NID DAT 2026 Reservation Criteria: Category-wise Reservation and Program-wise Seat Intake

The National Institute of Design (NID) will conduct the DAT Prelims exam in the third week of December 2026. B.Des exam will be held around 10 am - 1 pm. The candidates will be required to report for the exam at 8 am. Gates' closing time will be 9.30 am. DAT Prelims for the B.Des programme will be conducted in a paper-and-pencil/pen mode. 

NID application form 2026 opened on September 11, 2025. The application form opens online at the NID admission portal -admissions.nid.edu. Candidates who meet the program-specific eligibility criteria may apply before the last date.

The NID application form is for admission to the B. Des and M.Des courses offered by participating colleges. The last date to apply for NID DAT 2026 was December 01, 2025. 

The application fee of NID DAT for the B. Des for General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL candidates is INR 3,000. SC, ST, PwD candidates only ned to pay INR 1,500. 

NID DAT, along with NIFT and UCEED are among the most competitive national-level entrance exams in the country. The fact that there are only 425 seats for the B. Des and 347 seats for the M.Des programme makes it very competitive. But that being said, if the candidate prepares well and with the correct strategy, then the NID DAT exam can be cracked. Among the first things the candidate needs to do is prepare a efficient study timetable get familiar with the syllabus and pattern, and use good books as reference material. 

It is not mandatory to take coaching to get a good rank in NID DAT. It is because the entrance exam will test the creative, drawing, and innovative skills of the candidate. Now, a coaching institute cannot exactly teach you to be creative or become innovative. Instead, with a little effort these skills can learn these skills yourself. Also, a major thrust of the design aptitude test is to evaluate the drawing skills of the candidate. So, make it a point to work on your design skills, including learning how to draw lines, shadow, figure, gesture, cartoon drawing, etc. When practicing drawing, also keep a tab on the drawing speed, as it will help you complete the paper in the allotted time.

The NIDs have a combined intake of 425 seats for the B. Des programme. Of these, 45 seats are earmarked for the Industrial Design programme. The candidate can select from specializations like Ceramic and Glass Design, Furniture & Interior Design, and Product Design. The candidate will be able to select the programme of specialisation at the time of counselling. 

Total seats offered in B. Des courses at all the NID campuses is 425 seats. For M.Des course, NID seats on offer for admission are 347. The B. Des programme is offered at five institutes - NID Ahmedabad, NID Andhra Pradesh, NID Haryana, NID Madhya Pradesh, and NID Assam. The various faculty members under which the programme is available include Faculty of Communication Design, Faculty of Industrial Design, and Faculty of Textile, Apparel, Lifestyle, and Accessory Design. Meanwhile, the M.Des course is available at NID Ahmedabad, NID Bengaluru, and NID Gandhinagar. Admission to both the B. Des and M.Des courses will be through the NID DAT entrance exam.

A. NID cutoffs vary from course to course as well as the reservation category to which candidates belong. In 2019, NID cutoff for B. Des course for general category candidates at NID Ahmedabad was 96.84 whereas the cutoff for M.Des course vary depending on the discipline for which candidates had applied for admissions. Aspirants can view detailed NID DAT cutoffs for past years' exam here. The cut-off depends on a multitude of factors, including the category of the candidate, the seat intake, total applicants, performance of candidate in the NID DAT exam, etc. If any of these parameters change, the cut-off would also change.