NIFT Entrance Exam 2026: e-Counselling and Seat Allotment

The expected cutoff for NIFT 2026 for B.Des is:

Category	Expected Cutoff for B.Des
Open	30-80
EWS	26-29
OBC	26-29
SC	22
ST	19

The material kit of NIFT Situation Test 2026 can include the following:

• Corrugated sheets: 2
• Cardboard: 1
• OHP Sheets: 1
• Translucents Sheet: 1
• Coloured sheets: 4
• Ice cream sticks: 8-10
• Toothpicks: 6-7
• All pinks
• Jute Thread: 2m
• Needle
• Balloon
• Clay: 2 colors
• Chopsticks: 2
• Quilling strips
• Paper plate: 2
• Bubble wrap: 1
• Muslin Cloth piece
• Butter paper
• Newspaper
• Rubber band

Some of the important topics for NIFT Situation Test are:

• Momentoes
• Badges
• product Design
• Set Design
• Book Cover/Diaries
• Window Display: For Shoes, Clothes, etc.
• Accessories
• Character Design

NIFT 2026 Final Result for UG and PG programmes was released on June 03, 2026. 

The NIFT exam includes two stages - The candidate first appears in the written exams, and if shortlisted has to next appear in a Situation Test/ Personal Interview (PI).

Note that the written exams for the B.Des and M.Des program includes the GAT and CAT, whereas for the other programs the written exam includes only the GAT.

The final score for the B. Des programme will be prepared by considering the performance of the candidate in CAT, GAT and the Situation Test. In case of the B.FTech programme, the merit list will be prepared based on GAT scores.

NIFT Final Result: Weightage

Programme	Test	Weightage
Bachelor of Design (BDes)	CAT	50%
	GAT	30%
	Situation Test	20%
Bachelor of Fashion Technology (BFTech)	GAT	100%
Master of Design (MDes)	CAT	40%
	GAT	30%
	GD/PI	30%
Master of Fashion Technology (MFTech)	GAT	70%
	GD/PI	30%
Master of Fashion Management (MFM)	GAT	70%
	GD/PI	30%

PG candidates will be evaluated on the various parameters as listed below by a panel, in the Personal Interview:

1. Career orientation 

2. Aptness for the course 

3. Overall personal achievements in academics and co-curricular activities 

4. Communication 

5. General awareness, aptitude, creative and lateral thinking 

Candidates will be shortlisted for the PI based on their performance in the written exam - GAT (and CAT in case of M.Des program).

Please note that NIFT reserves the right to modify the entrance examination scheme. This includes non-conduct of any stage (s) due to unforeseen circumstances.

The information provided by the candidate when filling out the NIFT 2026 application form are verified by NIFT officials before any candidate is considered for admission in the first week of June.

The verification of original documents is conducted online. 

Note that at the time of counseling registration, the candidate is required to upload documents. 

Also, if the certificates are in any other language than Hindi/ English, then a certified translation in Hindi/ English produced duly verified by the issuing institution/ gazetted officer. If the candidate fails to produce the translation, the candidate may be denied admission. 

The NTA will not edit/ modify/ alter any information entered by the candidate under any circumstances. It will also not entertain requests for change in information. So, you must exercise utmost caution when filling up the form.

Request for corrections made by any candidates through Post/Fax/ WhatsApp/ Email/ by hand will not be entertained by NTA.

The cut-off of NIFT for the various academic courses is not fixed. This is because the cut-off depends on variables like seat intake, the performance of applicants in the NIFT exam, total number of applications received for admission, etc. Now these variables may change from year to year. For instance, the number of candidates appearing in NIFT and qualifying the exam may be different across the years. And when that happens, the cut-off also changes. Typically, if the seat intake increases, the cut-off goes down and vice versa. Likewise, if the number of applicants increases, expect a higher cut-off.

The NIFT exam is among the competitive and is also considered among the toughest. So, it is recommended that the candidate starts their exam preparation early. NIFT exam has various components like written exam and Situation Test /Personal Interview. Candidates seeking admission to the B. Des and M.Des courses need to prepare for both the CAT and GAT. The CAT is a drawing-based exam. Now unless the candidate is already well-versed, the exam will be very difficult. So, start early. The same goes for the GAT.

NIFT Delhi is frequently ranked among the top design colleges in the country. So, the admission cut-off for the institute is pretty high, especially when compared to the lower ranked colleges. This is because being a higher ranked college, NIFT Delhi receives a higher number of applicants. Another factor is more number of higher ranked candidates want to get admission in the institute, which also pushes up the cut-off. On the other hand, lower ranked colleges are not a priority for the top ranked candidates; meaning a higher number of lower ranked candidates applies to these institutes. This keeps the cut-off low in these institutes.

NIFT and NID are equally tough. NIFT has two stages: NIFT Written exam and NIFT Situation Test and Personal Interview, whereas NID DAT also has two stages: NID DAT Prelims and NID Mains, which include Studio test and Personal Interview. 

Candidate who is preparing for NIFT can give NID DAT entrance exam with the same preparation. Practice and consistency in required for both exams.

The expected cutoff for NIFT M.Des is given below:

Category	Expected Cutoff M.Des
Open	26-70
EWS	22
OBC	22
SC	16
ST	16-18

Candidates will be shortlisted for NIFT 2026 Studio Test/ Interview based on performance in NIFTEE Stage 1. NIFT 2026 written exams comprise the GAT and CAT exams.

If the candidate fails to be included in the shortlist, he or she is not eligible to appear in the Situation Test/ Interview.

Good score for B.F.Tech is 95+ for General, 80 for OBC, 60 for SC/ST.

The NIFTs offers the following specializations for B.Des: 

• Fashion Design 
• Leather Design
• Accessory Design
• Textile Design
• Knitwear Design
• Fashion Communication.

National Institute of Design releases sample papers of NIFT on its admission portal. These sample papers are available for all the UG and PG courses offered by NIFT participating institutes. To download sample papers, candidate simply needs to click on the sample paper they want to download. There is no need to create an applicant account or provide any other applicant details to download the sample papers. However, if the candidate wishes to download sample papers published by coaching institutes, he or she may be required to create an account. Further, the candidate, in most cases, has to pay a fee to use the sample papers.

It is recommended that the candidate make NIFT sample papers a part of their exam preparation strategy from the very beginning. For one, it will help the candidate evaluate their progress, hone their problem solving skills, and get a taste of the types of questions that will be asked in the entrance exam. Since at the start, most of the NIFT syllabus will be untouched, the candidate may focus on the topic they are preparing at that moment. In addition to the sample papers, the candidate must also keep solving the problem Sets given at the end of the chapter or end of the book. It is also important that the candidate keeps a close tab on the exam pattern and syllabus when solving the sample papers.

For NIFT Preparation, candidates need to solve 30-40 sample papers in 6 months. When the exams are very near, one sample paper should be solved daily.

NTA released the NIFT 2026 Question Paper for Stage 1 along with the provisional Answer Key. Candidates were able to download the question paper by logging into NIFT portal.

Yes, 40 is a good marks for NIFT B.Des 2026 this year (expected). For NIFT B.Des, General Category, 40 - 50 is the goodscore for the general category, for OBC, it will be around 30, for SC/ST, it will be around 30.

NTA released the FINAL answer key of NIFT 2026 on March 23, 2026.

Final key is released after considering complaints filed by candidates against the provisional key. No further objections against the final key are entertained. This means the keys given in the final key is considered correct keys to all the questions asked in the NIFT exam.

The candidate can use the keys given in the final answer key to precisely calculate their expected scores.

Yes, the NTA will upload the carbon copy of the OMR answer sheet along with the answer key.

The candidate could download their OMR sheets by logging into the portal using their candidate log-in details. The carbon copy of the OMR answer sheet as the name indicates is a record of the candidates responses in the entrance exam. The OMR sheet can be used by the candidate in conjunction with the GAT answer key to check the status of the answers (correct or incorrect). Next the candidate can use the official marking scheme to calculate probable score.

NTA released the NIFT 2026 Provisional Answer Key on February 17, 2026. The objection window was open from February 17, 2026 to February 19, 2026. Last year, the Answer Key was released on February 15, 2025. The answer key is released on the NTA NIFT Website.

Candidates can use NIFT Answer Key to calculate their score in the NIFT entrance exam. NTA will release the NIFT Question Paper and Answer Key. Candidates can count the number of correct answers based on the marking scheme.

Candidates must remember the following points for NIFT.

• Answer key will only be released for the GAT paper
• No answer keys will be released for the CAT paper
• Answer key has to be downloaded online from the NID admission portal
• Candidate will be given the option to challenge the NIFT answer key
• To make a challenge, the candidate will have to pay INR 500 per challenge. The final answer key will be released after considering all challenges filed by candidates.

One big concern students have regarding the delay in the NIFT exams is that the upcoming admission schedule could be cramped. If that had happened, the student would have had very limited time to prepare for the situation test/ personal interview. The other concern was if a student had failed to qualify in the written exams, he would also have limited time to plan his or her next course of action.

The allotment of seats for NIFT 2026 will be based on the following parameters:

• Choice opted at the time of counseling registration (academic programs + campuses)
• The category of the candidate
• Seat intake in the college opted for admission
• NIFT 2026 merit rank of the candidate.

NIFT Admit card will carry information given below.

Name, photograph and signature, NIFT  roll number, name and address of NIFT exam centre, Exam timings, Exam date, Exam centre code, Reporting time, Exam-day guidelines.

Candidates must carefully check details mentioned in admit card and ensure that they are correct and legible. If there are any discrepancies, candidate must contact exam and get them rectified.

In the event of any ineligibility being detected by NIFT /NTA at any stage of the NIFT admission process, the candidature of the candidate will be cancelled. Further, legal action also may be initiated. NTA will not verify the information provided by the candidates during online registration and hence candidature will be purely provisional subject to the fulfillment of eligibility criteria.

NIFT Entrance Exam consists of NIFT Written exam: GAT and CAT. After this, the second stage is NIFT Situation Test and Personal Interview.

NIFT CAT is said to be the hardest and most time taking in the first stage. In the second stage, NIFT Situation test is considered to be hard. But all these can be cleared with practice.

Candidate must check all the details carefully after downloading the NIFT admit card 2026. This includes checking the spelling of your name, date and timings of the exam, name and address of the allotted exam centre, etc. In case there are any discrepancies, like your name's spelling is wrong , you must contact exam officials immediately.

NIFT officials in most cases also issues a helpline for students to tackle such cases. You can call NIFT officials at this number or email them to get things sorted. Given the sensitivity of the matter, it is important that you don't wait for until too late to get the admit card issue resolved.

Candidates will be provided with the items for making the model during the NIFT Situation Test. Materials that students may be provided with are Glaze Papers, Plasticine Clay, Copper Wire, Ivory Sheets, Cardboard, Thermocol (thick And Thin), Kite Papers, Handmade Sheet, Coloured Clay, Cellophane, Fabric, Thread, Ribbon, Straw, Aluminum Foil, etc. The candidate can not use any other items except the ones provided in the exam hall. 

NIFT situation test will test candidate on Colour scheme, Space visualization, Construction skill, Finesse of the model, Composition of elements, Overall presentation, Innovative and creative use of given material, etc. Situation Test will be evaluated on the spot.

Model made by candidate will not be kept for future reference. Candidate must make sure that their model is unique and stands out from the crowd. After making model, candidate must write about the model- write-up explaining the model.

NIFT answer key is released for the GAT paper and the candidate is also given the option to file objections. Objections have to be filed online through the candidate portal. The candidate had to furnish proper proof supporting their claims.

If the challenge filed by the candidate is found to be correct and the answer key is incorrect, the admission committee will delete the key. Also, the correct key (s) are released in the final key. Note that the scores of the candidate will be calculated using the revised key only. The fee paid by the candidate will not be refunded.

There is no dress code for the NTA NIFT Situation Test. But it is advisable to dress up neatly and smartly. Students should avoid chunky jewellery and flashy logos for the exam.

The candidate has to select their admission category at the time of filling out the NIFT 2026 application form. The candidate must make sure that they have the requisite valid and verificable certificate supporting their category.

Note that the category selected by a candidate at the time of submitting the application form will be considered as final.

If a candidate selects a reserved category i.e. SC/ST/OBC (NCL)/EWS/PWD but fails to submitted a valid Category Certificate, he or she will be considered for open category seats provided any benefit of relaxed age or income or cut offs has not been availed by the candidate at any stage of the Admission Process. If any benefit has been availed, the candidate’s application will be rejected. 

Also, if a reserve category candidate is considered for open category, then he/she will have to pay the difference in amount of application fee as applicable for open category.

The information provided by the candidate when filling out the NIFT 2026 application form will be verified by NIFT officials before any candidate is considered for admission.

The verification of original documents will be conducted at the campus when the candidate reports for the alloted regular programme. When reporting for verification, along with the original documents, the candidate must also bring with them self-attested photocopies. 

Also, if the certificates are in any other language than Hindi/ English, then a certified translation in Hindi/ English produced duly verified by the issuing institution/ gazetted officer. If the candidate fails to produce the translation, the candidate may be denied admission. 

Candidates were given the option to edit the NIFT 2026 application form for a limited time period.

Using NIFT application edit option, candidate will be able to edit or correct some of the information in registration form. Some of the details the candidate can edit include name, date of birth, category, state domicile, etc. However, the candidate is not allowed to edit the exam city. The schedule for the application correction will be notified by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at its admission portal - niftadmissions.in.

When filling NIFT 2026 application form, you will have to upload your Live photo, photograph and signature. 

Check out details given below.

• Photograph - Upload only a recent scanned passport size color photograph.
• Accepted file size should be no more than 100KB. The accepted format is jpeg only. 
• Signature - Scanned signature should be in Blue/Black ink on white background.