AICTE Pragati & Saksham 2026: Engineering Scholarships for Girls and Differently-Abled

AICTE PRAGATI SCHOLARSHIP: Eligibility — female students enrolled in B.Tech/B.E. at an AICTE-approved institution. Family income below ₹8 lakhs per year. The scholarship covers ₹50,000 per year (or actual tuition fees, whichever is lower) for up to 4 years of B.Tech. The scheme has 4,000 scholarships annually distributed across approved institutions. APPLICATION: Apply online via the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) at scholarships.gov.in within the academic year. Required documents: 10th and 12th marksheets, college admission letter, family income certificate, Aadhaar, bank account details, photograph. Application opens typically July-September annually. RECEIPT: Scholarship is credited directly to student bank account in installments per academic year. Renewal requires maintained academic performance (typically 50%+ in each semester). AICTE SAKSHAM SCHOLARSHIP: Eligibility — students with disabilities (40% or more disability per the Persons with Disabilities Act) enrolled in B.Tech/B.E. at AICTE-approved institutions. Family income below ₹8 lakhs per year. Same ₹50,000 per year benefit + additional ₹2,000 per month maintenance allowance for the duration of the programme. The scheme has 1,000 scholarships annually. APPLICATION: Same NSP portal. Additional documents required: disability certificate (issued by competent medical authority), accessibility infrastructure verification by the institution. Both schemes can be combined with state government scholarships (Karnataka E-Pass, Vidyasiri, etc.) where the state schemes do not exclude AICTE scholarships. STACKING WITH OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS: Most engineering students stack multiple scholarships — Central government (Pragati/Saksham), State government (Vidyasiri, Karnataka E-Pass, Post-matric SC/ST), Institutional (college merit scholarships) and Corporate (Aditya Birla, Reliance Foundation, KC Mahindra, Tata Trust). The AICTE Pragati/Saksham can be the foundation; institutional and corporate scholarships can supplement. KARNATAKA SPECIFIC: Karnataka domicile students additionally access Karnataka E-Pass (full tuition reimbursement for SC/ST/OBC eligible families) and Vidyasiri (₹35,000 per year for OBC and Category-I students). Combining these with AICTE Pragati can effectively reduce total engineering cost to near-zero for eligible families. ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION: Check institution eligibility on AICTE Pragati/Saksham approved-institution list before applying. Most AICTE-approved engineering colleges in India qualify, but verify before submitting application.