NIRF Management Ranking 2026: Date, 2025 Standings & Trends
· Updated: August 17, 2026 · By Edhitch Research Team
The NIRF 2026 management (MBA) ranking has not been released yet. As of August 2026, the Data Capturing System is closed and the cycle has completed verification. Based on the recent release pattern — June 2023, August 2024 and September 2025 — the NIRF 2026 management list is expected within the August–September 2026 window. Until then, the most recent official standings are from NIRF 2025 (below), where IIM Ahmedabad held No. 1 for the sixth straight year while the 5–10 band reshuffled. This page will be updated with the NIRF 2026 management rankings within hours of the official release.
When the NIRF 2026 management ranking releases
NIRF has no fixed statutory release date, and the announcement has drifted later across recent cycles — NIRF 2023 in June, NIRF 2024 in August, and NIRF 2025 on September 4. With the 2026 Data Capturing System closed and verification complete, the management list is realistically expected in the August–September 2026 window. Several education portals currently display specific 2026 dates; those are estimates, not announcements. For the official status and the full timeline, see our NIRF 2026 release date tracker.
NIRF 2025 management top 10 (the most recent official list)
Until NIRF 2026 is published, these are the most recent official rankings, from India Rankings 2025 (released September 4, 2025). The top four IIMs plus IIT Delhi held firm, but the 5–10 band reshuffled: IIM Lucknow rose to 5th and IIM Calcutta slipped to 7th, while MDI Gurgaon broke back into the top 10 and IIT Bombay dropped out.
| NIRF 2025 Rank | Institution | Location | vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IIM Ahmedabad | Ahmedabad, Gujarat | Held (6th year at No. 1) |
| 2 | IIM Bangalore | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Held |
| 3 | IIM Kozhikode | Kozhikode, Kerala | Held |
| 4 | IIT Delhi (Dept. of Management Studies) | New Delhi | Held |
| 5 | IIM Lucknow | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh | ▲ Up from 7 |
| 6 | IIM Mumbai | Mumbai, Maharashtra | Held |
| 7 | IIM Calcutta | Kolkata, West Bengal | ▼ Down from 5 |
| 8 | IIM Indore | Indore, Madhya Pradesh | Held |
| 9 | MDI Gurgaon | Gurugram, Haryana | ★ Up from 11 — back in the top 10 |
| 10 | XLRI — Xavier School of Management | Jamshedpur, Jharkhand | ▼ Down from 9 |
Source: NIRF India Rankings 2025 (Management), Ministry of Education, released September 4, 2025 (nirfindia.org). IIM Ahmedabad has led the management category for six consecutive years. IIT Bombay, ranked 10th in 2024, fell out of the 2025 top 10.
Want the parameter-level view? Rankings tell you the order; the five parameters (TLR, RP, GO, OI, PR) tell you why — and for B-schools, Graduation Outcomes (placements and salaries) and Perception carry real weight. See our NIRF Ranking Criteria guide for how each is scored.
The multi-year trend: the IIM scramble
Management is a story of a locked top and a churning middle. IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode have held the top three for years, and IIT Delhi has anchored 4th. Below that, positions 5–15 move constantly.
The 2025 cycle shows the pattern clearly. IIM Calcutta — ranked third every year from 2016 to 2022 — has fallen to 7th, a multi-year slide rather than a single bad cycle. IIM Lucknow moved the other way, up to 5th. At the top-10 boundary, MDI Gurgaon climbed from 11th to 9th while XLRI Jamshedpur slipped from 9th to 10th and IIT Bombay dropped out altogether. Among the newer IIMs, Sambalpur, Tiruchirappalli, Nagpur and Jammu all posted double-digit gains in 2025 — the sharpest upward movement anywhere in the management table.
That churn is the analytically interesting part of this ranking, and it is what the standard top-10 lists leave out. Edhitch's 7-year NIRF dataset tracks every ranked management institution across cycles, separating durable climbers from one-year spikes.
Source: Edhitch proprietary NIRF dataset (7 years, 13 disciplines) and published NIRF ranks across cycles.
What carries into NIRF 2026
The five-parameter structure is unchanged — Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR); Research & Professional Practice (RP); Graduation Outcomes (GO); Outreach & Inclusivity (OI); and Perception (PR). The rules introduced in the NIRF 2025 cycle carry forward into 2026:
- Negative marking for retracted publications in the RP parameter, introduced in NIRF 2025 — B-schools that lean on publication volume are more exposed if citation profiles aren't clean.
- Tighter treatment of self-citations and third-party citations, continuing NIRF's shift toward research quality over raw counts.
- The SDG category, introduced as the 17th category in 2025, continues in 2026.
Management remains distinctive in how heavily Graduation Outcomes (placements, median salary) and Perception move the needle — which is why B-school rankings can shift on placement cycles even when research is stable.
Confirm final methodology against the official NIRF 2026 methodology document on nirfindia.org before relying on specifics.
What to expect in the 2026 management list
The top of the table is close to locked: IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kozhikode have owned the top three for years, and IIT Delhi has held 4th. The real contest in 2026 is the 5–12 band, where the older IIMs (Lucknow, Calcutta, Indore), IIM Mumbai, and the private risers (MDI, XLRI, SPJIMR, Symbiosis) trade places on placements and research. Watch two things: whether IIM Calcutta arrests its multi-year slide, and how far the newer IIMs climb. When the list drops, the interesting movement will be in the middle, not at No. 1 — and it will turn on Graduation Outcomes and RP.
Frequently asked questions
When will the NIRF 2026 management ranking be released?
As of August 2026, it has not been released. The Data Capturing System is closed and the cycle has completed verification. Based on the recent pattern (June 2023, August 2024, September 2025), the NIRF 2026 management list is expected within the August–September 2026 window. The official date is announced by the Ministry of Education on nirfindia.org.
Which is the No. 1 management institute in NIRF 2025?
IIM Ahmedabad is No. 1 in the NIRF management category in 2025 — its sixth consecutive year at the top. It is followed by IIM Bangalore (2), IIM Kozhikode (3), IIT Delhi / DMS (4) and IIM Lucknow (5).
What changed in the NIRF 2025 management top 10?
The top four were unchanged. Below them, IIM Lucknow rose to 5th and IIM Calcutta slipped to 7th, swapping places. IIM Mumbai held 6th and IIM Indore held 8th. MDI Gurgaon entered the top 10 at 9th, pushing XLRI Jamshedpur down to 10th, and IIT Bombay fell out of the top 10.
What is changing in the NIRF 2026 methodology for management?
The research-integrity rules introduced in the NIRF 2025 cycle carry into 2026, including negative marking for retracted publications in the RP parameter. For B-schools, Graduation Outcomes (placements, salaries) and Perception also weigh heavily. The SDG category continues, and the five-parameter structure (TLR, RP, GO, OI, PR) remains. Confirm final details against the official NIRF 2026 methodology document.
Is your business school trying to break into — or climb within — the rankings? In management, movement is driven by Graduation Outcomes, research, and data discipline across the five parameters. Edhitch's diagnostic identifies exactly where your score leaks, built on a 7-year proprietary NIRF dataset. See the NIRF Ranking Improvement Framework, or request a free position audit below.
Official sources
- NIRF India — Official Portal
- NIRF Notifications & Advertisements
- Ministry of Education, Government of India
NIRF 2025 management standings reflect the official India Rankings 2025 release (September 4, 2025). Ranks 1–10 corroborated across the official-day report and multiple independent trackers. Scores are deliberately not published on this page pending confirmation against the official NIRF 2025 management PDF. NIRF 2026 figures will be added from the official release. Last reviewed: August 17, 2026.