Checked 29 September 2026. Steps and rules from the live Study in India site (home page and FAQ), checked 29 Sep 2026. Dates are from individual institutes' 2026-27 notices (SVNIT, University of Allahabad, GGSIPU) and the DASA PG 2026 brochure; Study in India published no programme-wide calendar. Dates for 2027-28 were not published when we checked.
PRAGATII has not been held since 2022, but the Study in India portal it belonged to is still how many foreign students apply to Indian universities — and the live 2026 portal names no entrance test at all. (In 2020 PIB described Ind-SAT as an exam "for grant of scholarships and admissions"; by 2022 PRAGATII was run as the scholarship-selection test, and the fee-waiver page said it was not compulsory for a waiver.) You register once for an SII ID, apply to several institutes at the same time (at least three), accept one offer, and then use the SII ID and offer letter for your visa and your registration with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office after you land. This guide takes each official step in order, shows the deadlines that institutes set for 2026-27 (the portal itself publishes no single calendar), and ends with a document checklist you can tick off.
Status on 29 September 2026
No PRAGATII (Ind-SAT) has been held since 31 July 2022, and no official page has announced another. The official PRAGATII exam page now redirects to the Study in India home page. Nothing in this guide describes a 2026 sitting; where we give current information, it is about the routes that still exist.
Live Study in India home page and FAQ, 29 Sep 2026.
The six official steps
| Step | What happens | Official detail |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Register and get an SII ID | A compulsory ID that tracks your whole journey as a foreign student in India | Registration form: basic information, parents' details, addresses and passport details |
| 2. Explore courses | Search courses and institutes on the portal | Home page: 24000+ courses in 1200+ institutes; FAQ: 600+ institutes and 8000+ courses, and elsewhere "over 2600 courses" |
| 3. Submit applications | Apply to all your chosen institutes at the same time | Academic details, exam scores (GRE, GMAT, SAT, JEE, TOEFL, IELTS) and documents; at least 3 institute preferences, ranked |
| 4. Get offer letters | Institutes accept or reject; you accept the offer that suits you | Only one offer letter accepted at a time; a second counselling round for students with no allotment |
| 5. Apply for a student visa or e-visa | Apply with your SII ID and offer letter | On indianvisaonline.gov.in; fees generally $14 to $118 depending on your country. The regular student visa and the e-Student visa have their own document lists, which can differ by country — confirm with the Indian mission |
| 6. Register with e-FRRO / FRRO | After you land in India | Home page: within 14 days, using your SII ID. Follow any registration endorsement printed on your visa |
The steps are as the live home page numbers them; the details are from the live FAQ. The counts of institutes and courses disagree between the two pages (1200+ institutes and 24000+ courses on the home page, 600+ institutes and 8000+ courses in the FAQ, and "over 2600 courses" in another FAQ answer). We print all three: none is dated, and the portal's own search is the real list.
The choice-filling rules that catch people out
From the live Study in India FAQ
- At least three institute preferences. There is no upper limit, and the final allocation during counselling follows the order you set — so rank carefully.
- One offer at a time. You can accept only one offer letter at a time.
- Rejected everywhere? A second round of counselling is held for students who got no allotment or were rejected in the first round — if the next institutes on your list are still accepting students.
- No undergraduate medicine. There are no medical courses under Study in India; paramedical and allied courses such as pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory technology and physiotherapy are allowed.
- Grades from another system? The site has a grade-conversion page for mark sheets not in the Indian format.
- English. Teaching is in English in all partner institutes; IELTS or TOEFL requirements are set by each institute.
| Rule | Official wording (live FAQ) |
|---|---|
| Minimum preferences | A minimum of 3 institute preferences; no upper limit |
| Offers | You can only accept one offer letter at a time |
| Medicine | Cannot apply for undergraduate medicine; paramedical and allied courses allowed |
| NRIs | Eligible to apply, not eligible for the SII Scholarship |
| Fee waivers | Institute-driven, 10% to 100%, on previous academic scores |
| Partner institutes | Any one of: NAAC 3.01 or above; NIRF (one FAQ answer says top 100 outside the medical category, the About Us page says listed in NIRF); INI or IoE status; QS Asia listing; autonomous status; 80% admissions in each of the last 5 academic years. About Us adds: 30% of eligible courses NBA-accredited |
| After graduating | No work visa in India after graduation |
| Insurance | No medical insurance comes with the student visa; getting insurance is advised |
2026-27 deadlines: set by each institute, not by the portal
The Study in India site did not publish a programme-wide calendar for 2026-27, and its circulars table was empty when we checked. Deadlines came from the institutes. Four examples from their own notices are below. All of them have passed: they are examples of the previous cycle, not dates for 2027-28, and none of the institutes cited here had published 2027-28 dates when we checked.
| Institute or scheme | Opened | Last date to apply | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| SVNIT Surat (via Study in India portal) | 1 Jan 2026 | 15 Jun 2026, 11:59 PM IST | Selected list 30 Jun 2026; fees and documents by 21 Jul 2026; reporting per JoSAA/CSAB/CCMT schedule |
| University of Allahabad | Not stated | 30 Jun 2026 for the NRI Ward/Sponsored category; self-financing international students apply when notified, and admissions are processed on a rolling basis | Committee scrutiny; SII portal application also accepted |
| GGSIPU, Delhi (direct application) | 28 Jun 2026 | 20 Jul 2026 (form and enclosures) | First and second counselling in July 2026 |
| DASA PG 2026 (NITs, IIITs, SPAs) | 13 Jun 2026 | 24 Jun 2026, 17:00 IST | Merit list 4 Jul; Round I 10 Jul; Round II 21 Jul 2026 |
SVNIT's notice, dated 20 May 2026, is the most complete schedule tied to the Study in India portal that we found. Note what it does not say: it does not mention PRAGATII or any entrance test. The University of Allahabad and GGSIPU run their own international admissions alongside the portal, and DASA is a separate national scheme for engineering and planning institutes (see the comparison guide in this series).
How the three university notices compare
| Point | SVNIT (2026-27) | University of Allahabad (2026-27) | GGSIPU (2026-27) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seats for international students | Not stated in the schedule | 20% supernumerary: 10% foreign nationals, 10% NRI (no NRI share in PhD). Not applicable to courses approved by the Bar Council of India or NCTE, which have fixed caps: BA LLB (Hons.) 2, LLB 4, B.Ed. 2, M.Ed. 2 | 25% supernumerary under the PIHEAD programme |
| Entrance test | None mentioned | None; merit in the qualifying exam | None; merit in the qualifying exam |
| Who is seated first | — | ICCR, then self-financing, then MoU students | ICCR scholarship candidates first |
| Age limit | — | Not stated | UG 21, PG 35 (as on 1 Aug 2026) |
| English test | — | Not stated in our extract | TOEFL 60 / IELTS 5.0 for most courses; higher for humanities, management and law; Nepal and Tibet exempt |
| Seat rule cited | — | UGC D.O. No. 1-1/2022 (CPP-II), 30 Sep 2022 | Not stated in our extract; for comparison, the 2018 PIB release on Study in India spoke of 10–15% supernumerary seats |
| Mentions PRAGATII? | No | No | No |
The University of Allahabad cites the UGC letter D.O. No. 1-1/2022 (CPP-II) of 30 September 2022 for its 20% supernumerary seats, while the government's 2018 design of Study in India spoke of 10–15% supernumerary seats. These are different rules for different documents; if a seat count matters to you, ask the institute.
Your document checklist
Study in India application checklist
Tick items as you finish them. The list follows the portal's three application sections and the visa documents named in the live FAQ.
0 of 26 done
Ticks are saved only in this browser on this device.
| Stage | Documents named in the live FAQ |
|---|---|
| Registration | Basic information, parents' details, addresses, passport details |
| Academic information | Academic details, additional exam scores (GRE, GMAT, SAT, JEE Advanced and Main, TOEFL, IELTS), uploaded documents |
| Student visa | Passport valid for the course, photographs, passport photocopy, address proof, printed online form, admission letter, fee receipt, details of the university, bank statement (nine items) |
| After arrival | Register with e-FRRO / FRRO within 14 days using the SII ID (home page); follow any registration endorsement on your visa |
The visa list above is the Study in India FAQ's list for a student visa. The e-Student visa on indianvisaonline.gov.in has its own document set, and requirements can differ by country and by course, so treat the FAQ list as a starting point and confirm the final list with the Indian embassy or consulate that will issue your visa. Likewise, the 14-day FRRO rule is how the Study in India home page puts it; the registration requirement printed on your visa is what binds you.
Where other pages get this wrong
The 2026-27 Study in India dates were set by institutes, and PRAGATII was not part of them.
Commonly published instead: pages presenting SVNIT's 15 June and 30 June 2026 dates as Study in India dates for PRAGATII, or saying PRAGATII is "mandatory" for the portal.
SVNIT's notice is SVNIT's own schedule for applicants choosing SVNIT; it never mentions PRAGATII. The live Study in India site names no entrance test for admission.
Practise it, don't just read it
If an institute on your list runs its own aptitude or English test, the same skills PRAGATII covered are a sensible warm-up.
The ProSyllabus PRAGATII library has ten topic quizzes across the three old sections: Verbal (sentence correction, reading-comprehension inference), Quantitative (percentages, averages, time-speed-distance, simple and compound interest, number series) and Logical (syllogisms, coding-decoding, blood relations).
Do I need PRAGATII to apply through Study in India?
No. The live site names no entrance test for admission, and PRAGATII has not been held since 2022. In 2020 PIB described Ind-SAT as an exam for scholarships and admissions; by 2022 it was run as the scholarship-selection test.
How many institutes can I choose on the Study in India portal?
At least three, with no upper limit. Rank them carefully: allocation follows your order, and you can accept only one offer at a time.
When does Study in India registration open for 2027-28?
Not published when we checked on 29 September 2026. For 2026-27, SVNIT's notice said portal applications opened on 1 January 2026.
What is the last date to apply through Study in India?
Each institute sets its own. For 2026-27, SVNIT closed on 15 June 2026; the University of Allahabad set 30 June 2026 for its NRI Ward/Sponsored category and processed other international applications on a rolling basis.
Can I study MBBS through Study in India?
No. The FAQ says there are no undergraduate medical courses under the programme; paramedical courses such as nursing and pharmacy are allowed.
What if every institute rejects my application?
The FAQ says a second counselling round is held for students with no allotment, provided the next institutes on your list are still taking students.
What is an SII ID?
The compulsory ID you get when you register on the portal. It is used for your applications, your visa and your FRRO registration.
Can I work in India after graduating?
The Study in India FAQ says you will not get a work visa in India after graduation.
More in this series
- Is PRAGATII still held? 2020–2026
- PRAGATII pattern and the official mock
- SII scholarship vs fee waiver (G1–G4)
- Who could sit PRAGATII: countries, NRI, OCI
- After PRAGATII: Study in India vs ICCR vs DASA
- PRAGATII (Ind-SAT) news and alerts
- PRAGATII (Ind-SAT) exam alerts and updates
- Parental advice for PRAGATII preparation
- PRAGATII (Ind-SAT) previous year papers
Sources
- official — Study in India — home page (live, checked 29 Sep 2026)
- official — Study in India — FAQ (live, checked 29 Sep 2026)
- official — Study in India — About Us (live, checked 29 Sep 2026)
- official — Study in India — Eligibility Criteria (live)
- official — SVNIT Surat — Study in India admission schedule 2026-27, No. Dean(Acad)/Study_In_India/850/2026-27 (20 May 2026)
- official — University of Allahabad — international students admission notice 2026-27
- official — GGSIPU — admission brochure for international students 2026-27
- official — DASA PG 2026 — Information Brochure v1.1 (1 Jun 2026)
- official — Government of India — Indian visa online
- official — PIB — Study in India programme, Rajya Sabha written reply (23 Mar 2018)
- official — PIB — First Ind-SAT exam held on 22 July 2020 (23 Jul 2020)
- official — Study in India — Fee Waiver sub-page (Wayback, 2021)
- official — Study in India — old PRAGATII exam page (now redirects to the home page)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
