How to Apply for the EBC Scholarship in Maharashtra: Step-by-Step

By the MasterMan editorial team • Scholarships • Updated August 2026 • 7 min read • Editorial policy

If your family belongs to the Open (General) category but comes from a modest income background, the EBC scholarship can cut your professional-course fees significantly — often a 50% waiver on tuition and exam fees. Yet thousands of eligible engineering, pharmacy and other students miss it every year simply because they don’t know the process. This guide fixes that.

1. What exactly is the EBC scholarship?

EBC stands for Economically Backward Class. In Maharashtra it is delivered mainly through the Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Shikshan Shulkh Shishyavrutti Yojana (a tuition-fee & exam-fee waiver scheme run by the Directorate of Technical Education / DHE). It is meant for Open-category students whose family income falls below a set limit, studying in approved professional courses such as Engineering, Pharmacy, Architecture, MBA/MMS, and similar.

In simple terms: if you got your seat through CAP (or an approved institute) and your family income is within the limit, the government pays a large share of your tuition — you don’t.

2. Eligibility — are you covered?

Category: Open / General (students of reserved categories usually have their own, often larger, waivers).
Domicile: You must be a domicile of Maharashtra.
Income limit: Family annual income up to ₹8,00,000 (as per current norms — always confirm the exact current ceiling and waiver slab on MahaDBT).
Admission: Admitted to an approved/aided course through CAP (or the sanctioned quota). Management/NRI-quota seats are generally not eligible.
Attendance & progress: You must maintain the minimum attendance and not be a repeater for the same year.

3. Documents to keep ready (scan clearly)

Income certificate from the Tehsildar (must state the current financial year’s family income).
Domicile / Nationality certificate of Maharashtra.
Aadhaar card (linked to your mobile number for OTP).
Aadhaar-linked bank account details (scholarship is paid by DBT).
HSC (12th) marksheet and the previous year’s marksheet if applicable.
CAP allotment letter and college fee receipt.
Gap certificate (only if there was a break in education).
Passport-size photo and signature (as per portal size limits).

Pro tip: Apply for the income and domicile certificates on Aaple Sarkar before the scholarship window opens — they take a week or two and are the #1 reason applications get delayed.

4. Step-by-step: applying on MahaDBT

All Maharashtra government scholarships (including EBC) are applied through a single portal — MahaDBT (mahadbt2.maharashtra.gov.in).

Register: Go to MahaDBT → “New Applicant Registration”. Verify with your Aadhaar and mobile OTP, then create your user ID and password.
Log in & complete your profile: Fill personal, domicile, income and bank details exactly as on your documents. Errors here cause rejection later.
Aadhaar authentication: Complete the Aadhaar-based authentication / e-KYC when prompted.
Browse schemes: Open the scheme list and select the DTE / DHE “Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj / EBC (Tuition Fee & Exam Fee waiver)” scheme that matches your course.
Fill the application: Enter your course, college, admission (CAP) details and year of study.
Upload documents: Attach the scanned documents from Section 3 within the size/format limits shown.
Submit & note the Application ID: Review everything, submit, and save the acknowledgement / Application ID.
College verification: Your college scholarship section verifies the application online. Follow up with them if it stays “pending at institute” for long.
Track status: Log in periodically to track approval. Once sanctioned, the waiver reflects against your fees / the amount is credited by DBT to your bank account.

5. Common mistakes that get applications rejected

Income certificate for the wrong financial year, or income above the limit.
Bank account not linked to Aadhaar (DBT fails).
Name mismatch between Aadhaar, marksheet and bank account.
Missing the college-level verification step (students think “submitted” = “done”).
Applying after the deadline — the portal window is time-bound each year.

Got your engineering seat already? Use our free counselling tool to plan smart CAP choices, and read our Maharashtra engineering admission guide so you know exactly when scholarship windows open.

Scheme names, income ceilings and waiver percentages are revised periodically by the Government of Maharashtra. Treat the figures above as indicative and always confirm the current rules on the official MahaDBT portal (mahadbt2.maharashtra.gov.in) before applying.