NIRF Ranking 2026 Awaited: Check How NITs Have Performed Against IITs in Last 5 Years

The NIRF 2026 ranking will be released soon. Candidates will be able to check the NIRF engineering rankings to know how the NITs and IITs have performed to secure spots as the country's finest engineering institutions. Before the rankings for the latest year is released, students can take a look at how the NITs have performed in comparison to the IITs to know which institutes are the leading contenders.

NIRF Ranking 2026: NITs vs IITs 5-Year Trend

The NIRF ranking 2026 for the Engineering category is awaited, while institutes have already submitted their data for the new rankings. As students wait for the next edition, the NIRF Engineering rankings from 2021 to 2025 show how the top National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have performed against the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the last five years. The trend shows that the IITs have largely maintained their dominance at the top of the NIRF Engineering rankings. However, some NITs have also maintained or improved their positions, with NIT Tiruchirappalli consistently emerging as the highest-ranked NIT.

NIT Trichy Remains the Strongest NIT

NIT Tiruchirappalli has remained the highest-ranked NIT in the NIRF Engineering ranking throughout the five-year period from 2021 to 2025. It was ranked 9th in 2021, 8th in 2022 and 9th again in 2023, 2024 and 2025. In the NIRF 2025 Engineering ranking, NIT Trichy was placed at rank 9 with a score of 68.14. It was the only NIT among the top 10 engineering institutes in the country.

This puts NIT Trichy ahead of several IITs in the overall engineering ranking. However, the top positions continued to be dominated by the IITs. IIT Madras was ranked No. 1 in 2025, followed by IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur.

NIT Rourkela Improves ranks

NIT Rourkela has shown a considerable improvement among the leading NITs. It moved from rank 20 in 2021 to rank 15 in 2022, rank 16 in 2023, rank 19 in 2024 and rank 13 in 2025. Its 2025 position was the best among the five-year period considered. With a score of 66.62, NIT Rourkela was ranked ahead of several IITs, including IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, which was placed at rank 15.

NIT Surathkal Sees a Decline

The trend for NIT Karnataka, Surathkal, is different. The institute was ranked 10th in both 2021 and 2022. It then moved to rank 12 in 2023 and rank 17 in both 2024 and 2025. NIT Surathkal continues to remain among India’s top 20 engineering institutes, its position has weakened.

NIRF Engineering Ranking: 5 year Trend Analysis NIT vs IIT

The five-year data makes it easier to analyse a trend. The leading IITs have largely occupied the highest positions, while the best-performing NITs have generally competed from the top 10 onwards. In 2025, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee occupied the first six positions. IIT Hyderabad and IIT Guwahati followed at ranks 7 and 8, with NIT Trichy at rank 9. At the same time, NIT Rourkela and NIT Surathkal were ranked 13th and 17th, respectively. NIT Calicut and NIT Warangal were placed at ranks 21 and 28. The data shows that the gap between IITs and NITs is still significant at the very top. However, the leading NITs have consistently remained competitive with several newer and mid-ranked IITs.