DAAD Scholarship for Indian Students 2027-28: Eligibility, Amount and How to Apply

DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) is Germany’s government-backed academic exchange body, and India is currently its largest applicant pool after China. The DAAD scholarship for Indian students is not one award. It is a bundle of 25+ programs, each with its own rules, split across three named tracks: 

• Study Scholarships (master’s)
• Research Grants (PhD)
• EPOS (development-related postgraduate courses, the most-applied-to route for Indian professionals), plus short internships like WISE for undergraduates.

• A completed or nearly completed bachelor’s degree, usually within the last six years
• Two years of relevant work experience or research assistantship for most master’s and PhD tracks (not required for undergraduate internships)
• IELTS 6.0+, TOEFL iBT 80+, or a German certificate (TestDaF/DSH), depending on the programme’s teaching language
• No fixed upper age limit, though committees favour applicants who have not been long out of academia

Counselor insight: Most rejected DAAD applications fail on program fit, not eligibility. A strong applicant with a below-cutoff IELTS score routinely loses out to a weaker profile with the right language proof for that specific call. Match your score to the exact program, not the general eligibility page.

See what our counselors say about whether your IELTS score affects your chances of a scholarship in Germany.

India is now Germany’s largest international student group, overtaking China. Destatis and DAAD data (Wissenschaft weltoffen 2025) put Indian enrollment at 59,419 in Winter 2024/25, rising to 69,816 in Winter 2025/26, a 17.5% jump in a single year. Engineering accounts for the bulk of this growth, which is also where most EPOS and Study Scholarship funding is concentrated.

Over a full 2-year Master’s, DAAD’s stipend, insurance, and travel allowance combine to a total funding value of roughly Rs.27-30 lakh on top of the fact that most public German universities charge no tuition beyond the semester contribution.

Counselor insight: Rising applicant volume means committees are seeing more applications per seat. A generic motivation letter that might have worked in 2022 is filtered out faster today. Program-specific fit matters more each cycle, not less.

Most German public universities charge no tuition beyond a semester contribution of €150-350, so the DAAD stipend is based on the cost of living, not on tuition. It also includes health, accident, and liability insurance for the funding period, plus a rent subsidy of up to €350 (Rs.38,500), family allowance of €276 (Rs.30,360), and child allowance of €259 (Rs.28,490) where applicable.

Counselor insight: The DAAD stipend is benchmarked to Germany’s BAföG living-cost rate, the same figure embassies use to set the blocked account requirement (€11,904 a year, or roughly Rs.13.09 lakh; this amount is revised periodically, so confirm the current figure). A DAAD award letter typically replaces the blocked account as proof of funds for your visa.

Read how our counselors answer whether a scholarship can cover tuition and living costs without a blocked account

Counselor insight: Rejected applicants who reapply to the same program with the same motivation letter rarely improve their odds. The fix is almost always related to subject fit or a stronger research proposal, not better phrasing.

See what our counselors say on fully funded scholarships for master’s and bachelor’s applicants in Germany.

Get certified translations done through a sworn translator recognized for German consular use. A German student visa application will need most of these documents again, so keep certified copies on hand.

For the winter 2027-28 intake, funding will start in October 2027. If you’re starting your preparation now (August 2026), here’s the month-by-month plan from this point forward.

Are you instead targeting the summer semester of 2027 (April start)? That window is tighter: applications open early December 2026 and close by 15 January 2027, with some programs closing even earlier.

• Missed the deadline: DAAD portals close automatically. You can apply to the next cycle or to a different program that is still open in the same academic year.
• IELTS/TOEFL score falls short: Retake at least three months before your deadline. Conditional offers with a post-arrival language course exist but are program-specific, not guaranteed.
• Admission or supervisor confirmation is delayed: Contact your DAAD regional office (Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, or the New Delhi regional office) to confirm if a provisional application is accepted for your program.
• Visa delayed after your award letter: German missions can take 6-12 weeks. We recommend applying for your visa the same week you receive the award letter, ensuring you have your APS certificate ready.

Counselor insight: The most common late-stage failure isn’t the DAAD process. It’s the APS certificate, which many students start only after the award letter arrives, and it can take 6-8 weeks on its own. Start it in parallel with your DAAD application.

1. Search the DAAD scholarship database and filter by India, degree level, and subject.
2. Read the specific call for applications, not just the general eligibility page.
3. Contact a German supervisor if your program requires it, 6-8 months in advance.
4. Certify your documents: degree certificates, transcripts, language scores, and CV.
5. Write a program-specific motivation letter naming the exact course or professor.
6. Submit via the DAAD portal or your chosen university, per the call for applications.
7. Track your application and respond promptly to any document requests.
8. On selection, use the award letter to apply for your German student visa alongside your APS certificate.

The DAAD scholarship for Indian students rewards applicants who match their profile to the exact program. Three things to act on:

1. Match your profile to the exact DAAD program, not the general eligibility page, before you start drafting documents.
2. Start your APS certificate and language tests in parallel with your DAAD application, not after.
3. Use your award letter to apply for your visa immediately, as the typical processing time is 6-12 weeks.

Have questions about the DAAD scholarship for Indian students? Book a free session with a LeapScholar counselor.