NIFT Participating Institutes 2025: Seat Intake, Reservation, Fee Structure, Admission Process

The online application form for NIFT 2025 is OPEN with regular fees from November 22-January 6, 2025.

With late fees, applications will be accepted from Janaury 7-9, 2025.

The application will be available online at niftadmissions.in. The NTA will also release the detailed admission notification, including the eligibility criteria and information brochure.

Candidates who met the precribed eligibility criteria for their programme can fill out the NIFT 2025 application form before the last date.

Note that NIFT application form will be for admission to the B. Des, M.Des B.FTech M.FTech and MFM courses offered by participating colleges.

The written tests for the NIFT 2025 exam will be held on February 9, 2025. The detailed schedule has also been released.

The written tests will comprise a General Ability Test (GAT) and a Creative Ability Test (CAT). GAT is mandatory for all candidates, but CAT is only required for B. Des and M. Des candidates. 

The GAT test will be considered in a computer-based mode, whereas the CAT will be offline based. Note that scores of the written exams will be used to shortlist candidates for a Situation Test/ Personal Interview.

Note that there are 18 NIFTs that will accept NIFT 2025 scores for admission purposes. These institutes are known as participating colleges.

However, in addition to the participating colleges, there are other private colleges that will also consider NIFT 2025 scores for admission to their UG and PG design courses.

One major difference is these institutes will not participate in the counseling process conducted by the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Further, these institutes may also accept scores of other popular entrance exams like NID, UCEED, etc.

Here is a list of NIFT score-accepting colleges.

• CMR University, Bangalore

• World University of Design, Sonipat

• Vishwakarma University, Pune

• ISDI School of Design and Innovation, Mumbai

• Alliance University, Bangalore

• LPU University 

• Somaiya School of Design, Mumbai

• Riidl Academy, Mumbai

The eligibility criteria may differ depending on the course opted by the candidate. For instance, candidates seeking admission to the B. Des course needs to have passed 10+2 exam from a recognised institute and should be less than 24 years as of August 1, 2025. Relaxation of 5 years in the upper age limit applies for candidates belonging to SC, ST and PwD candidates.

NIFT Lateral Entry Admission (NLEA) provides an opportunity to candidates who have completed their Diploma in relevant or related fields of Design & Technology for direct admission to the third semester of UG programmes of NIFT. 

Eligible candidates have to appear in the NIFT 2025 entrance exam to get lateral admission. Admission under lateral entry scheme will be strictly on merit of NIFT 2025 exam, which will include written examination, studio test/ technology aptitude test, and a personal interview. 

Candidates selected through lateral entry will join the regular UG students of NIFT in their second year. 

The seat intake under this scheme will be displayed on the website prior to seat allocation.

The B.FTech programme has a total intake of 591 seats.

This includes, 542 All-India and 49 state-domicile.

Note that admission to the programme is based on GAT scores only. B.FTech applicants aren't required to appear in the CAT and Situation Test. The B.FTech programme offers an specialisation in the Apparel Production (Andhra Pradesh) programme. Note that in addition to qualifying in the NIFT 2025 entrance exam, the candidate also needs to meet the programme-specific eligibility criteria to be considered for admission to the B.FTech course.

The B. Des programme has an intake capacity of 2,884 seats for All-India candidates.

In addition, there are 300 state-domicile.

Admission to the B. Des programme at NIFTs will be based on performance of the candidate in GAT CAT and Situation Test. Candidates are shortlisted for the Situation Test based on their performance in the written exams. The B. Des programme offers specialisation in Fashion Design (FD), Leather Design (LD), Accessory Design (AD), Textile Design (TD), Knitwear Design (KD), and Fashion Communication (FC). The candidate will be able to select their programme of study at the time of counseling and seat allotment.

Yes, candidates seeking admission to the B. Des programme need to appear in both the CAT and GAT written exams. Based on the scores of the written exams, the candidates will next be shortlisted for a Situation Test. The final merit list will be prepared by considering the performance of the candidate in the written exams and Situation Test. The CAT exam carries 50% weightage, GAT carries 30% weightage, while the Situation Test carries 20% weightage. It is mandatory for candidates to appear in all the stages of the exam to be included in the merit list.

The final merit list of NIFT 2025 for the B.FTech will be based primarily on GAT scores.

B.FTech candidates aren't required to appear in CAT or any further admission rounds. This means the GAT carries 100% weightage.

Meanwhile, the final merit list for the M.FTech programme will be prepared by considering the performance of the candidate in the GAT and Interview. The GAT carries 70% weightage, while the Interview is worth 30% weightage. Candidates will be shortlisted for the Interview based on their performance in the written exam.

A total of 18 National Institutes of Fashion Technologies will participate in the NIFT 2024 admission process. The participating institutes offer B. Des, M.Des B.FTech M.FTech and MFM courses. Admission to these courses offered by these institutes will be based on NIFT 2023 scores. The participating institutes of NIFT 2024 offer a combined intake of 5,215 seats. Of these, 4324 are All-India, 424 are state domicile, and 467 seats are reserved for NRI candidates.

The participating institutes of NIFT have a combined seat intake of 4387 seats. Note that there are 19 NIFTs that are participating in NIFT 2025 admission process.

Of total seat intake, 4392 seats are reserved for All-India candidates, while there are 445 state-domicile seats. Admission to design courses for Indian nationals will be on the basis of the NIFT exam scores. However, foreign nationals are not required to appear in the entrance exam. Instead, they are eligible for direct admission based on marks of qualifying exam. That being said, both Indian and foreign national need to meet the eligibility criteria for their respective programs to be considered for admission.

The candidate will be able to select their choice of NIFT 2025 participating institutes (in the order of priority) at the time of filling out the NIFT 2025 counseling registration form.

Online registration for NIFT 2025 counseling will start soon after the final results are declared.

The counseling registrations for NIFT 2025 will be open to candidates who have qualified in the NIFT 2025 entrance exam.

The allotment of seats (or campus) to the B. Des programme will be on the basis of merit rank of the candidate in the NIFT 2025 entrance exam and campus selected. So, candidates who are higher in the NIFT 2025 merit rank will be given preference in the seat allotment.

NIFT Bengaluru has 190 BDes and 38 BFTech seats. NIFT Bengaluru is one of the leading fashion design colleges in India. The admission cut-off for the institute tends to be higher, so the candidate must have a high merit rank to have a good chance of admission. Admission to both the BDes and BFTech courses at the institute will be conducted on the basis of the merit rank of the candidate in the NIFT 2023 exam. Candidates seeking admission to the BDes programme need to appear in the CAT GAT and Situation Test. However, BFTech applicants only need to take the GAT exam.

NIFT Bengaluru offers both UG and PG design courses. At the UG level, the institute offers B. Des and B.FTech courses. The B. Des program offers specializations in Fashion Design, Leather Design, Accessory Design, Textile Design, Knitwear Design, and Fashion communication. Meanwhile, the B.FTech program offers specialization in Apparel Production. At the PG level, the institute offers M.Des and MFM programs. Note that admission to the UG and PG design courses is conducted based on NIFT scores.