NIRF Overall Ranking 2026: Date, 2025 Standings & Trends
· Updated: August 17, 2026 · By Edhitch Research Team
The NIRF 2026 overall 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 overall list is expected within the August–September 2026 window. Until then, the most recent official standings are from NIRF 2025 (below), where IIT Madras held No. 1 for the seventh straight year and the only movement came in the 7–10 band. This page will be updated with the NIRF 2026 overall rankings within hours of the official release.
When the NIRF 2026 overall 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 overall 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 overall 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). Over 14,000 institutions participated, with 200 ranked in the overall category. The top six were unchanged from 2024. All the movement was below that: IIT Roorkee and AIIMS Delhi swapped 7th and 8th, JNU rose to 9th, BHU entered the top 10, and IIT Guwahati dropped out.
| NIRF 2025 Rank | Institution | Location | vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IIT Madras | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Held (7th year at No. 1) |
| 2 | IISc Bengaluru | Bengaluru, Karnataka | Held (7th consecutive year at No. 2) |
| 3 | IIT Bombay | Mumbai, Maharashtra | Held |
| 4 | IIT Delhi | New Delhi | Held |
| 5 | IIT Kanpur | Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh | Held |
| 6 | IIT Kharagpur | Kharagpur, West Bengal | Held |
| 7 | IIT Roorkee | Roorkee, Uttarakhand | ▲ Up from 8 |
| 8 | AIIMS New Delhi | New Delhi | ▼ Down from 7 |
| 9 | Jawaharlal Nehru University | New Delhi | ▲ Up from 10 |
| 10 | Banaras Hindu University | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh | ★ New entry (up from 11) |
Source: NIRF India Rankings 2025 (Overall), Ministry of Education, released September 4, 2025 (nirfindia.org). IIT Guwahati, ranked in the 2024 overall top 10, fell out of the top 10 in 2025. AIIMS New Delhi is the highest-ranked non-IIT institution after IISc.
Want the parameter-level view? The overall table aggregates every discipline, so the five parameters (TLR, RP, GO, OI, PR) tell you why an institution sits where it does far better than the rank alone. See our NIRF Ranking Criteria guide for how each is weighted and scored.
The multi-year trend: a frozen top, a moving tail
The overall category is the most stable table NIRF publishes, and 2025 made that plain: the top six positions were identical to 2024, with IIT Madras at No. 1 for the seventh consecutive year and IISc Bengaluru holding No. 2 for the seventh year running.
All the movement sat in the 7–10 band, and it was real. IIT Roorkee and AIIMS New Delhi swapped 7th and 8th — AIIMS has now slipped two years running, from 6th in 2023 to 7th in 2024 to 8th in 2025. JNU moved up to 9th, BHU climbed from 11th into 10th, and IIT Guwahati dropped out of the top 10 entirely.
That is the structural pattern worth understanding. Because the overall ranking aggregates across disciplines, the top is dominated by large, research-heavy, multi-faculty IITs and is very hard to disrupt. The contest sits at the boundary, where central universities and specialist institutions compete for the last three or four places. Edhitch's 7-year NIRF dataset tracks every ranked 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, and because the overall table aggregates every discipline, they apply across the board:
- Negative marking for retracted publications in the RP parameter, introduced in NIRF 2025 — applied across all categories, so it feeds directly into the overall score.
- Removal of self-citations under Research & Professional Practice, applied across all categories from the 2025 cycle.
- The SDG category, introduced as the 17th category in 2025, continues in 2026.
Confirm final methodology against the official NIRF 2026 methodology document on nirfindia.org before relying on specifics.
What to expect in the 2026 overall list
The top six are unlikely to move much — this band has been frozen for two cycles, and single-year upheaval at the top of the overall table is close to unheard of. The live questions sit lower. Whether AIIMS New Delhi arrests a two-year slide from 6th to 8th is the most-watched of them. Below that, BHU and JNU have to defend newly won positions, and IIT Guwahati will be trying to climb back in. Because the overall score aggregates every discipline, the research-integrity rules compound here rather than affecting a single faculty — institutions with retraction or self-citation exposure across several departments will feel it most. When the list drops, watch the 7–12 band, not the podium.
Frequently asked questions
When will the NIRF 2026 overall 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 overall 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 institution in the NIRF 2025 overall ranking?
IIT Madras is No. 1 in the NIRF overall category in 2025 — its seventh consecutive year at the top. It is followed by IISc Bengaluru (2), IIT Bombay (3), IIT Delhi (4) and IIT Kanpur (5).
What changed in the NIRF 2025 overall top 10?
The top six positions were unchanged from 2024. Below them, IIT Roorkee rose to 7th and AIIMS New Delhi slipped to 8th, swapping places. JNU moved up to 9th and Banaras Hindu University entered the top 10 at 10th, up from 11th. IIT Guwahati fell out of the top 10.
What is changing in the NIRF 2026 methodology for the overall ranking?
The rules introduced in the NIRF 2025 cycle carry into 2026: negative marking for retracted publications and the removal of self-citations under Research and Professional Practice, both applied across all categories. The SDG category introduced in 2025 continues, and the five-parameter structure (TLR, RP, GO, OI, PR) remains. Confirm final details against the official NIRF 2026 methodology document.
Is your institution trying to break into — or climb within — the overall rankings? The overall score aggregates across every discipline, which means it rewards data discipline at the institutional level, not departmental wins. Edhitch's diagnostic identifies exactly where your score leaks across the five parameters, 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 overall standings reflect the official India Rankings 2025 release (September 4, 2025). Scores are deliberately not published on this page pending confirmation against the official NIRF 2025 overall PDF. NIRF 2026 figures will be added from the official release. Last reviewed: August 17, 2026.