CSAB 2026 Counselling Fee Waiver / Concession

It's important to set the right expectation here: CSAB does not typically offer a complete fee waiver (zero fee) for any category. What it does offer, consistently across recent counselling cycles, is a reduced/concessional counselling fee for SC, ST, and PwD candidates compared to the General, OBC-NCL, and EWS fee slab. This mirrors a similar structure used by JoSAA and reflects a broader pattern in centralized technical admission processes across India.

Based on the fee structure pattern observed in recent years, the SC/ST/PwD counselling fee has generally been roughly half of the standard fee. The exact figures are published each year in CSAB's official fee/business rules notification — always check csab.nic.in for the confirmed CSAB 2026 amounts rather than assuming a figure carries over unchanged from a previous year.

The reduced fee is applied automatically based on the category you select during CSAB registration — there is no separate waiver application form to fill out. The fee amount shown to you at the point of seat acceptance/payment reflects your declared category directly. However, this benefit is conditional on your category claim being substantiated during document verification with a valid, current category/PwD certificate; if your certificate doesn't verify successfully, the fee concession (along with other category-based benefits like reservation quota itself) can be revoked.

Make sure your category certificate meets the validity requirements — see our guides on category certificate requirements and category certificate validity period for the specifics, and our PwD certificate percentage requirements guide if applying under the PwD category. If you need to correct your declared category after registration, see our application form correction guide.