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INSPIRE-SHE (Scholarship for Higher Education) is a Department of Science and Technology (DST) scheme that pays students of basic sciences through BSc and MSc. The news: in July 2026 DST said in a post on X that the scheme "is not scrapped. It is being redesigned currently. Hence, there has been a delay in announcing the call," as reported by Careers360. No date for the next call has been announced.
Until then, the best guide is DST's SHE FAQ and post-offer guidelines on the INSPIRE portal. The redesign may change them, so read the next call notice before applying.
Who qualifies for INSPIRE-SHE?
According to the DST SHE FAQ, you must be studying natural and basic sciences at BSc, BS, BSc with Research (4 years) or integrated MSc/MS level, and fit one of these routes:
aggregate marks in the top 1% of your Class 12 board (any state or central board in India)
a JEE or NEET rank within the top 10,000 (the FAQ still uses NEET's old name, AIPMT)
KVPY fellows, NTSE scholars, JBNSTS scholars or International Olympiad medallists
The same FAQ sets an age range of 17 to 22 years, and says you must apply in the same year you pass Class 12 and enrol. The FAQ says 12,000 scholarships are announced each year from the 2017 batch onwards, shared between boards by the "Board Inclusive Model": each board's quota is its share of valid applications multiplied by the scholarships available (FAQ, Q1 and Q28).
Which courses count, and what is it worth?
The FAQ lists 18 eligible undergraduate subjects: physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, statistics, geology, astrophysics, astronomy, electronics, botany, zoology, biochemistry, anthropology, microbiology, geophysics, geochemistry, atmospheric sciences and oceanic sciences.
Engineering, medicine, agriculture, psychology, economics, biotechnology, computer science, bioinformatics and distance-mode courses are not supported at the bachelor's level. At MSc level the list grows to 30 subjects, adding fields such as data science, genetics, biotechnology and environmental science. Torn between two eligible subjects? Read choosing BSc statistics or BSc maths.
The scholarship is valued at ₹80,000 a year: ₹5,000 a month (₹60,000) plus a ₹20,000 mentorship grant for a summer research project, for up to five years (FAQ, Q4 and Q5). Under the post-offer guidelines, years 1 and 2 are paid together during your second year, so do not count on scholarship money in your first year.
What documents do you need for INSPIRE-SHE?
The FAQ asks for:
Class 12 mark sheet
Class 10 mark sheet or certificate, as proof of date of birth
Endorsement certificate in DST's format, signed by your college principal, institute director or university registrar
Board eligibility or advisory note, if your board issues one (optional)
Rank or award certificate, if you apply through JEE, NEET, KVPY, NTSE, JBNSTS or an olympiad
Incomplete applications are rejected outright, so check every upload. The usual traps are covered in why scholarship applications get rejected.
See also how to spot fake scholarship offers.
How do you apply and renew INSPIRE-SHE, step by step?
This checklist follows the FAQ, post-offer guidelines and upload instructions:
Before the call opens, gather every document in the list above.
When the call opens, apply on the portal and upload everything in one go.
Wait: selection takes at least four months after the last date, on average. Your provisional offer letter appears on your portal dashboard; log in to download it.
Within 6 months of the offer, open a savings account in your own name at State Bank of India (not joint, zero-balance or Jan Dhan). Upload the signed front page of the passbook and your Aadhaar (or enrolment slip), or the offer is cancelled. Scholar uploads go in as separate PDFs of up to 1 MB each.
Every year, upload your performance report, signed by the head of your institution, together with your mark sheet. Provisional mark sheets are not accepted. Aim for within two months of results; nothing is accepted after 12 months.
Pass every subject at the first attempt with at least 60% or a CGPA of 7.0. DST will not convert between the two.
Each summer, do one 6 to 8 week research project on your own (no group projects), outside your own institution, and upload the report and completion certificate in the same academic year.
After BSc, go straight into an eligible MSc. A gap year ends the scholarship. Upload your MSc enrolment certificate.
That rule comes from clause 6(d) of the post-offer guidelines. If a first-year physics or maths paper is what stands between you and 7.0, the Fermi Problem Library has worked problems with a step-by-step solver that explains the reasoning rather than printing an answer.
Two more rules from the FAQ: you cannot hold another scholarship at the same time, and if a payment is still missing five months after your documents are approved, you can write to inspire.prog-dst@nic.in. Check the INSPIRE portal monthly for the next call.
