ANRF Advanced Research Grant (ARG) 2026

Indian citizens (or OCI/PIO with sufficient residual service in India) holding a regular academic/research/Professor of Practice position in a recognised Indian institution, with a PhD in Sciences/Mathematics/Engineering/Medicine/Social Sciences. MD/MS/MDS/MVSc holders eligible 2 years post-degree. PI must have project duration + 1 year of service remaining.

The Advanced Research Grant (ARG) Program of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) provides financial assistance to researchers and scientists in academic institutions, National Research Laboratories, and DSIR-SIRO recognised research organisations to carry out high-impact fundamental or basic research (TRL 1–3) and applied research (TRL 1–6) in frontier areas of science and technology. ARG subsumes the erstwhile Core Research Grant (CRG) of SERB.

Scope: Natural sciences including mathematical sciences; engineering & technology; environmental sciences; earth & atmospheric sciences; and scientific & technological interfaces of humanities & social sciences. The program particularly encourages collaborative and interdisciplinary research with potential for transformative impact.

Nature & Duration of Support:

• Maximum project duration: 5 years (sanctioned in phased manner: 3+1 for 4 years; 3+1+1 for 5 years).
• Upper funding limit: ₹5 Crores per project.
• Budget heads: (A) Recurring (research personnel, consumables, travel, contingencies, cloud credits, software licenses, publication costs) and (B) Non-Recurring (equipment, software purchase, long-term cloud access).
• Travel: up to ₹5 lakhs (including international travel for project work).
• Contingency: up to ₹5 lakhs.
• Overheads provided to host institution as per ANRF norms.
• For NRLs and recognised research organisations with project outlay exceeding ₹1 Crore, 50% of non-recurring expenses must be contributed by the host institution.

Team Composition:

• One PI with full ownership; up to 2 Co-PIs (up to 5 Co-PIs for multidisciplinary proposals).
• Funding to at most 3 institutions (PI's institution + up to 2 Co-PI institutions).
• Honorary Investigators (including industry/international collaborators) permitted without funding.

MATRICS sub-program: Fixed grant of ₹5 lakh per annum plus overheads for up to 5 years for active researchers in Mathematical Sciences, Theoretical Sciences, and Quantitative Social Sciences. No Co-PIs allowed; one proposal per applicant.

Evaluation: Two-level review (pre-proposal screening + full proposal expert review); proposals exceeding ₹1 Crore undergo a third level of evaluation with deeper impact, technical, and team scrutiny. Selection criteria include scientific quality and novelty, advancement of state-of-the-art, clarity of deliverables, feasibility, and high-impact potential.

Constraints for this call: A researcher may apply as PI in at most one proposal and as Co-PI in at most one proposal. An investigator may hold at most 4 ANRF/erstwhile SERB-funded individual-centric projects concurrently (excluding mission-mode programs).