If you are looking to apply for an assistant professor position but aren't ready for the PhD mandate, then luck's on your side. Due to the COVID pandemic, the University Grants Commission has deferred the implementation of the guidelines released three years ago, which proposed making a PhD qualification mandatory for fresh university teachers in the rank of assistant professors. The guidelines, which were supposed to come into effect from July 2021 has been deferred to July 2023. 

Officials in the UGC have said that it has been receiving several representations over the last several months against the implementation of the norms that said master's degree with National Eligibility Test will no longer be the minimum eligibility requirement for direct recruitment to the post of assistant professors in colleges and universities.

As of now, for direct recruitment into universities, a PhD is not mandatory. All one needs is a master's degree and to have cleared NET. The Higher Education Regulator said in a statement, "UGC extends the date of applicability of PhD as mandatory qualification for direct recruitment of assistant professors in departments of universities from July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2023 as per UGC Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education Regulation, 2021."