1. PhD Programmes

A candidate may apply for any of the four categories of registration as described below, subject to the fulfillment of requirements of minimum qualification and eligibility criteria.

• Full Time Regular Registration Category
• Full Time External Registration Category
• Full Time Sponsored Registration Category
• Part-Time Registration Category

1.A Full Time Regular Registration Category

Applicants must have the requisite qualification with minimum marks/CPI as mentioned below in the department/discipline concerned (see also Table-1A, Annexure-I). A list of research areas of various departments/disciplines currently available for PhD programmes are given in Table 1B, 1C and 1D, respectively of Annexure–I. The number of seats with Institute Assistantship available for Ph.D. programmes in different departments/centers are given in Table 1E of Annexure-I.

1.A.1 Minimum Qualification:

Ph D in Engineering

1. Applicants with Master’s degree in engineering in the discipline concerned or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 60% marks or 6.0 CPI (on a 10.0 point scale) at the Master’s degree level.
2. Applicants with Bachelor’s degree in engineering in the discipline concerned or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 75% marks or 7.5 CPI (on a 10.0-point scale) at the Bachelor’s degree level.
3. Applicants with Master’s degree in science as an allied discipline/area (where science is an allied discipline/area), must satisfy the following criteria:
   1. A minimum of 65% marks or 6.5 CPI (on a 10.0 point scale) at the Master’s degree level

PhD in Sciences

1. Applicants with Master’s degree in science in the discipline concerned or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 60% marks or 6.0 CPI (on a 10.0 point scale) at the Master’s degree level.
2. Applicants with four-year Bachelor’s degree in Science in the discipline concerned or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 75% marks or 7.5 CPI (on a 10.0-point scale) at the Bachelor’s degree level.

PhD in Humanities

1. Applicants with Master’s degree in engineering with a minimum CPI of 6.00 on a 10.0 point scale (or 60% marks) in the qualifying degree.
2. Applicants with Master’s degree in humanities/sciences or allied subjects with a minimum CPI of 6.00 on a 10.0 point scale (or 60% marks) in the qualifying degree.
3. Applicants with Bachelor’s degree in engineering or sciences (4-Year program) with a minimum CPI of 7.50 on a 10.0 point scale (or 75% marks) in the Bachelor degree.

PhD in Management Studies

1. Applicants with Master’s degree or equivalent in the management or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 60% marks or 6.0 CPI (on a 10.0 point scale) at the Master’s degree level.
2. Professional qualification such as CA, ICWA & CS with minimum of 50% marks and a minimum of 60% marks in the bachelor’s degree.
3. Applicants with Bachelor’s degree in engineering discipline or in an allied discipline/area must have a minimum of 75% marks or 7.5 CPI (on a 10.0 point scale) at the Bachelor’s degree level.

1.A.1.1 A relaxation of maximum 5% in qualifying marks or 0.5 in CPI (on a 10 point scale) may be considered by the DPGC of the respective departments for professionals with at least 2-years of industry experience.

1.A.2 Financial Assistance

Financial Assistance in the form of Institute Assistantship is available to the students admitted to Ph.D. programmes under Full Time Regular Registration Category. Such students must have qualified GATE Examination. For B. Tech students of RGIPT/IITs, Institute Assistantship will be provided with exemption of the qualifying GATE examination.

The students will receive the following monthly fellowship;

• Junior Research Fellow (JRF): Rs. 37000/-
• Senior Research Fellow (SRF): Rs. 42000/-

The NET-LS qualified students may be eligible for Institute Assistantship in Department of Energy and Human Science and Department of Management Studies provided they have CPI of 7.0 or 70% marks in the qualifying examination. The assistantship is subject to its availability.

A student shall be assigned duties up to eight hours per week by the departments to avail the Teaching Assistantship. The renewal of assistantship is contingent on the student's satisfactory performance in the academic programme and in the discharge of assistantship duties on a semester to semester basis.

For the Odd Semester of Academic Session 2025-26, the Institute Assistantship available in each department are as given in Table 2E of Annexure-II.

No student shall be admitted to Full Time Regular Registration Category without Institute Assistantship or National-Level Scholarships/Fellowships. No student can get financial assistance from more than one source at a time.

The upper age limit for Full Time Regular Registration category is 28 years as on admission into fellowship. Age relaxation rule would be applicable as per Govt. of India policy.

Institute encourages students registered under full time Regular category to complete their PhD well in 4-year duration.

1.A.3 ICRGI PhD Research Fellowship:

Two students from Full time regular registration category will be selected following an evaluation procedure to pursue their research work under joint supervision of RGIPT and IOCL. These students will be eligible to receive 25% supplementary stipend in addition to their regular stipend (as per the UGC guideline) under this fellowship scheme. These scholars will be eligible for other monetary benefits such as HRA, contingency, medical facilities during their programme.

1.A.4 HPRGI Ph D Research Fellowship

Two students from Full time regular registration category will be selected following an evaluation procedure to pursue their research work under joint supervision of RGIPT and Hindustan Petroleum. These students will be eligible to receive 25% supplementary stipend in addition to their regular stipend (as per the UGC guideline) under this fellowship scheme. These scholars will be eligible for other monetary benefits such as HRA, contingency, medical facilities during their programme.

1.A.5 CPRGI PhD Research Fellowship

Two students from Full time regular registration category will be selected following an evaluation procedure to pursue their research work under joint supervision of RGIPT and Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (CPCL). These students will be eligible to receive 25% supplementary stipend in addition to their regular stipend (as per the UGC guideline) under this fellowship scheme. These scholars will be eligible for other monetary benefits such as HRA, contingency, medical facilities during their programme.

1.A.6 BPRGI PhD Research Fellowship

Three students from Full time regular registration category will be selected following an evaluation procedure to pursue their research work under joint supervision of RGIPT and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL). These students will be eligible to receive 25% supplementary stipend in addition to their regular stipend (as per the UGC guideline) under this fellowship scheme. These scholars will be eligible for other monetary benefits such as HRA, contingency, medical facilities during their programme.

1.A.7 Admission of Candidates having National-Level Scholarships

There is a provision for admission to Ph.D. programmes for candidates who fulfill the eligibility criteria for the respective programmes and also have qualified in any of the National Level JRF/SRF Tests conducted by UGC, CSIR, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research or DST-INSPIRE fellowship or Dr. K.S. Krishnan Fellowship of DAE, etc.

Applicants must have requisite qualification with minimum marks/CPI (see Sec. 1.A.1). Such candidates may be offered admission after an interview as and when they apply in Departments, where they are eligible. They will be recommended by DPGC to register for the programme at the next available semester. Such candidates who are applying for admission in response to this advertisement for the current session will go through similar process of selection as above.

1.B. Full Time External Registration category

A candidate working in an external R&D organization or in an industry recognized by the Institute, which is equipped with necessary research and library facilities can also apply for admission to PhD programmes, provided he/she satisfies the eligibility criteria laid down for the programme concerned (see Sec. 1.A.1). Such a candidate must show satisfactory performance in the interview, must be sponsored by his/her employer and must have been in employment with the sponsoring organization for at least two years at the time of admission.

The employer must undertake to pay a full salary to the candidate and relieve him/her from the duty to enable the candidate to stay on the campus and to complete the course work requirements. This is not a requirement for candidates who are working in organizations located within a distance of 50 km from the Institute.

The candidate should submit a certificate (See Form I of the Application Form) obtained from his/her organization that the research facilities of his/her organization would be made available to him/her for carrying out research. He/she should also provide the biodata of the prospective supervisor along with his/her consent, who would be supervising the candidate's work at his/her organization.

[N.B. Letter of appointment and Form – 16 for two years of service is required from the employer at the time of interview.]

In case of a candidate, who is in professional service in a reputed organization for more than 07 years, the requirement of having an external supervisor may be relaxed by the Chairman, Senate on the recommendation of the concerned DPGC.

In addition, an R&D organization/industry or a research area in the specific organization may be recognized by the Institute as per the following procedure. On the recommendation of the DPGC, the SPGC will constitute a committee to assess and approve an R & D organization/ industry for admission of sponsored candidates to carry out Ph.D. research in a specified area. The committee may, upon inspection, also approve all the areas in which R & D activities are going on in that organization. Refer Annexure-II for already approved list.

An application for admission from a candidate working in the approved organization will be considered only if he/she wishes to work in the approved area.

1.C. Full Time Sponsored Registration Category

A candidate who is sponsored by a Teaching Institution or by an R&D organization or by an Industry can also apply for admission to PhD programmes, provided he/she satisfies the eligibility criteria laid down for the programme concerned (see Sec. 1.A.1). He/she must have been in service of the sponsoring institution/organization for at least two years at the time of admission. The sponsoring organization must specifically undertake to provide full salary to the candidate and to relieve him/her to pursue the programme for its full duration (See Form II of the Application Form). Such candidates have to complete the requirements of the programme by staying on-campus for the full duration of the programme.

[N.B. Letter of appointment and Form – 16 issued by the employer for two years of service is required at the time of written test / interview. In addition, the candidate must submit an undertaking that he/she will continue to submit Form – 16 for the subsequent years till he/she completes the programme.]

1.D. Part-Time Registration Category

The Institute offers Part-Time PhD programmes for permanent staff and faculty members of the Institute as well as Research Assistants/JRFs/SRFs working in an externally funded research project running in the Institute, provided they satisfy the eligibility criteria laid down for the programme concerned (see Sec. 1.A.1). Such a candidate should submit a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Head of the Department/Principal Investigator as the case may be (See Forms III and IV of the Application Form) as applicable. They will be required to attend to normal duties assigned to them by the Department the Principal Investigator of the research project.

The candidates working in externally funded projects need to have at least two years of remaining valid project period for consideration in this category. The PhD enrolled candidate after working in an external project for at least two years will be considered for Institute Fellowship.

The Institute offers Part Time Ph.D. Programme also to a professionally employed person, who pursues the programme while continuing the duties of his/her service provided the sponsoring institution/organization is located within a distance of 50 KM from the Institute and engaged in broad areas of Ph.D. Programme applied. He/she must be a regular employee of the sponsoring organization/institution for at least two year. No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Head of the Institution/Organization must be enclosed with the application (See Form V of the Application Form). The candidate must satisfy the eligibility criteria laid down for the programme concerned (see Sec. 1.A.1).

[N.B.: Letter of appointment and Form 16 issued by the employer for two years of service is required at the time of written test/interview. In addition, the candidate must submit an undertaking that he/she shall continue to submit Form 16 for the subsequent years till he/she completes the programme]

 

2. SELECTION CRITERIA

Admission to PhD Programme

1. Admission will be based on written test and interview of the candidates shortlisted by the department concerned.
2. The following category of applicants shall be exempted from appearing in the written test:
   1. External Registration Category
   2. Sponsored Registration Category
   3. Part-Time Registration Category
   4. Candidates having National Level Scholarships
   5. Outstanding candidates from Premier Institution:
      1. Applicants who have qualifying degree from CFI/CFTI with CPI of 8.00 or above (on a 10.0 point scale).
      2. There will not be any category-wise or specialization-wise seats for selection under the above type;
      3. The number of seats in this type will be 20% of the “announced number of seats” and shall be considered as “Supernumerary Seats”. Any fractional number arrived at would be rounded to higher integer;
      4. Interview should be conducted for this type of candidates PRIOR to the conduct of written test for remaining candidates;
      5. Any candidate who could not qualify in the said Interview, through this channel, is eligible to take regular selection procedure of Written Test and Interview. Since, the candidate has been interviewed once, he/she will not appear again in the interview and marks of the first interview will be considered for preparing merit list.
3. Further, if qualifying marks are specified in written test and/or interview a 5% relaxation will be given to SC/ST candidate. If a candidate avails such relaxation, he/she shall not be considered for admission in General Category.
4. Upon approval of Chairman, Senate, the Head of the Department concerned will issue admission letters to the candidates who will be required to accept the offer of admission by depositing the prescribed fee before a specified date.
5. In case a candidate does not accept the offer by paying the prescribed fee by the specified date, the offer of admission will stand withdrawn, and the admission will be offered to the candidates in the waiting list, if any, in order of merit.

2.A. Reservations to SC/ST/OBC/EWS Candidates:

In each discipline, 15% seats are reserved for SC, 7.5% seats for ST, 27% seats for OBC (non creamy layer) and 10% seats for EWS candidates. SC/ST/OBC candidates must also satisfy the eligibility requirements for admission. However, while considering their cases, only suitability for the programme is ensured and the SC/ST/OBC/EWS candidates are not compared with those belonging to other categories.

Further, a relaxation of 5% marks or 0.5 CPI (on a 10 point scale) shall be admissible on the marks obtained in qualifying degree for SC and ST candidates in the admission.

The SC/ST/OBC/EWS certificates must be produced at the time of written test / interview on the prescribed form. In case of OBC (non-creamy layer) the certificate should not be dated prior to six months from date of written test/ interview. The following authorities are empowered to issue the SC/ST/OBC/EWS certificate:

1. District Magistrate/Additional District Magistrate/Collector/Deputy Commissioner/Addl. Deputy Commissioner/Deputy Collector/First Class Stipendiary Magistrate/City Magistrate/Sub-Divisional Magistrate/ Taluka Magistrate/ Executive Magistrate/ Extra Assistant Commissioner.
2. Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Presidency Magistrate.
3. Revenue Officer not below the rank of Tehsildar.
4. Sub-Divisional Officer of the area where the candidate and/or his family normally resides.
5. Administrator/ Secretary to the Administrator/ Development Officer (Lakshadweep Islands).

2.B. Reservations to Physically Challenged (PC) Candidates

In total, 5% reservation (horizontal) shall apply for candidates with physical disability as per Govt. of India norms (minimum 40% disability; attested copy of the certificate from District CMO must be furnished). Such candidates must satisfy the eligibility requirements for admission. However, while considering these applications, only suitability for the programme is ensured and they are not compared with those belonging to other categories. The candidates called for counseling may also be examined by a Medical Board constituted by the RGIPT, Jais.

3. ADMISSION OF FOREIGN NATIONALS AND INDIAN NATIONALS RESIDING ABROAD

Admissions to PhD Programmes are available for Indian Nationals Residing Abroad (INRA) and foreign nationals as per details given below.

1. Indian Nationals Residing Abroad (INRA): Candidates must have been residing abroad continuously for at least one year at the time of applying for admission. Their applications may be processed by the departments as and when they are received or according to any schedule convenient to the departments. The applications should be scrutinized to make sure that, in terms of qualifications, they are comparable with the candidates admitted in the general category.
2. The applications of foreign nationals, who are sponsored by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR)/Study in India programme, will be scrutinized by the departments concerned to assess their suitability for admission to the programme. The recommendations of the Department will be sent to the Chairman, Senate through the Chairperson, SPGC for approval.
3. Candidates belonging to the above two categories should satisfy the eligibility conditions and should have qualified GRE. The candidates not having a GRE score will have to study and pass a suitably designed English course.

Note:

1. Mere fulfillment of eligibility criteria does not guarantee admission in a programme. The candidates’ performance in the written test and interview should be at the levels expected for the respective programmes.
2. Further details on PhD programme is available on the official website www.rgipt.ac.in.

Application Fee for PhD

The application fee is non-refundable

• Rs 600/- + Rs. 108 (Taxes) for SC/ST/PwD and Female Candidates
• Rs 1200/- + Rs. 216 (Taxes) for General, OBC and EWS Candidates

4. Fee Structure for PhD Programme

Fee Structure [click here]

4.A. Refund Policy

table width="100%">Withdrawal of admission after deposition of full semester fees one day before the date of Physical Registration(Total deposited fees - Rs. 1500/-) will be refundedWithdrawal of admission on OR after the date of Physical RegistrationCaution Money of 9000/- refunded
Settlement of Mess Advance on actual consumption basisWithdrawal of admission in the mid of any semesterCaution Money of 9000/- refunded
Settlement of Mess Advance on actual consumption basis