How Samarth portal glitches plague admissions, exams, payments across universities

“We have been trying to fill our examination forms, but the portal repeatedly shows errors such as ‘data not found’ and ‘data mismatch’ despite all our details being available in the university records,” said Nitish Kumar, a fourth-semester MA Ancient History and Archaeology student at Patna University. “Students from several departments, including ancient history, Hindi, philosophy, geography and history, are facing similar issues. Many of us have been running between departments and administrative offices for the past four to five days, but the problem has not been fully resolved.”

Their experience is not unique. Students from universities across the country told Careers360 that they have faced technical glitches and other issues while using the Samarth portal. Similar concerns were also raised by a student organisation at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai (TISS).

The Samarth initiative’s goal is providing a single integrated platform for students, faculty and administration. However, students say technical glitches often force them to depend on university officials to resolve issues offline.

At Patna University, students alleged that portal-related issues had affected end-semester examination form submissions across multiple departments. Kumar said students had been approaching the university's IT cell for several days in an attempt to resolve the errors.

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“The administration keeps assuring us that the portal will start working, but students are still facing difficulties in completing the process. We have to spend hours at the university trying to get the errors fixed,” he said.

Samarth Portal: 13,000 institutions; 1.8 crore student records

Developed by the University of Delhi (DU) under the ministry of education, in 2019, Samarth, is an e-governance platform for universities and higher education institutions, integrating academic, administrative, financial and human resource functions on a single portal. Its modules cover admissions – including the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) – exams, enrolment, exams, grading, hostel management, student feedback, placements and alumni services. For university staff, it manages recruitment, employee records, payroll, leave applications, Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) and training programmes.

The platform also includes finance and administration tools, such as budget and accounts management, research grants, asset and inventory management, bill processing, grievance redressal, file management, affiliation, RTI management and affiliation services.

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According to DU’s annual report 2024-25 – the latest available – Samarth has been adopted by more than 13,000 higher education institutions across the country, maintaining records of over 1.8 crore students, with 77 lakh active students and nearly 1.9 lakh employees.

It has also brought unwarranted hassle for many.

Samarth Portal: ‘Student records change’

Ashish, a fourth-semester MA Hindi student, alleged that student records sometimes change unexpectedly on the portal, creating problems during exam registration.

“In several cases, details entered during admission appeared correctly at first but were later altered on the portal. Some students found that their date of birth had changed automatically, preventing them from logging in because the portal requires the date of birth for account access,” he said.

Ashish also pointed to inconsistencies in the date-of-birth format accepted by the portal. According to him, students often had to try multiple formats before being able to access their accounts. “The system sometimes accepts one date format and rejects another (dd-mm-yy and mm-dd-yy). Students are often left guessing which format will work, making the login process unnecessarily complicated,” Ashish said.

The students alleged that the delays had financial consequences as well. According to them, multiple candidates had to pay late fees because they were unable to submit forms before the deadline while waiting for their records to be corrected. “Whenever an exam form-filling process begins, students face problems on the portal,” he added.

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Samarth platform ‘not mobile friendly’

Students at the Central University of Karnataka (CUK) also raised concerns but their issue differed.

“The Samarth portal is not fully mobile-friendly. I was unable to properly fill in my category certificate details on a phone because the date-selection options did not function correctly. As a result, I had to use a laptop to complete the application,” said Abdul Safi, an MCA student at the Central University of Karnataka.

Safi said students also faced problems during document verification. According to him, the portal sometimes rejected passport-sized photos even when they met the prescribed specifications. “Students are required to upload passport-size photographs during registration, but the portal sometimes rejects them, saying the face does not match the required criteria. In some cases, the same photograph is accepted later without any changes,” he said, adding that this creates confusion and delays.

According to Safi, problems with the portal continue even after admission. “Students have faced problems with hostel fee payments and receipt generation. In some cases, payments were made but did not appear on the portal, leaving students worried about pending dues,” he said. Safi also said hostel fee payments still require manual intervention despite being available online. “Even though the system is supposed to be online, students cannot simply log in and pay hostel fees from anywhere. They first have to approach the student welfare office and request officials to activate the fee session. Only then can they make the payment online,” he said.

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Samarth portal ‘inaccessible’ for disabled

Students at the University of Hyderabad (HCU or UoH) have raised concerns about the accessibility and usability of the SAMARTH portal, particularly for students with disabilities and those managing day-to-day usability.

Akash Pradhan, a fourth-semester MA Political Science student, said the Samarth portal is difficult for visually-impaired users to navigate. “The portal is not very accessible for students with disabilities. I find it difficult to use independently because several features are not disability-friendly,” he said.

According to Pradhan, many menus and options are not properly labelled for screen readers, making navigation difficult. Server-related messages are not conveyed clearly through assistive technology, leaving users unsure whether the problem is with the portal or their device.

Pradhan also pointed to challenges with OTP-based verification. “Sighted students can easily switch between the portal and their messages to enter the OTP, but for visually impaired users, we often have to depend on someone else,” he said.

Nitish Prakash, a postgraduate student of sociology at the Hyderabad Central University said students face problems with attendance management and academic updates on the portal. “Once attendance data is uploaded to Samarth, there is very little scope for correction. Students often have to rely on professors or the administration to get issues resolved,” he said.

Prakash also highlighted recurring login problems, including delays in OTP delivery. “Sometimes the OTP does not arrive on time, and multiple OTPs are delivered together after a delay,” he said.

He added that students also encounter captcha errors, delays in hostel and mess-related updates, and problems during course registration, with elective options not always displayed correctly on the portal.

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TISS Mumbai: Student memorandum on Samarth

In a memorandum submitted to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) administration, the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) alleged that applicants faced repeated technical problems on the university’s Samarth admissions portal.

According to the student body, candidates encountered “API Request Failed” errors during registration and login, while the portal sometimes crashed during application submission, causing them to lose progress.

The PSF said these issues were particularly problematic because the admission window was limited.

The memorandum also raised concerns about the lack of clearly displayed helpdesk information, making it difficult for applicants to report technical problems. It further highlighted confusion over undertaking and declaration formats required during the admissions process.

The student organisation urged the administration to fix the technical issues, provide updated support details and sample document formats, and consider extending application deadlines.

BHU, BBAU Lucknow

Similar complaints also surfaced on social media during the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) admission process. In a post on X on May 28, applicant Sanmitra Bhattacharyya alleged that the Samarth portal repeatedly displayed a message stating, “Your address details were not found,” even after they had entered all required information and uploaded documents in the prescribed format. In a follow-up post, the applicant claimed that efforts to contact the Samarth portal had been unsuccessful and alleged that helpline numbers were switched off and that they had not received a response from the admission helpdesk despite sharing his application details.

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Students at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) Lucknow, also reported temporary access issues during the admission process. Gautam Prajapati, a B.Ed applicant, said the Samarth registration portal remained inaccessible for around three to four days after applications opened.

“When the PG registration portal was launched, the website would only show the welcome page while the rest of the screen remained blank. However, the issue was later resolved and the portal is functioning normally now,” he said.

The experiences shared by students suggest that while Samarth has made many university processes digital, technical issues continue to affect admissions, examinations, fee payments and other services.

Students say they often have to approach university officials to resolve problems that are supposed to be handled online. “We were told that the system would simplify university procedures, but many of the same issues continue to persist,” Ashish Kumar said.

Careers360 has reached out to Samarth officials and the universities concerned for comment. If they respond, this story will be updated with their comments.