In a major step toward strengthening technical education in India, five third-generation Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have received approval to add 1,364 seats across their UG, PG, and PhD programmes for the 2025–26 academic year, a senior official from the Ministry of Education confirmed.
The institutions receiving the expansion are:
- IIT Bhilai – 378 seats
- IIT Dharwad – 343 seats
- IIT Jammu – 251 seats
- IIT Tirupati – 199 seats
- IIT Palakkad – 193 seats
This seat hike is the first phase of a four-year expansion plan aimed at scaling capacity at IITs established after 2014. These five institutes will collectively add 6,576 seats between 2025 and 2029, backed by a government investment of ₹11,828.79 crore, approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2025.
The year-wise seat distribution will be:
- 2025–26: 1,364 seats
- 2026–27: 1,738 seats
- 2027–28: 1,767 seats
- 2028–29: 1,707 seats
Once the project concludes, the combined intake at these IITs will surge from 7,111 to 13,687, reflecting a 92.47% jump in student capacity.
In addition, 130 new faculty positions have been sanctioned to support the academic growth, with recruitment already underway.
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Notably, IIT Goa was excluded from this expansion as it has yet to transition to a permanent campus—one of the prerequisites for eligibility under the scheme.
The expansion comes in line with the Union Budget 2025–26 announcement, where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman committed to increasing seats in IITs to accommodate India’s growing pool of engineering aspirants.
