Shri Dharmendra Pradhan releases India Rankings 2025

Union Minister of Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, today released the India Rankings 2025, which implements the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) drafted for this purpose by the Ministry of Education in 2015. Shri Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education and DoNER, Dr. Vineet Joshi, Secretary (HE); Prof. T.G. Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE; Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, NETF, NAAC and NBA and Dr. Anil Kumar Nassa, Member Secretary, NBA were present on this occasion along with vice chancellors and directors of institutions of higher education.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Pradhan said that the NIRF2025 rankings reflect the strength of our institutions and the promise of our students. He congratulated all the institutions featured in this year’s rankings.  Union Education Minister expressed happiness in knowing that NIRF has become a national benchmark.

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Shri Pradhan said NEP 2020 laid down a roadmap for the development of our HEIs, including improving their accreditation and that NIRF emerged as a trusted pillar in the journey of making Bharat a knowledge super power. He emphasized that everyone has to set higher benchmarks in the accreditation frameworks.

The Minister further said he was confident that NIRF would evolve as one of the best accreditation frameworks, involve more data-driven approaches, include more ranking parameters and categories and on board more institutions going forward.

Shri Pradhan underlined that we are uniquely poised to make a quantum leap and that the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had given the clarion call for a Viksit and Atmanirbhar Bharat by 2047. He said that we got ‘Swaraj’ and now we have to fight for our ‘Samriddhi’.

He mentioned that our academic institutions are at the core of this and they have to play a leading role in creating a roadmap for ‘Samriddhi’ and ‘Atmanirbharta.’

The Minister called upon all our academic institutions to become thriving grounds for innovation and entrepreneurship, join the NIRF framework and also aim to transform into most-sought after institutions globally.

Addressing the gathering, Union Minister of State for Education & Development of North Eastern Region, Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, said that India’s higher education system has expanded access and inclusivity at an unprecedented scale. With more than 14,000 institutions participating this year, NIRF has become a credible framework that not only ranks institutions but also drives quality, integrity, and innovation. As we mark a decade of India Rankings, this journey reflects the resilience and aspirations of our universities and colleges.

Dr. Majumdar further added that guided by the vision of NEP 2020, our efforts are focused on ensuring that higher education in India is globally competitive, future-ready, and aligned with national development goals. With new parameters like SDG-based rankings and emphasis on equity and research quality, we are shaping institutions that embody our SHINE vision, Sustainability, Holistic growth, Innovation, National pride, and Excellence, he added.

The first and maiden edition of India Rankings was released in 2016, in one category and three subject domains, namely Universities, Engineering, Management and Pharmacy. Subsequently new categories and subject domains were added from 2017 to 2025 from the initial one category and three subject domains to 9 categories and 8 subject domains as mentioned below:

Five Broad Categories of Parameters and Weightage

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), launched in September 2015 by the Ministry of Education, was used for this edition as well as for the previous nie editions of India Rankings released for the years 2016 to 2024. Five broad categories of parameters identified in the NIRF and their weightage on scale of 10 are given below:

Each of these five parameters have 2 to 5 sub-parameters. A total number of 19 sub-parameters are used for ranking of HEIs in different categories and subject domains. Institutions are ranked based on total sum of marks assigned for each of these five broad groups of parameters.

Besides, sourcing data on various parameters from applicant institutions, third party sources of data have also been used, wherever possible. Scopus (Elsevier Science) and Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) were used for retrieving publications and citations data. Derwent Innovation was used for retrieving data on patents. Data retrieved from these sources was shared with the institutions for transparency with a provision to give their inputs.

Increase in Number of Applicants for India Rankings from 2016 to 2024

A record number of 7,692 unique institutions responded and offered themselves for ranking under “Overall”, category-specific or domain-specific ranking. In all, 14,163 applications for ranking were made by these 7,692 unique applicant institutions including 4,045 in Overall Category, 1,584 in Engineering, and 4,030 in General Degree Colleges. A noticeable increase in institutional participation in the rankings exercise this year indicates its recognition amongst institutions of higher education in India as a fair and transparent ranking exercise. Number of unique applicants to India Rankings have increased from 2,426 in 2016 to 7,692 in 2025 whereas total number of applications for ranking in various categories have increased from 3,565 in 2016, to 14,163 in 2025 i.e. total increase of 5266 (217% increase) in number of unique institutions and 10,598 (297.3% increase) in total number of applicants.

Increase in Number of Institutions Ranked in India Rankings from 2016 to 2025

In line with the past practices, 100 institutions each are ranked in the Overall, Universities, Colleges, Engineering, Pharmacy and Management categories. Additional rankings are published in structured rank bands as mentioned below:

• Overall and Universities: Two rank bands (101 – 150 and 151 – 200)
• Engineering and College: Three rank bands (101–150, 151–200, 201–300)
• Management and Pharmacy: One rank band (101–125)
• State Public Universities: Top 50 institutions ranked + one rank band (51–100)
• Innovation and SDGs: Top 10 institutions ranked + one rank band (11–50)

In subject domains such as Architecture & Planning, Law, Medical, Dental, Agriculture & Allied Sectors, and Research Institutions, between 40 to 50 institutions are ranked. For emerging and specialized categories namely, Open Universities and Skill Universities, three institutions each are ranked due to the relatively smaller pool of eligible participants.

Key Highlights of India Rankings 2025

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras retains its 1^st position in Overall Category for the seventh consecutive year, i.e. 2019 to 2025 and in Engineering for tenth consecutive year, , i.e. from 2016 to 2025.
• Top 100 in Overall category consists of 24 state public universities, 22 private deemed universities, 19 IITs and IISc, 9 private universities, 8 NITs, 7 central universities, 5 Medical Institutions (under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), 4 ISSERs, 1 college and IARI (under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare).
• Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the Universities Category for tenth consecutive year, i.e. from 2016 to 2025. It stood first in Research Institutions Category for the fifth consecutive year, i.e. from 2021 to 2025.
• IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management subject retaining its first position for sixth consecutive year, i.e. from 2020 to 2025. It was ranked amongst top two in Management subject of the India Rankings from 2016 to 2019.
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi occupies the top slot in Medical for the eighth consecutive year, i.e. from 2018 to 2025. Moreover, AIIMS is ranked at 8^th position in Overall category. It was ranked at 6^th and 7^th position in Overall category in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
• Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi tops the ranking in Pharmacy for the second consecutive year. Jamia Hamdard was ranked at 1^st position for four consecutive years, i.e., from 2019 to 2022. It was ranked at 2^nd position in Pharmacy in 2018 and 2023.
• Hindu College secured the 1^st position amongst Colleges for the second consecutive year replacing Miranda House which retained its 1^st position for seven consecutive year, i.e. from 2017 to 2023. Hindu College was ranked at 2^nd position in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and at 3^rd and 4^th positions in 2020 and 2018 respectively.
• IIT Roorkee retained its 1^st position in Architecture and Planning for the fifth consecutive year, i.e. from 2021 to 2025. IIT Roorkee was ranked at 2^nd position from 2018 to 2020.
• National Law School of India University, Bengaluru retains its first position in Law for the eighth consecutive year, i.e. from 2018 to 2025.
• Colleges in Delhi maintained their dominance in ranking of Colleges with six colleges out of first 10 colleges from Delhi itself.
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi takes the top slot in Dental subject for the first time replacing the Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai which was ranked 1^st for the three-consecutive year from 2022 to 2024.
• Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi takes the top slot in Agriculture and Allied Sectors for the third consecutive year, i.e. from 2023 to 2025.
• Jadavpur University, Kolkata tops the State Public Universities Category first introduced in 2024.
• Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi tops the Open Universities Category for the second consecutive year, i.e. from 2024 to 2025.
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras tops in the Innovation category.
• Symbiosis Skill and Professional University (SSPU), Pune tops the Skill Universities category for the second consecutive year, i.e. from 2024 to 2025.
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras tops the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) category introduced for the first time this year.