How Many NITs are there in India?
NIT Rankings, Courses, GATE Eligibility
M. Tech Admissions Guide
Pursuing an M.Tech from a top technical institution is the dream of many GATE aspirants. However, not every aspirant gets their desired college or course. Most of the aspirants who are interested in M.Tech try to get admission into IITs or IISc Bangalore, but due to the limited number of seats, everyone cannot get admission into these premier institutions. Due to lack of knowledge or some misinformation, students get disheartened and give up their dream of pursuing an M.Tech. To help such students, MADE EASY has come up with a blog post. In this blog post, we will unveil information about NIT, one of the finest but lesser-known technical institutions in the country. In this blog, we will find out more details about these top technical institutions in the country. We would also see what NITs are, how many NITs there are in India, the ranking of NITs in 2025, and their M.Tech admission process. In the end we would also look at comparisons between IITs and NITs.
Table of Contents
What are NITs and their history?
National Institutes of Technology, popularly known as NITs, are some of the premier technical institutions of India. NITs are famous for their quality education, infrastructure, and top placements. Post-independence, the government of India and various state governments decided to provide high-quality technical education across the country while also promoting cultural diversity, which formed the basis for establishing Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs). Another reason behind setting up the REC was to reduce the concentration of top institutions in a few states. The first REC was set up in Warangal in 1989. In 2002-2003, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) upgraded 17 RECs into National Institutes of Technology, and by the NIT Act of 2007, all NITs became Institutes of National Importance, like IITs and AIIMS.
Role of NITs in Indian Technical Education
NITs played an important role in shaping Indian technical education. It was a necessary step back in the 1980s to strengthen the Indian technical sector. Let us have a look at what role NITs played in Indian technical education.
- Reduced burden on top institutions: Establishment of NITs (previously known as RECs) reduced the academic and infrastructure burden on the top technical institutions like IITs and others. This helped in decentralizing the talent pool.
- Wide access to technical education: With the establishment of NITs, the access to technical education improved. With the increasing number of NITs, the options for getting quality education increased.
- Increased research and development: NITs being a technical institute helped in increasing the research and development in technical sectors.
- More options to choose from: With the establishment of NITs, students have gotten a lot of options to choose from. Students pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, and even PhD-level courses have a wide variety of streams/subjects.
- Bridging the gap between various regions: NITs were established as Regional Engineering Colleges. Unlike IITs, which were only available in the top few states of the country, NITs were established in every state so that the cultural bridge among various regions gets reduced.
These are some of the points showing how NITs have changed the shape of the Indian technical education sector. Although the contribution of NITs cannot be explained in words, still we tried to list a few.
How many NITs are there in India?
As NITs help in connecting cultural bridges between the students of various states, it becomes important to find out how many NITs are there in India and in which state/UT they are located. As of now, there are 31 NITs that are fully operational and contributing to the development of the country.
The list of 31 NITs along with their states is given in the table below:
| S. No. | Name of NIT | State/UT |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology Jalandhar, Punjab | Punjab |
| 2. | Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Rajasthan | Rajasthan |
| 3. | Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh |
| 4. | Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh | Uttar Pradesh |
| 5. | National Institute of Technology, Agartala | Tripura |
| 6. | National Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh | Andhra Pradesh |
| 7. | National Institute of Technology Arunachal Pradesh | Arunachal Pradesh |
| 8. | National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kerala | Kerala |
| 9. | National Institute of Technology Delhi | Delhi |
| 10. | National Institute of Technology, Durgapur | West Bengal |
| 11. | National Institute of Technology, Goa | Goa |
| 12. | National Institute of Technology, Himachal Pradesh | Himachal Pradesh |
| 13. | National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur | Jharkhand |
| 14. | National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra | Haryana |
| 15. | National Institute of Technology, Manipur | Manipur |
| 16. | National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya | Meghalaya |
| 17. | National Institute of Technology, Nagaland | Nagaland |
| 18. | National Institute of Technology, Mizoram | Mizoram |
| 19. | National Institute of Technology, Patna | Bihar |
| 20. | National Institute of Technology, Puducherry | Puducherry |
| 21. | National Institute of Technology, Raipur | Chhattisgarh |
| 22. | National Institute of Technology, Rourkela | Odisha |
| 23. | National Institute of Technology, Sikkim | Sikkim |
| 24. | National Institute of Technology, Srinagar | Jammu & Kashmir (UT) |
| 25. | National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam | Assam |
| 26. | National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, Karnataka | Karnataka |
| 27. | National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli | Tamil Nadu |
| 28. | National Institute of Technology, Warangal | Telangana |
| 29. | National Institute of Technology Government Polytechnic, Uttarakhand | Uttrakhand |
| 30. | Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology Surat | Gujrat |
| 31. | Visvesvarayya National Institute of Technology Nagpur | Maharashtra |
These premier institutes offer various undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs for science, engineering, and management. However, in this blog, we will focus on postgraduate engineering courses. To pursue postgraduate engineering courses, students need to appear in GATE and score good marks. After that, students have to apply to different NITs based upon their ranks/marks scored during the counselling period. After getting shortlisted, candidates would have to appear for interviews in different NITs based upon their ranks.
NITs ranking 2025 as per NIRF
Generally, students who want to pursue PG courses in engineering from NITs often find difficulty in selecting the top NITs. For the ease of students, we are providing a list of top 10 ranked NIT in 2025 on the basis of NIRF rankings.
NIRF stands for National Institute Ranking Framework. It is a method by which the Ministry of Education ranks different institutes of India.
The list of top NITs along with their ranking are given in the table below:
| S.No | NIT | NIT Ranking 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli | 9 |
| 2. | National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal | 17 |
| 3. | National Institute of Technology Rourkela | 19 |
| 4. | National Institute of Technology Warangal | 21 |
| 5. | National Institute of Technology Calicut | 25 |
| 6. | Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur | 39 |
| 7. | National Institute of Technology Silchar | 40 |
| 8. | Malaviya National Institute of Technology | 43 |
| 9. | National Institute of Technology Durgapur | 44 |
| 10. | National Institute of Technology Delhi | 45 |
Eligibility criteria for M.Tech in NIT
Generally, all the NITs use GATE scores for admission into postgraduate courses. However, merely a GATE score is not the sole eligibility criterion for M.Tech in NITs; candidates also require a minimum CGPA in B.Tech (6.5 for unreserved candidates), and they should also clear the interview before getting enrolled in the M.Tech program at NIT.
For the ease of students, here we are providing a step-by-step process of NIT admission after clearing GATE.
- Appear in GATE.
- Clear GATE with a good score, as this increases the chance of getting good specialization in top NITs.
- Check eligibility criteria. Most of the NITs have criteria of 6.5 CGPA or 65% marks in graduation for unreserved candidates.
- Participate in CCMT counselling sessions. Centralized Counselling for M.Tech./M.Arch./M.Plann. Admissions (CCMT) helps get admission to postgraduate courses in various IITs, NITs, and other top institutions.
- Fill the choices as per your rank and score before the deadline.
- Based upon GATE rank and score, candidates would be called for interviews at different NITs.
- After clearing the interview, candidates would have to go for DV and fee submission.
- After DV, seats would be allotted in different NITs.
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Other than GATE, MADE EASY also offers courses for ESE, State Engineering Services, AE and JE courses, RRB JE course, SSC JE courses, postal courses. Students can know more about these courses from the official website of MADE EASY, i.e. https://www.madeeasy.in/
NITs vs IITs vs IIITs for M.Tech – Where Should You Apply?
No doubt, IITs are some of the best technical institutions in the country. Getting shortlisted and selected in IITs for M.Tech. courses requires a lot of hard work and conceptual clarity. In any examination, it is not possible that every candidate become a topper or scores good marks. Those candidates who didn’t get desired results in GATE even after a lot of hard work need not be disheartened. If they could not get a seat in IITs, they should try to grab a seat in NITs, as these institutions also provide good placements. The placement statistics of some NITs are even better than IITs. To know more about the placement data of any NIT, candidates can visit the official website of that particular NIT. Moreover, it depends upon the interest of the candidates in where they want to pursue their M.Tech courses.
FAQs
1. How many NITs are there in 2025?
Answer: In 2025, there are total 31 NITs in India.
2. Which NIT is best for M.Tech in CSE/EEE/ME?
Answer: Top NITs are good for M. Tech placements. However, it depends upon the interest of the candidate where they want to join.
3. Can I get into NIT without GATE?
Answer: No, to pursue M.Tech from NIT, candidates need to appear and score good marks in GATE.
4. What is the minimum GATE score for NIT admission?
Answer: It varies from branch to branch, specialization to specialization, and institute to institute. However, the candidate must clear the minimum cutoff for NIT admission in any stream.
