.org
List of the Selected Students under AICTE Pragati Scholarship Scheme (Diploma) A.Y. 2025-26 – aicte.gov.in
National Scholarship Portal – scholarships.gov.in
myScheme (Government of India) – myscheme.gov.in