PhD fellowships in Maharashtra

Which Maharashtra institute funds your PhD: BARTI, SARTHI, MAHAJYOTI or TRTI?

Your community decides the institute, and each one runs its own fellowship. All four ask for a Maharashtra resident with a confirmed (permanent) PhD registration who is studying full-time.

Two more institutes appear in the paperwork. The TRTI portal also invites ARTI candidates, and the 2024 resolution names AMRUT, which serves open-category scholars from economically weaker families. We did not find a PhD fellowship advertisement from AMRUT when we checked in September 2026.

The age column is not a typing error. BARTI’s 2026 guidelines cap age at 35 on 1 June of the fellowship year, citing UGC-NET practice, while TRTI’s STRF-2025 notice, SARTHI’s scheme document and MAHAJYOTI’s scheme page all say 45. The documents do not agree, so read your own institute’s advertisement.

What did the 2024 and 2026 government resolutions change?

A Social Justice Department resolution of 30 October 2023 set up a committee under the Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) to bring the schemes of BARTI, SARTHI, MAHAJYOTI and TRTI into line. BARTI’s August 2026 advertisement shows how long the catching up took: it covered three registration years, 2023, 2024 and 2025, in one call.

The resolution of 25 July 2024, issued after a cabinet decision of 11 July 2024, settled the old applications and set new limits:

• Applicants under advertisements issued before the 2023 resolution (763 at BARTI, 1,329 at SARTHI and 1,453 at MAHAJYOTI, 3,545 in all) were to receive the fellowship at a flat 50% rate, after document checks and an affidavit.
• The cap rose from 200 to 300 fellowships each for BARTI, SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI, and from 100 to 200 for TRTI.
• The schemes were to follow UGC guidelines, with the benefit counted from the date of award.

A further resolution dated 1 July 2026, which BARTI quotes in its advertisement (we could not find the resolution itself online), fixed 100 fellowships per institute per year and split them by stream: 55% science and technology, 25% humanities and social sciences, and 10% each for interdisciplinary studies and for commerce and management. That is a third of the 300 a year the 2024 resolution allowed BARTI, SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI.

How are the 2023 to 2025 backlog fellowships being selected?

BARTI’s August 2026 advertisement is the fullest statement of the new rules, and it invited applications on the common portal at fellowship.trti-maha.in. The TRTI portal says candidates of TRTI, BARTI, ARTI, SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI all apply through it. To be considered for BANRF you need:

• a qualifying test passed in your PhD registration year or the year before (for a 2023 registration, a 2022 or 2023 result): NET, CSIR-NET, GATE, GPAT, ICAR or AcSIR tests, SET or MCAER, or a university PET;
• at least a B+ grade in your postgraduate degree;
• family income within ₹8 lakh a year;
• a permanent PhD registration at a Maharashtra public or deemed university, a recognised research centre in an affiliated college, a central university or a national institute set up by Act of Parliament.

The advertisement sets a preference order rather than describing a test: national-test holders first, SET and MCAER next, PET holders last, within the stream shares and the reservations for women (30%), disabled candidates (5%) and orphans (1%). It leaves the final priority and selection process to a committee chaired by the TRTI Commissioner. A scholar registered in 2023 must apply for the 2023 year, not a later one. Applications ran from 1 to 31 August 2026, were extended to 15 September, and BARTI’s declaration of 15 September 2026 extended them again to 30 September.

MAHAJYOTI ran its own window for the 2024 and 2025 fellowship years, for scholars with permanent registration between 1 September 2023 and 31 December 2025, with a paper copy due at its Nagpur office; its circular of 31 August 2026 extended both to 15 September 2026. TRTI’s STRF-2025 notice asked for ST scholars whose 2025 registration was confirmed, a B+ in the PG degree, a NET, SET, GATE, GPAT or equivalent research eligibility test, and a paper copy at TRTI within eight days of applying online. It gives preference to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

If you hold only a PET, expect to come last. With 100 seats a year spread across four streams, the preference order means PET holders are reached only after the national-test and SET holders in their stream.

• Identity and residence: Aadhaar, PAN and a Maharashtra domicile certificate.
• Community: caste certificate, and the caste validity certificate (compulsory for TRTI; BARTI asks for it if you have it). A current non-creamy layer certificate for SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI.
• Income: an income certificate; BARTI and TRTI cap family income at ₹8 lakh a year.
• Marks: 10th, 12th, graduation and postgraduation mark sheets, plus your NET, SET, GATE, PET or M.Phil documents.
• PhD papers: admission receipt, guide allotment and acceptance letters, RAC or RRC approval, the confirmation (permanent registration) letter and a joining report on the research centre’s letterhead.
• Declarations: the self-declaration that you hold no job and no other fellowship, and later the undertaking on stamp paper.

How much does each fellowship pay, and is HRA included?

The four schemes do not pay the same, and the documents disagree on extras.

BANRF is the one to read carefully. Its 2026 advertisement says in bold that no benefit other than the fellowship, such as house rent or contingency, will be paid. SARTHI’s and MAHAJYOTI’s pages still list HRA and contingency, but neither page is dated. Budget on the monthly stipend alone until your award letter says otherwise. For TRTI, the July 2025 STRF call said the benefits of the 2023 resolution and the 2024 letter apply; the July 2026 notice does not restate an amount.

Timing matters as much as the rate. BANRF counts its five years from your PhD registration date, not from the award, so ask BARTI how the months between registration and award will be treated. SARTHI pays from the later of its award letter or your joining date, and only for the remaining period of the PhD.

What will you have to report once the fellowship starts?

BARTI’s 2026 guidelines are the most detailed, so they are the ones to plan around. The fellowship starts as JRF for two years. To move to SRF you need a three-member committee report and an upgradation certificate, filed within three months of completing two years from registration, at least one published paper (Web of Science or Scopus, preferably Q1 or Q2, or AHCI, the ABCD index or another peer-reviewed journal), and a positive six-monthly review by your Research Advisory Committee.

Every six months you file a progress report signed by your guide and principal, with a biometric attendance sheet from your research centre. Payments are tied to milestones such as coursework, synopsis approval and publication. The regular stipend stops at your pre-synopsis presentation, and the last six months are paid after the university’s PhD notification. Our guides to RAC progress reports and publication requirements will help, and the pre-synopsis rules for two large universities are in our SPPU and Mumbai University thesis guides.

You may not hold any job, full-time, part-time or clock-hour, and you sign an undertaking on ₹500 stamp paper to say so. JRFs may be asked to help the department with teaching, labs or fieldwork for up to ten hours a week. SARTHI goes further on employment: if you are working anywhere, you must resign and send SARTHI a relieving letter before the fellowship begins. TRTI requires 75% attendance and an undertaking within seven days of selection.