Prime Minister's Research Fellowship

About PMRF

The Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) scheme is aimed at attracting the talent pool of the country to doctoral (Ph.D.) programs of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for carrying out research in cutting edge science and technology domains, with focus on national priorities.

Under the PMRF scheme for PMRF December 2018, students who have completed, or are pursuing, the final year of four year undergraduate or five year integrated M.Tech or five year integrated M.Sc. or five year undergraduate-postgraduate dual degree programs in Science and Technology streams from IIEST/IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs and centrally funded IIITs are eligible for admission to full time Ph.D. programme in the IITs & IISc provided they fulfil prescribed eligibility criteria and finally get selected after shortlisting/written test/interview. For each hosting IIT and IISc the Ph.D admissions under the PMRF scheme will be supernumerary.

Applicants who fulfill the eligibility criteria, and are finally selected through a selection process, will be offered admission to Ph.D. program in one of IITs/IISc with a fellowship of Rs.70,000/- per month for the first two years, Rs.75,000/- per month for the 3rd year, and Rs.80,000/- per month in the 4th and 5th years. Apart from this, a research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh per year will be provided to each of the Fellows for a period of 5 years to cover their academic contingency expenses and for foreign/national travel expenses.

There will be a rigorous review of the performance of Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship holders and continuation of the next year fellowship shall be contingent upon successful review.

Eligibility

The applicants for the PMRF should:

• have completed or be pursuing the final year of four (or five) year undergraduate or five year integrated M.Tech or five year integrated M.Sc. or five year undergraduate-postgraduate dual degree programs in Science and Technology streams from IIEST/IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs and centrally funded IIITs;
• have secured at least CGPA/CPI of 8.0 (in scale of 10.0). For applicants in five year integrated or dual degree programs if separate CGPAs/CPIs are awarded for UG and PG parts of the program then the CGPA/CPI of UG part (first four year) will be considered.
• have completed the required academic qualification in the last five years.

Merely satisfying the eligibility requirement does not guarantee admission. Final selection for admission of applicants will be done following a rigorous selection process.Selection Process

The selection process for the PMRF will be a rigorous two stage process with screening by the Reviewers and final selection by the Selection Committee for each broad discipline to ensure selection of the best talent.

An applicant may apply for more than one combination of broad discipline and institute. An applicant will be required to provide preferences in case the applicant wishes to apply for more than one combination of discipline and institute.

The following would be the fellowship for the PMRFs:

Year               Amount (Rs)

Year 1            70,000

Year 2            70,000

Year 3           75,000

Year 4           80,000

Year 5           80,000

Apart from this, each Fellow would be eligible for a research grant of Rs. 2 lakhs per year (total Rs. 10 lakh)

The tenure of fellowship will be four years for students from integrated courses and five years for B. Tech. students.

Industry participation in the PMRF programme would be explored through CSR funding so as to enable industry to sponsor maximum number of fellows.

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