NIRF India Ranking 2025: IIT Madras gets top position in overall category

In NIRF India Ranking 2025, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras topped the overall category as well as the engineering institutions category. Since the beginning of NIRF Ranking in 2016, IIT Madras has consistently remained in the top position.
• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan released the NIRF India Ranking 2025 on 04 September, 2025 in New Delhi. In the overall category, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras secured the top position, followed by Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that in 2014-15 there were less than 3.5 crore students in higher education sector, which has now increased to 4.5 crore and the government aims to double this number by 2030. Pradhan highlighted that in 2014, India had 11 institutions in the top 500 category of QS World University Rankings, which has now increased to 54.
• In Times Higher Education Ranking, India’s ranking has improved from 49th in 2019 to 113th today. In Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, six IIMs and two business schools from India are now included in the top 100.

NIRF India Ranking 2025

• Since the beginning of NIRF Ranking in 2016, IIT Madras has consistently remained in the top position.
• IIT Madras also secured the top position in the engineering institutions category.
• Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad secured the top position in the management institutions category.
• In addition, AIIMS, Delhi secured the top position in the medical category.
• In the law institutions category, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru secured the first position.
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi was chosen as the best institution for agriculture.
• Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru is the best institution for research.
• In the innovation ranking category, IIT-Madras got the first position.
• Jadavpur University, Kolkata is the best state public university.
• Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi is the best open university.
• Symbiosis Skills and Professional University is the best university for skill development.
• IISc Bengaluru has been given the status of the best university.
• Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi was the best institution for pharmacy.
• In this category, Punjab University, Chandigarh was ranked third.
• For best college, the top three positions were respectively Hindu College, Delhi.
• In architecture and planning, IIT-Roorkee was at the top.
• In the new category, under Sustainable Development Goals, IIT-Madras secured the first position.

See the list of top 10 institutions here:

• 1 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras - Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• 2 Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru - Bengaluru, Karnataka
• 3 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay - Mumbai, Maharashtra
• 4 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi - New Delhi
• 5 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur - Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
• 6 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal
• 7 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand
• 8 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, New Delhi
• 9 Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• 10 Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

What is new this year?

• Significant changes have been made in the framework of this year’s ranking. Notable changes include the inclusion of a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-based category, which evaluates institutions on the basis of sustainability standards, for the first time in the history of NIRF.
• The new format also highlights the developments that took place during the tenth edition of NIRF.

Management of research publications

• One of the most important updates in NIRF 2025 is the management of retracted research publications. For the first time, institutions will face penalties under the “Research and Professional Practice” criteria if the published work of their faculty has been retracted due to misconduct or errors.