N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (NSR Pre-doc)

Admission process for 2025 batch

About the Programme

The N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is a specially designed programme that aims to increase the social diversity of management academia in India. The Fellowship is for a duration of one-year and is designed to help the selected Pre-Doctoral fellows successfully apply to Doctoral programmes in management and allied disciplines.

Area of Specialization

The 2025-26 N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is available in the following disciplinary areas within management scholarship and research:

Duration of the Fellowship

The Fellowship is for a duration of 12 months (May 2025 through April 2026).

Academic eligibility

• A Master’s Degree (obtained after a bachelor’s degree) or
• A 5-year Integrated Master’s Degree (obtained after completing higher secondary schooling in 10+2 pattern) in any discipline.
• A Post Graduate Diploma (2 years) or,
• A professional qualification such as CA, ICWA, CS, [with at least 50 percentmarks* in their Bachelor’s Degree; or at least 45 percent marks* for applicants from SC, ST or PwD categories] or,
• A 4-year/8-semesters Bachelor’s Degree [with at least 6.5 CGPA* in their Bachelor’s Degree; or at least 6.0 CGPA* for applicants from SC, ST or PwD categories] or,
• A 5-year Integrated Bachelor’s Degree with at least 60 percent marks*.

• The applicants holding a Doctoral degree or pursuing Doctoral programme are not eligible to apply.
• Unless otherwise specified, applicants need to have at least 55 percent marks* in the Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree(s), and Post-Graduate Diploma. This cutoff shall be 50 percent marks* for applicants from SC, ST or PwD categories.
  • The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate would be calculated based on the practice followed by the respective University/Institution. In the case of grades / CGPA, the conversion to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the respective University/ institution. If a University/institution confirms that there is no scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result by 100.

The above qualifications should be from any of the Universities, or other educational institutions, incorporated by an act of the Parliament or State legislature in India; or declared to be deemed as a University under the UGC Act, 1956, or, an institution recognized by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.

Candidates in the final year of the qualifying programme, can also apply. Such candidates, if selected, will be allowed to join the programme provisionally only if they submit a certificate by the date of registration to the programme (latest) from the Principal/ Head of the Department / Registrar or Director of the University / Institute (issued on or before the date of registration to the NSR Pre Doc 2025 programme) stating that they have appeared for the examinations (including practical examinations) in all the subjects required for obtaining the Master’s / 4-year Bachelor’s degree / 5 year integrated Bachelors degree/ equivalent eligible qualification. Their admission will be confirmed when they submit the mark sheet and a certificate of having passed the Master’s / 4-year Bachelor’s degree / 5 year integrated Bachelors degree/ equivalent eligible qualification referred to in the certificate issued by the Principal / Registrar of their College / Institute. The deadline for submission of the mark sheets and the Degree Certificate is September 30, 2025. Please note that all applications must meet the minimum eligibility norms on academic marks/CGPA. Non-fulfillment of these conditions will automatically result in the cancellation of the provisional admission. If you are currently working and want to join our full time programme, you are required to quit the current job before the start date of the programme.

Candidates appearing for Final examination of Graduation:-

At the time of registration, you must produce a certificate from the College/University that you have completed all examinations and other requirements necessary to obtain Masters/Bachelors Degree on or before June 30,2025.

You must produce final marks sheets (in original) and provisional Certificate (issued by your college/University) as proof of having passed the Masters/Bachelors Degree examination, before the expiry of grace period, i.e. on or before September 30,2025. Appearing for any other examinations as part of Masters/Bachelors after June 30,2025 will be treated as disqualification and your admission to the programme will stand cancelled.

Preferred Groups:

• Applicants belonging to SC, ST, or NC-OBC (as defined by the Government of India).
• Applicants belonging to the PWD category (persons with disability as defined by the Government of India).
• Applicants belonging to religious minorities (as defined by the Government of India).
• Applicants who have completed their secondary education (10th standard or equivalent) from a school where the medium of instruction was not English.
• Applicants who have completed their secondary education (10th standard or equivalent) from a rural school.
• Applicants who have completed their secondary education (10th standard or equivalent) from a Navodaya School, or a school wholly owned by a State Government, a Gram Panchayat, or by an urban local body.
• Women or trans-gender applicants.
  Applicants who qualify under more than one of the preferred groups are more likely to be short listed.
  Application Fee
  The application fee (non-refundable) is Rs. 500/-
  Selection Process
  Selection to the programme will be done in two stages:
  • Applications will be evaluated, and a shortlist will be prepared of candidates to be called for personal interview.
  • The final offer of fellowship will be made based on the evaluation of the application and the candidate’s performance in the personal interview.
  
  Programme Details
  The N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship is a mentor-driven program where candidates admitted acquire the formal and tacit knowledge necessary to succeed in a Doctoral programme. Each fellow is assigned to a mentor who is a full-time faculty member at IIMB. While the programme offers flexibility, certain common elements that are essentials are mentioned below.
• Each fellow will have to complete two Doctoral or MBA level courses of three credits in her/his areas of interest approved by faculty mentor.
• Each fellow will work for a minimum of 40 hours per week under the supervision of the faculty mentor.
• A Math Clinic (1.5 hours per week) and a Communication workshop (1.5 hours per week) are mandatory in the Programme..

Monthly Stipend and other financial support

• Each fellow will receive a monthly stipend of Rs. 30,000 besides full tuition waiver for any coursework during the program.
• The fellows will also receive a house rent allowance as per prevailing institute norms (currently Rs. 15,000 per month).
• The fellows will be provided with a one-time contingency grant (that can be used for academic purposes approved by the faculty mentor and the N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral faculty committee) as per prevailing institute norms (currently, Rs. 25,000 per academic year).
• Fellows can avail a Rs. 25,000 Laptop Grant toward purchase of a laptop.
• Cubicle space is provided by the Institute.
• Fixed financial support is provided that may be used to partly cover costs to attend one national academic conference as an observer and one national academic conference as a presenter (with prior approval of the faculty mentor).

Important Dates

*These dates are tentative & subject to change. Confirmed dates will be notified in due course of time

# Only those candidates who have been shortlisted will be intimated by e-mail.