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The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will begin the online choice-filling for UG counselling 2025 from Monday, October 6. The process, however, is subject to the completion of bank payment gateway integration. In case of any further delay, it will start from the next day, October 7, the Director General (Education), ICAR, Dr Joykrushna Jena told indianexpress.com.
“We are keeping Monday as the target to begin the counselling process. If not on October 6, then definitely by Tuesday, October 7,” Dr Jena said.
Why the delay?
Dr Jena said ICAR had been ready to begin counselling by mid-September, but integration of the payment gateway with the State Bank of India (SBI) caused a hold-up. Earlier, ICAR had tied up with another bank, which later backed out, forcing the council to restart the process with SBI.
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“Payment gateway integration was crucial. Initially, one bank backed out, and now SBI is handling the process. They have assured us that the system will be ready by Saturday. If that does not happen, counselling will still begin by Monday or Tuesday,” he said.
Counselling timeline
Once the process begins, ICAR will conduct five rounds of counselling instead of the earlier three or four. Each round will last about three days, shortened from the usual five, so that the admission process concludes by the third week of October.
“Earlier, each round used to take five days, but this time we are reducing it to three days. Our aim is to finish the counselling by the third week of October, though we are already delayed by about one and a half months,” Dr Jena noted.
Candidates had been waiting for clarity on the counselling schedule after the release of rank cards earlier in September. The registration and choice-filling process will now formally mark the start of admissions for undergraduate agriculture and allied courses offered across ICAR-affiliated universities.
University participation and eligibility concerns
Dr Jena also confirmed that out of 50 universities offering BSc Agriculture, a majority have now accepted agriculture and related subjects from students who had opted for it at the Plus Two level. The ICAR earlier this week notified a fresh seat matrix in the updated counselling brochure.
He noted that a majority of the universities or agricultural institutes that ICAR had deliberated with will now accept combinations of Physics, Chemistry, and Agriculture, or Agriculture, Biology and others, as offered at the Class 12 level, along with the traditional Physics, Chemistry, Biology (PCB) stream.
The counselling process has already been delayed by more than a month. According to Dr Jena, this was compounded by coordination challenges with universities and the need for multiple levels of academic approval.
As per an earlier report by The Indian Express, the ICAR’s counselling process for UG, PG and PhD courses has faced multiple setbacks this year, leaving candidates uncertain about timelines.
“This year, we are delayed by two months, but we believe everything will be finished well before mid-October. Last year the process went up to January. We expect to close it much earlier this time,” he said.
