OBC Scholarship 2026 — Pre-Matric and Post-Matric, Apply by 30 September

The money is not large, but it is straightforward. Pre-Matric pays a flat Rs 4,000 a year. Post-Matric pays between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000 a year depending on what you are studying, and it covers your tuition fee on top of an academic allowance.

The income limit for both is Rs 2.50 lakh a year, counting every source. That is the first thing to check, because nothing else matters if your family is above it.

Which One Applies to You

It comes down to which class you are in. There is no overlap, so you will only ever be applying for one of them.

Note the wording on Pre-Matric carefully. The guidelines say the scholarship is provided for students studying in government schools only. If you are in a private school, Pre-Matric is not open to you, whatever your income.

How Much Post-Matric Pays

Post-Matric is split into four groups by course, and each group gets an academic allowance plus a tuition fee component. Both are yearly.

What each group covers

• Group 1 — degree and postgraduate professional courses: medicine, engineering, technology, architecture, agriculture, veterinary, management, computer science; PG diplomas in management and medicine; CA, ICWA, CS, ICFA; M.Phil, PhD and post-doctoral programmes; LLB, integrated LLB and LLM.
• Group 2 — other professional courses leading to a degree, diploma or certificate: B.Pharm, B.Sc Nursing and other paramedical branches, mass communication, hotel management and catering, travel and tourism, interior decoration, nutrition and dietetics, commercial art, banking and insurance, plus ITI and polytechnic courses entered after Class XII.
• Group 3 — ordinary graduate and postgraduate courses not in the two groups above: BA, B.Sc, B.Com, MA, M.Sc, M.Com.
• Group 4 — post-matric non-degree courses entered after Class X: Class XI and XII in both general and vocational streams, ITI courses, and three-year polytechnic diplomas.

Two details worth knowing if you are on a correspondence or online course. You do not get the academic allowance — but your tuition fee is still paid. Students doing CA, ICWA, CS or ICFA are treated as day scholars for the allowance.

Who Is Eligible

For Pre-Matric, you need to be an Indian national from an OBC, EBC or DNT family with a valid certificate, studying full-time in Class IX or X at a government school, with family income up to Rs 2.50 lakh a year. You cannot hold another scholarship for the same two classes — if you are offered one, you pick whichever you prefer and tell the head of your institution which.

For Post-Matric, you need to have passed Matriculation or higher and be on a recognised post-matriculation course, again with income up to Rs 2.50 lakh. The rules here have some sharp edges that catch people out every year:

• You must belong to the state you are applying from — permanently settled there.
• Sideways moves do not count. A second degree at the same level is not eligible: B.Sc after BA, B.Com after BA, or an MA in one subject after an MA in another.
• The same goes for a second professional line, such as LLB after B.Ed.
• Class XI in a Higher Secondary School course is not eligible, because it is treated as one continuous school course. But if your Class X was treated as equivalent to Matriculation and you joined a different course afterwards, you count as post-matric and can apply.
• Postgraduate medical students qualify only if they are not permitted to practise during the course.
• If you fail, the award may be renewed once for a Group 1 course. Beyond that you cover your own costs until you are promoted.

One piece of good news on paperwork: the income certificate is taken once only, at the time of admission to the course. You are not chasing a fresh one every year.

How to Apply

Everything happens on the National Scholarship Portal. There is no offline form.

1. Get your OTR (One Time Registration) first if you do not have one. It is now the front door to the portal, and you cannot fill in a scholarship form without it. Keep your Aadhaar handy.
2. Forgotten your OTR from a previous year? Recover it rather than making a new one — a duplicate registration will tangle your application.
3. Log in at scholarships.gov.in and open the application form.
4. Choose the right scheme — Pre-Matric if you are in Class IX or X, Post-Matric for anything after that. Applying under the wrong one is the commonest reason a form is rejected outright.
5. Fill in your details and enter your bank account carefully. Payment is by direct transfer, so a wrong account number means the money simply never arrives.
6. Upload your documents, submit, and save the acknowledgement.
7. Your institution has to verify your application before it moves on. Submitting is not the last step — follow it up with your school or college.

That last point is where most applications die. A form that is submitted but never verified by the institution goes nowhere, and nobody will chase it for you.

Documents You Will Need

• Caste certificate — OBC, EBC or DNT, valid and issued by the competent authority
• Income certificate, up to Rs 2.50 lakh a year
• Aadhaar card, for OTR and for authentication
• Bank passbook in your own name
• Marksheet of the last examination you passed
• Admission receipt or bonafide certificate from your institution
• Passport-size photograph

Scan them before you sit down to apply. Our image to PDF tool turns a multi-page certificate into one file, compress PDF brings it under the portal's upload limit, and resize image sets a photograph to the exact dimensions the form asks for. They all run on your phone and nothing you put into them leaves it.

If Aadhaar Authentication Fails

This is worth knowing, because it is a real problem for a lot of families and the guidelines answer it directly. If Aadhaar authentication fails for any reason, you are permitted to establish your identity by other means. The rule exists so that genuine applicants are not shut out by a database mismatch. Raise it with your institution rather than abandoning the application.

Renewal

You do not start from scratch each year. Renewals are automatic, based on your being promoted to the next class and your institution confirming it. A Pre-Matric award, once made, runs until you pass Class X.

The catch is repetition: a scholarship for any class is available for one year only. If you repeat a class, you do not get paid for it a second time.

Important Dates

Deadlines on the National Scholarship Portal do get extended, and often more than once. Do not plan around it — institution verification takes time after you submit, and an extension will not help you if your college has already closed for the season.

Also Worth a Look

• SIRISH Scholarship 2026-27 — seven schemes for Tea Tribes and Adivasi students, closing 5 October 2026
• NMMS Scholarship 2026 — Rs 12,000 a year, 2,411 seats for Assam, closing 8 November 2026

Other scholarships are filed under Scholarship, and vacancies under Job.