Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) Scheme - For Host Institutions(PMRC-HI)

Overview

About PMRC-HI

The Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) Scheme has two doors, and this is the one a person cannot walk through. A researcher applies for a fellowship; an institution applies to be the place where that fellowship is spent. By the time the Minister of State for Education answered a Rajya Sabha question on the scheme in August 2026, more than 400 host institution applications had reached the Ministry. The call document sets the terms: a ranking test to get in, a fixed annual overhead once a fellow arrives, and an in-kind bill the institute picks up itself.

The host-institution track makes the institute the paymaster. The Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, transfers the money to the host, and the host disburses it for the PMRC Fellow and the fellow's research activities according to the approved pattern of the scheme (PMRC Call for Applications). A fellowship that no institution agrees to house cannot start.

That structure explains why the Ministry treats the host list as something to be curated rather than opened. An Empowered Committee chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India identifies the participating institutions, and a Lead Institution designated for each thematic area assesses whether a prospective host is actually ready to take a fellow in that field (PMRC Call for Applications).

The scale is stated in the Rajya Sabha reply. Seven institutions have been identified as Lead Institutions, more than 3,600 fellowship applications and more than 400 host institution applications had been received, and the government has provided Rs 200 crore for the scheme in 2026-27 (Parliament Question: PMRC Scheme 2026, PIB).

That Lead Institution list is short and named. The Department identified IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and IISc Bengaluru (Department of Higher Education launches PMRC applications, PIB), which means a prospective host's readiness is judged by a peer institution working in its thematic area rather than by the Ministry directly.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The call ran for one window in 2026, and it has closed.

The myScheme record for the host-institution track carries no open or close date of its own (myScheme: PMRC Scheme for Host Institutions), so the call document is the only place the window is stated. The portal now carries the closure notice itself, so third-party pages still inviting institutions to apply are describing a window that has passed (PMRC portal). No date for a further round has been announced.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

An institute qualifies by appearing on a published ranking list, not by argument. For government Higher Education Institutions there are three doors: Top 100 in the NIRF Overall category, Top 100 in the NIRF Engineering category, or Top 50 in the NIRF Research category (PMRC Call for Applications).

The fourth door is agency affiliation rather than rank. Identified national laboratories and research institutions under the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology, the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, among others, are eligible on the same footing (Department of Higher Education launches PMRC applications, PIB).

A registrar does not have to work the bands out from the ranking tables. The portal carries a List of Eligible Institutions that sets the qualifying NIRF bands beside separate rosters for the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratories, so the institute's name is either in it or it is not (PMRC portal).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The call publishes no bar list, but the portal adds one condition the call leaves implicit: any host institution applying should be a government funded institution, centrally or state funded (PMRC portal). That single line settles the private and self-financed sector regardless of how a college ranks, and it sits on top of the ranking bands rather than beside them.

An eligible institute can still fall out on its own submission. A proposal has to sit inside a declared thematic area with a Lead Institution attached to it (PMRC Call for Applications), so research described in general terms has nowhere to be filed.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

There is no published renewal test for the institution itself. What the call fixes is the fellow's clock: support runs for a pre-determined period with a maximum tenure of 5 years based on the candidate's performance, and the Empowered Committee decides the engagement tenure against the proposal that the fellow and the host submitted (PMRC Call for Applications). Fellows submit periodic progress reports and take part in evaluations the Committee stipulates, so continuation is reviewed through the project rather than through an institutional renewal date.

What you get

Award & benefits

Of the five budget lines the call prices, one is written for the institution. Operational cost and institute overheads is an annual payment, and it scales with the category of fellow the host takes in. The other four are the fellow's, routed through the institution's accounts.

Against that, the host carries an in-kind obligation. It is expected to extend access to laboratories, libraries, research facilities, instrumentation and computational resources, and open-access publication charges and the cost of patenting on jointly produced outputs may be enabled by the host institution (PMRC Call for Applications).

• Under the scheme, the following benefits will be offered to Host Institutions: Operational and institutional overhead support
• Access to global expertise in frontier domains
• Strengthening of research labs, centers, and thematic clusters
• Enhanced industry linkages and technology translation potential

What to prepare

Documents required

The submission is a research proposal, and its hardest item sits at the bottom of the list. A host has to include recommendations of up to 3 potential PMRC Fellows it is interested in hosting (PMRC Call for Applications). An institute with no standing contact among Indian-origin researchers abroad has nothing to write there, which quietly favours departments that already run international collaborations.

The rest of the pack asks for evidence rather than assertion. The proposal has to explain why the chosen theme matters for India's growth and set out institutional RDI strength including co-funding, industry partnerships, patent history, student support and research outputs, alongside the named institutional liaison and Co-Principal Investigators (PMRC Call for Applications).

Step by step

How to apply

Everything runs on the PMRC portal, and the host route is separate from the fellow's. An institution registers on the host institution signup, fills in the institutional and project information, uploads the supporting documents and submits inside the announced window (Host institution signup, PMRC portal). Proposals may be filed across different thematic areas rather than being limited to one.

Tracking a submission is a login, not a public status lookup. The portal's own instruction is to use a single account to manage and track applications, and the institution dashboard sits behind that login (PMRC portal). An institution that filed across several thematic areas therefore follows all of them from the same account rather than from an application number. Queries about the call itself go to contact.pmrc@gov.in, the address the Ministry publishes for the purpose (PMRC Call for Applications).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Two bodies stand between a submitted proposal and a chair. The Lead Institution designated for the thematic area evaluates the readiness and suitability of prospective hosts within that area, and the Empowered Committee chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor identifies the institutions that take part (PMRC Call for Applications).

The published bands are the entry test rather than the verdict. The call states plainly that the eligibility criteria for the selection of researchers, professionals, projects and institutes will be finalised by the Empowered Committee, which leaves the comparative judgment with the Committee (PMRC Call for Applications).

Applicants should read the ratio before assuming a place. More than 400 host institution applications had been received by the Rajya Sabha reply in August 2026 (Parliament Question: PMRC Scheme 2026, PIB), against a scheme that envisions engaging at least 120 researchers over 2026-27 to 2030-31 (PMRC Call for Applications). That count is of applications rather than of institutions, since the call lets one institute file across several themes.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Money is routed, not handed over. The host receives funding from the Department of Higher Education and disburses it for the fellow and the approved research activities as per the pattern endorsed by the Empowered Committee, and it may also help a fellow draw on other instruments such as the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (PMRC Call for Applications).

What the host has to make possible goes beyond bench space. A PMRC Fellow is expected to teach and co-design courses, mentor doctoral, postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers, facilitate international collaborations and co-funded projects, engage industry partners, and carry work through the patenting chain (PMRC Call for Applications). Those are commitments on the institution's timetable as much as the fellow's.

Get help

Contact

Queries on the Call for Applications go to contact.pmrc@gov.in (PMRC Call for Applications). The scheme is administered by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, and the detailed guidelines, eligibility criteria and application procedures sit on the PMRC portal (Department of Higher Education launches PMRC applications, PIB). The portal publishes the official communication address as the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Kartavya Bhawan - 2, New Delhi (PMRC portal).

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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