IIT Madras tops NIRF rankings for 10th year in a row in engineering, 7th year overall

new delhi/chennai: the indian institute of technology madras (iit madras) has once again emerged as the top-ranked institution in the country, securing the no. 1 position in the engineering category for the 10th consecutive year and in the overall category for the seventh year in a row in the national institutional ranking framework (nirf) 2025.the results were announced by union education minister dharmendra pradhan at a function in new delhi on thursday. he said the expansion of nirf from 16 to 17 categories this year reflects the growing diversity in india's higher education landscape.iit madras also bagged the top position in the innovation category, improving from second place last year, and was ranked no. 1 in the newly introduced sustainability development goals (sdg) category. it retained the second position in research institutions, behind the indian institute of science, bengaluru.congratulating all institutions, pradhan said, “a robust ranking framework and accreditation system will not only enhance competitiveness but also play a vital role in nation-building.” he highlighted the target of enrolling nine crore students in higher education by 2030, up from 4.5 crore at present, with the national education policy serving as the roadmap.receiving the awards, iit madras director prof. v. kamakoti credited students, faculty, staff and alumni for the consistent performance. “being a topper consistently is a result of a collective, cohesive and focused team effort. together, we pledge to put in our best efforts towards viksit 2047,” he said.iit madras, recognised as an institution of eminence in 2019, has also made significant strides beyond rankings. it became the first iit to set up a foreign campus in zanzibar, introduced admissions under sports excellence and fine arts and cultural excellence (face), incubated more than 100 start-ups in 2024-25, and filed 417 patents under its “one patent a day” vision.recently, the institute launched the school of innovation and entrepreneurship to boost deep-tech start-ups and the school of sustainability to advance sdg-focused initiatives. it also climbed in global standings, rising to 180th in the qs world university rankings 2026, up from 227 last year.