PM YASASVI Scholarship 2026: eligibility, apply, amount

PM-YASASVI 2026 at a glance

PM-YASASVI (Pradhan Mantri Young Achievers Scholarship Award Scheme) is the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) scholarship umbrella that funds OBC, EBC, and DNT students from Class 9 through post-graduation, and from FY 2023-24 onwards it does not use any entrance exam for selection. The old YASASVI Entrance Test (YET) that competitor pages still list was permanently scrapped from the 2023 cycle, and selection now runs purely on Class 8 or Class 10 board marks with a 60 percent minimum cutoff and state-wise merit lists prepared separately for boys and girls in each state.

Disbursal numbers show why this scheme sits at the top of the MSJE scholarship line. Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on 12 February 2026, confirmed that PM-YASASVI released Rs 2,042.08 crore under its Top Class Education component in FY 2025-26, a 105.80 percent year-on-year jump for the Top Class College sub-component alone (PIB PRID 2096316, February 2026). The Pre-Matric leg paid Rs 158 crore to 16.20 lakh students in FY 2024-25, and the Post-Matric leg paid Rs 892 crore to 15.73 lakh students in the same year (MSJE Statement of Budget Estimates 2026-27, indiabudget.gov.in).

The application window for the 2026-27 cycle opened on 1 June 2026 on the National Scholarship Portal (scholarships.gov.in), and MSJE extended the umbrella scheme from the original 2021-22 to 2025-26 approval into the 2026-27 financial year through the current budget line. Aadhaar face-authentication and Public Financial Management System (PFMS) direct benefit transfer are now standard on both new and renewal applications.

Three things to keep straight before you scroll further. First, PM-YASASVI covers OBC, EBC, and DNT students only, not SC (SC has a separate MSJE scholarship). Second, the umbrella has four sub-schemes with different eligibility classes and amounts, and you apply to exactly one. Third, the "last date" varies by sub-scheme and student status, so read the window table below rather than trusting a single date screenshot from another site.

The 4 sub-schemes: Pre-Matric, Post-Matric, Top Class School, Top Class College

PM-YASASVI runs as four distinct components under one umbrella, each with its own eligibility class range, amount, and beneficiary count. Most competing pages collapse them into one paragraph, which is why applicants often apply to the wrong sub-scheme.

Pre-Matric is the widest funnel and the lowest amount. Post-Matric has four rate slabs (Group A to D) based on the course type, with hostellers getting maintenance top-ups. Top Class School and Top Class College are the two premium legs where the money jumps sharply, and both use a separate application track on the NSP because the institute list is fixed by MSJE annually.

Which one applies to you depends on your current class or admission status. If you are in Class 9 or 10, apply under Pre-Matric or, if you have admission to one of the notified top 100 schools, under Top Class School. If you are in Class 11 or 12 or in a college or university programme, apply under Post-Matric or, for the notified top 215 higher-education institutes, under Top Class College. You cannot claim two sub-schemes for the same academic year.

Who is eligible for PM-YASASVI in 2026

Eligibility is defined by three filters together, not one. Get all three right and your application clears the first-cut screen.

The category filter allows OBC, Economically Backward Classes (EBC), and Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DNT) students only. SC students apply under the parallel Post-Matric Scholarship for SC on the same NSP portal, and ST students apply under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs scheme. Confusing the categories is the single most common ineligibility hit, especially for DNT applicants whose caste certificate does not carry the correct DNT tag.

The income filter caps annual family income at Rs 2.50 lakh, unchanged in the 2026-27 cycle. Income is calculated on the parents' combined income across all sources including agriculture, salary, business, and rentals, and it must be certified by the state revenue authority (Tehsildar or equivalent) on a current-year income certificate. Income certificates older than 6 months are routinely rejected during verification.

The academic filter needs 60 percent aggregate marks in the last qualifying board exam (Class 8 for Pre-Matric or Top Class School Class 9 entry, Class 10 for Post-Matric or Top Class School Class 11 entry, and qualifying UG or PG marks for Top Class College). Below 60 percent, the application does not shortlist for merit, even if income and category filters clear.

Nationality is Indian citizen only. There is no separate age cap on top of the class filter, so a repeat student of the same class in the same academic year can apply if the 60 percent aggregate was met in the last board exam.

2026-27 application window and how to apply on NSP

The National Scholarship Portal (scholarships.gov.in) is the single application gateway for PM-YASASVI 2026-27. MSJE opened the window on 1 June 2026, and the close dates split by student status, which is where most confusion sits.

Late applicants using the 28 February 2027 window should not treat it as a soft option, because merit list allocation happens on the 31 August 2026 fresh-cohort pool first, and the late cohort competes for residual seats in each state category.

Application steps run through six stages on the portal. Stage 1 is one-time registration on scholarships.gov.in with mobile OTP and email verification, followed by Aadhaar seeding. Stage 2 is Aadhaar face-authentication using the AadhaarFaceRD app on Android, which the portal now requires for all fresh applications. Stage 3 is the PM-YASASVI form itself, where you pick the sub-scheme, class, and institute, and upload the last board marksheet, caste certificate, income certificate, and bank passbook. Stage 4 is institute verification, where the school or college confirms your admission and marks through its NSP institute login. Stage 5 is district-level verification by the state welfare officer. Stage 6 is central approval and PFMS disbursement to your Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Track the application weekly through your NSP dashboard. If any stage stalls beyond 30 days, use the on-portal grievance ticket rather than emailing the state welfare office, because the state officer only sees applications routed through the NSP institute verification queue.

Documents you need for PM-YASASVI 2026-27

Get the document bundle ready before you start the form, because NSP times out uploaded documents after 15 minutes of session inactivity and re-uploads have to match the exact file name pattern shown in the portal error message.

• Aadhaar of the student (seeded with a mobile number and bank account).
• Class 8 marksheet (Pre-Matric and Top Class School Class 9 entry) or Class 10 marksheet (Post-Matric and Top Class School Class 11 entry) or last qualifying certificate for Top Class College applicants.
• OBC or EBC or DNT caste certificate issued by the state revenue authority on the correct central-list format (OBC-Non-Creamy Layer for OBC applicants). State-format caste certificates are rejected at central verification, so ask for the central-list format when applying at the Tehsildar office.
• Current-year income certificate showing family income of Rs 2.50 lakh or less, dated within 6 months of the application date.
• Bank passbook first page or a cancelled cheque with legible account holder name matching the student Aadhaar name.
• Admission proof or bonafide certificate from the current institute, on institute letterhead, dated within the current academic year.
• Domicile certificate of the state where you are claiming state-quota merit (needed for the state-wise merit list allocation).
• Fee receipt for the current academic year (Post-Matric and Top Class tracks).
• Disability certificate if you are claiming the additional divyang top-up under the Post-Matric slab.

Scan each document as a single-page PDF under 200 KB where possible. The NSP portal rejects files above the size cap without a clear error, and the field silently reverts to "not uploaded", which is a common reason applications sit at Stage 3 without progressing.

Amount table by sub-scheme and component

The amount you receive depends on the sub-scheme, class group, and hosteller or day-scholar status. The rates below reflect the 2026-27 MSJE guideline set.

For Post-Matric Group A courses like MBBS at a private medical college, the course fee is reimbursed at the state fee-fixation committee rate up to Rs 1.20 lakh per year, not the actual tuition charged by the college, so read your state fee notification before assuming full coverage. For Top Class College tuition above Rs 3.72 lakh, the balance is not covered and the student pays the residual to the institute directly.

Ranked rejection reasons and how to fix each

Rejection data below is aggregated from NSP state welfare officer field feedback and the MSJE grievance dashboard for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 cycles. Reasons are ranked by frequency of occurrence.

Reason 1 is caste certificate on state format instead of central OBC-Non-Creamy Layer or DNT format. Fix: revisit the Tehsildar office and request the central-list format explicitly, then re-upload the corrected certificate through the NSP defect-correction window.

Reason 2 is income certificate older than 6 months at the point of central verification. Fix: obtain a fresh income certificate dated within the current academic year and upload during the defect-correction window that closes 31 March 2027.

Reason 3 is Aadhaar seeding failure with the bank account, causing PFMS disbursement to fail even after approval. Fix: visit the bank branch, submit the Aadhaar seeding form, and confirm seeding status on npci.org.in through the Aadhaar Mapper query.

Reason 4 is institute verification incomplete because the institute NSP login was not activated or the institute did not approve the admission and marks entry. Fix: ask your college NSP nodal officer to complete verification within 15 days of your Stage 3 submission, and escalate through the district social welfare officer if the institute is unresponsive.

Reason 5 is board marks below the 60 percent aggregate cutoff. Fix: not correctable for the current cycle. Reapply in the next academic year with improved marks or apply under the Post-Matric OBC Scholarship (separate MSJE scheme) which uses different cutoffs by state.

Reason 6 is duplicate application under two sub-schemes for the same academic year. Fix: withdraw one application through the NSP dashboard and let the correct one proceed. The system detects duplicates at central verification and rejects both if not withdrawn.

Reason 7 is bank account holder name mismatch with the student Aadhaar name (common when parents' account is used). Fix: open a student-name bank account with matching Aadhaar name and re-seed. Family accounts do not clear PFMS.

Reason 8 is domicile certificate missing or from a state other than the one claimed for state-quota merit. Fix: apply for a domicile certificate from the state of residence and re-upload during the defect-correction window.

State-wise merit list allocation

State-wise merit lists are prepared separately for boys and girls, and the state allocation of seats is weighted on OBC population data from the 2011 Census and MSJE state-share estimates. This means Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra receive the largest state quotas, and smaller states receive proportionally smaller quotas.

Merit within a state is calculated on the qualifying board marks percentage, with tie-breaks resolved on date of birth (older applicant preferred) and, if still tied, on English marks. The gender split (roughly 50-50 boys and girls, with slight variance by state) is maintained through separate boys' and girls' merit lists, so a boys' cutoff and a girls' cutoff can differ within the same state.

Merit list publication follows two waves. Wave 1 lists the fresh-cohort selections from applications submitted by 31 August 2026, typically published in October to November 2026. Wave 2 lists the residual-seat selections from the late-application window, typically published in April to May 2027. Check the NSP dashboard rather than third-party news sites, because merit list PDFs are the official notification and news sites often post outdated or state-specific extracts.

If your name does not appear in the wave 1 merit list but your application status shows "verified and forwarded", wait for wave 2 rather than reapplying. Reapplication under the same PAN or Aadhaar in the same academic year triggers duplicate rejection.

Renewal rules and continued-student process

Renewal is the single most under-communicated part of PM-YASASVI, and it's why many second-year and third-year students drop out of the scheme unintentionally. Renewal is not automatic. You must file a renewal application on the NSP dashboard for every subsequent year of the same course.

The renewal window for the 2026-27 cycle is 1 June 2026 to 30 September 2026, which closes a month later than the fresh-application window. Renewal needs the previous year's academic performance certificate showing a minimum 60 percent pass in the promoting exam, updated income certificate, and current-year fee receipt. Category certificate is not re-uploaded because the caste tag is locked at first application.

Failing a semester or a year does not disqualify you from PM-YASASVI, but you cannot claim the scholarship for the failed year. If you clear the repeat year with 60 percent aggregate, you can resume renewal from the next year onwards, subject to the total course duration cap of the sub-scheme (five years for UG plus PG combined under Top Class College, for example).

Change of institute within the same course level allows renewal, but you must upload a new admission proof and get the new institute's NSP nodal officer to verify the transfer. Change of course level (say, UG to PG) requires a fresh application under the appropriate sub-scheme, not a renewal, and the earlier course must be marked as completed on the NSP dashboard before the fresh application can be submitted. Discontinuation of the course mid-year without a valid reason recorded by the institute leads to recovery of the pro-rata scholarship already disbursed for that academic year, so raise a formal discontinuation request with your college nodal officer if you plan to drop out.

Common confusion clusters

Three question clusters trip up applicants and even school counsellors. Sorting them explicitly saves a rejected application later.

PM-YASASVI is not the SC scholarship. The Post-Matric Scholarship for SC students runs as a separate MSJE scheme with a different income cap (Rs 2.50 lakh but with different slab definitions) and a different set of rate slabs. If you are SC, apply under the SC Post-Matric scheme on the same NSP portal, not under PM-YASASVI.

PM-YASASVI Post-Matric is not the older Post-Matric OBC Scholarship. The two schemes were merged and renamed under the PM-YASASVI umbrella from the 2021-22 cycle, but old NSP guides and coaching-institute PDFs still reference the older name. The current live scheme name on the NSP portal is "PM YASASVI - Post-Matric Scholarship for OBC / EBC / DNT". Apply under this exact name, not under any legacy scheme that may still appear as a greyed-out option.

The YASASVI Entrance Test (YET) is not the current selection mechanism. YET was conducted by NTA for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 cycles, and MSJE discontinued it from the 2023-24 cycle onwards. Selection now uses Class 8 or Class 10 board marks with a 60 percent cutoff and state-wise merit lists. If a competing website or coaching-institute page tells you to register for YET in 2026, they are working from stale content.

Primary sources

• MSJE PM-YASASVI scheme homepage: https://socialjustice.gov.in/schemes/101
• National Scholarship Portal application: https://scholarships.gov.in
• PIB press release on FY 2025-26 disbursal (Ramdas Athawale statement to Rajya Sabha, February 2026): https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2096316
• PIB press release on scheme brief: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2067373
• MSJE Statement of Budget Estimates 2026-27: https://www.indiabudget.gov.in
• NPCI Aadhaar Mapper query for bank seeding verification: https://www.npci.org.in

Frequently asked questions