PhD fellowships in West Bengal

What does the West Bengal government pay a PhD scholar who has no JRF?

Your qualification decides which state scheme you fall under, and one level up asks little more.

Anyone holding a UGC or CSIR JRF should go with that one. It pays much more than these state schemes, and our fellowships guide has the details. For the per-month figure and what it adds up to over your tenure, try our fellowship stipend calculator.

Full-time scholars only can take any of the three, and the institution has to be inside West Bengal itself. The non-NET fellowship and the University Research Fellowship are paid only in state-funded or state-aided institutions. A scholar at a private university is left out of both, whether that university is in Kolkata or anywhere else in West Bengal.

How does the ₹8,000 non-NET fellowship reach you through SVMCM?

The Higher Education Department started this fellowship through order No. 52-Edn(B)/5B-15/2017 dated 7 June 2017. The funds come from the budget of the Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship (SVMCM). Even so, the order clearly says the SVMCM family-income test is not applied here. The main points from the order and the current SVMCM guidelines are given below.

• The amount. A full-time PhD scholar gets ₹8,000 a month. It is paid for four years at most, and only till the day you submit your thesis. Scholars registered on or after 1 April 2017 are covered.
• Who counts as non-NET. As per the SVMCM guidelines, scholars who do not have a NET junior research fellowship are covered, and NET-lectureship holders also come under it. When a NET-lectureship holder gets appointed as a teacher, the fellowship stops, and the scholar has to inform the university.
• Who selects. Your university or institution does the selection, through what the order calls a transparent screening process. A person involved in any criminal case is kept out. The same goes for anyone who was punished in the institution’s disciplinary proceedings.
• No second award. You are not eligible if you already receive financial assistance from some other source, central or state. The university will take a certificate from you saying so.
• An undertaking. You have to sign that you will submit the thesis, along with the relevant published papers, when the fellowship ends.

The paperwork is the university’s, then yours

From 1 October 2019 the application is done online. For research scholars, it is the institution which registers you on the SVMCM portal. You don’t do that step yourself. After that a 15-digit applicant ID comes to you by SMS. Log in with it and upload your photograph, signature and Class 10 marksheet or admit card. Keep one cancelled cheque ready, and the PhD registration proof also they will ask. The University of Calcutta added one more step in a 2020 notice. Its Development & Planning Office, in the Darbhanga Building on the College Street campus, first takes an information sheet signed by your head of department. Only after that the office registers you.

Once the payment starts, there is more paperwork to keep it coming. Every quarter the university has to send the department a certificate from your guide, which the dean and the Vice-Chancellor countersign. It confirms that you are registered, you are meeting the course requirements and your conduct is good. For renewal on the portal you need a utilisation and claim certificate, plus a progress report attested by the institution. If any one of these desks sits on the file, your money also gets held up. Keep your progress reports up to date, and request your guide to sign the quarterly certificate in time. If you leave that institution or drop the research midway, the department has the power to stop paying you.

Which universities still advertise the state-funded University Research Fellowship?

NET, GATE and SET holders at state universities can get the state’s University Research Fellowship. It is funded under Government Order No. 01(19)-Edn(U)/1U-10/94 dated 4 January 2016. The most clear statement of its terms we found is the University of Calcutta’s notice of 29 December 2021. As per that notice, it pays ₹18,000 a month consolidated as JRF and ₹20,000 as SRF. House rent allowance is not given, and there is no contingency grant either. The tenure is four years, and in deserving cases one more year can be added. For other matters UGC guidelines apply, till the Higher Education Department says otherwise. Applications had to go on a paper form to the Development & Planning Office by 20 January 2022.

How many of these fellowships a university has, and whether it advertises any in a given year, is a matter for each university. Look at these two recent cases.

• University of Burdwan. The brochure for its Ph.D. Programme 2024 carried “State Funded Fellowship 2024” together with admission. Applications were open from 2 to 17 April 2025. Interviews, fellowship included, were held from 28 to 30 April 2025. Selection is purely on merit, for NET, SET, SLET or GATE-qualified candidates who are admitted to the PhD.
• Jadavpur University. In the Faculty of Science notice for 2025–26, dated 10 October 2025, it is written “Institutional fellowship is not available”. The Faculty of Engineering & Technology notice of 24 July 2025 also says no institutional scholarship is offered.

Because of this, read the admission notice of every university where you apply. At Burdwan the fellowship was decided in the admission interview itself. Someone waiting there for a separate fellowship call would have lost the chance.

Is the WBSCST Research Fellowship Award still running?

The West Bengal State Council of Science & Technology (WBSCST) runs the Research Fellowship Award. The council works for the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, from Vigyan Chetana Bhavan in Salt Lake. It is a small award, and each one carries a person’s name. The Jagadish Chandra Bose award is for life science or telecommunication, and the Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray award is for chemical science. The remaining three are Meghnad Saha (river science), Satyendra Nath Bose (theoretical physics) and Upendra Nath Brahmachari (health science).

We read the call which closed on 7 February 2022. These were the terms in it.

• Money. For the first two years as JRF you get ₹25,000 a month and ₹28,000 a year as contingency. After that, as SRF, it becomes ₹30,000 a month with ₹30,000 a year. The award lasts up to five years or till the PhD, whichever is earlier.
• Eligibility. A science postgraduate degree is needed, with at least 60% in all qualifying examinations, and GATE in the relevant discipline. NET or SET is desirable. Candidates who qualified JBNSTS get preference. On the date of the advertisement you must be 28 or below. You should be an Indian citizen living in West Bengal, and you should not have been employed earlier on a sponsored project.
• Where. The PhD has to be at a state or central government-aided university or postgraduate college in West Bengal.
• Selection. First a screening, and then an interview in front of an expert committee.
• Obligations. Every year you give a 30-minute presentation on your progress. Within two years you need at least one first-author paper in a peer-reviewed journal, and for writing it our research paper guide can help. During the tenure you cannot take any paid or honorary job.

The scheme still appears on the department’s Vigyan Sathi portal. But as of September 2026 the archive has no call after the 2022 one. If you are a science postgraduate under 28 and you have GATE, our advice is to register on Vigyan Sathi and look at it every winter. Side by side, apply for some other fellowship also so you are not stuck waiting.

Does a teaching job end a West Bengal state fellowship?

Yes. The non-NET fellowship is meant for full-time scholars. For NET-lectureship holders the rule is there in writing, and the payment stops from the day you are appointed as a teacher. Under the Research Fellowship Award no employment is allowed during the tenure. On your guide’s recommendation WBSCST may allow up to one year of paid research work elsewhere, without the stipend. If you are already working and want part-time registration, our PhD admission guide explains what the UGC rules ask for.

Each scheme expects to be the only support you get. If any other source already gives you financial assistance, the 2017 order bars you. The SVMCM guidelines also do not allow any other central or state scholarship or stipend for the same stage of study. One-time grants and fee concessions are not counted for this, though.

Sometimes a better offer comes, like a national JRF or a fellowship from an institute. In that case accept it and inform the office which registered you, so the state payment stops properly. The payment can also stop on an adverse report from the university, because the 2017 order allows the department to act on such a report.

What should you ask your university’s research office before counting on state money?

Most of what decides whether you get paid is handled at your university. Ask these questions there before you plan your money.

• Has the university forwarded this year’s non-NET list? As per the 2017 order, the Vice-Chancellor signs the list of selected scholars and forwards it to the Higher Education Department. No payment comes till your name is there in that list.
• Is a state-funded fellowship advertised with this year’s admission? Burdwan advertised one in April 2025. For Jadavpur, the 2025–26 notices said there is no institutional fellowship.
• Who signs the quarterly certificate, and when? First your guide signs it, after that the dean, and last the Vice-Chancellor. Ask which office collects the certificate from you.
• Is your bank account one the SVMCM portal will accept? The portal wants a cancelled cheque, and the money is paid by direct transfer only.
• What does your university count as “non-NET”? You should ask this if your NET qualification is for PhD admission only (the questions further down discuss about it).

Note down the name of the person who replies to you. When a payment gets late, mostly the problem is some signature that is missing, and this person will know whose.