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The National Scholarship Portal (NSP) is one website for scholarship schemes run by central ministries, state governments, UGC, AICTE and other agencies, according to the NSP Institute FAQ of June 2026. The portal opened for academic year 2026-27 on 1 June 2026, says the NSP home page.
Who can apply on the National Scholarship Portal?
Each scheme sets its own limits on class, course, marks and family income. For example, the disability scholarships FAQ on NSP requires at least 40% disability and a parental income of no more than Rs 2.50 lakh a year for its pre-matric and post-matric schemes. Read the guidelines of every scheme you plan to apply for.
From AY 2026-27, you may apply for one merit-based scheme and one or more welfare-based schemes, according to the NSP home page. Students with disabilities must first consent on the UDID portal to share their UDID details.
What do you need before you start?
Get these ready a week before you apply:
Your Aadhaar number, or Aadhaar Enrolment ID.
Aadhaar biometrics set to "Unlocked". The NSP home page advises checking this in the mAadhaar app or on the myAadhaar portal before face authentication.
An Android phone for the NSP OTR app, or a Common Service Centre (CSC), which the portal says charges Rs 30 per candidate for the whole process.
An active, Aadhaar-verified bank account. Check seeding on the myAadhaar portal; our guide to Aadhaar bank seeding for scholarships explains fixes.
An income certificate signed by the revenue authority; the disability scholarships FAQ says Form 16 is not acceptable.
Last year's mark sheet, this year's fee receipt, a photograph, and any caste or disability certificate your scheme needs.
Clear scans: that FAQ asks for PDF or JPEG files of no more than 200 KB each, and unreadable uploads risk rejection.
For more, see our scholarship documents checklist.
How do you apply on the National Scholarship Portal, step by step?
Get your OTR. One Time Registration is a unique 14-digit number issued against your Aadhaar or Aadhaar Enrolment ID, and it stays valid for your entire academic career, according to the NSP home page. It has been required since AY 2024-25. Register on the OTR page or the NSP OTR app, then complete face authentication. For error 904, the portal says to update the UIDAI AadhaarFaceRD app.
Log in to the application form with your OTR.
Fill in personal, academic, fee and bank details; red-asterisk fields are mandatory.
Choose your schemes and upload the documents each one asks for. You can save and return over several sittings, says the disability scholarships FAQ.
Check every field against your documents, then final-submit. After that, you cannot edit it.
Note your application ID.
Apply early: unless the date is extended, you cannot apply after midnight on the closing date, the same FAQ says.
What happens after you submit your NSP application?
First, your school or college's Institute Nodal Officer (INO) checks your entries against your documents. Next, a second-level (L2) officer verifies it. Then PFMS validates your bank details; the disability scholarships FAQ says an application with invalid bank details is rejected at this stage. Each level has its own deadline. For 2026-27 PM-USP renewals, the NSP home page lists 31 October 2026 for students, 15 November for institute verification and 30 November for L2 verification.
At each level, an officer can verify your application, mark it defective or reject it, according to the NSP Institute FAQ. You are told by SMS or portal notification. Track payment through the "Track Your Payment" link on the NSP home page, which opens PFMS.
Why do NSP applications get rejected?
Common reasons, from the official FAQs:
Not eligible for the scheme: the Institute FAQ reserves Reject for ineligible or invalid applications.
Duplicate or suspicious applications, which can be permanently marked Fake.
Applying as fresh when you are a renewal candidate, which the disability scholarships FAQ says leads to rejection.
Unreadable scans.
A bank account that is not Aadhaar-verified or active, has an old IFSC after a bank merger, or has a transaction limit.
Not resubmitting a defective application in time.
What to say to your Institute Nodal Officer
If your application is stuck at the institute, send a short, polite message:
"Namaste Sir/Ma'am, I submitted my NSP application for [scheme] on [date]. My application ID is [number]. The institute verification deadline is [date]. Could you check whether it is pending with you and tell me if any document is missing?"
Spotted a mistake after final submission? Tell your INO at once; the disability scholarships FAQ says officers can edit certain fields or mark it defective for you to correct.
The NSP helpdesk is on 0120-6619540, 8 am to 8 pm except government holidays; for payments, PFMS is on 1800 118 111. Never share an OTP with anyone promising faster approval; our list of scholarship scam warning signs shows what to watch for.
Use the verification wait to get ahead on your studies. Fermi's AI tutor works out what you already know and builds a plan for the session, so you sit down to a clear next step.
