India's 3,791 approved engineering institutions had 4.1 million seats sanctioned for the 2025–26 academic year. Of these, 2.47 million were actually filled, according to AICTE data compiled by NT from Right to Information responses — a vacancy rate of 39.8%. The seat glut is concentrated in states with large engineering ecosystems: Telangana (48% vacant), Maharashtra (44%), Karnataka (38%) and Tamil Nadu (34%). Meanwhile, IIT and NIT seats face competition ratios of 30:1 and above, creating a two-tier system where demand for quality seats far exceeds supply, while seats at lower-tier institutions go unfilled.
Engineering Education in India — 2025–26 Data
- 4.1 million approved seats; 2.47 million filled (40% vacancy)
- Telangana: 48% vacancy; Maharashtra: 44%
- IITs: ~16,000 seats; JEE Advanced qualified: ~2.5 lakh (156:1 demand ratio for IIT)
- NASSCOM: 52% of graduates not industry-ready on Day 1 of employment
- Top 5 unfilled branches: Civil, Mechanical, Electronics, Chemical, Mining
- AI/Data Science seats: 94% fill rate (highest of any branch)
“We are producing engineers who cannot code, but we cannot produce enough engineers who can. The solution is not fewer engineering colleges — it is better quality control and stronger industry linkage.”
— Kiran Karnik, former President, NASSCOM
4.1M
Approved seats
40%
Vacancy rate
52%
Not industry-ready (NASSCOM)
94%
AI/Data Science fill rate
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Sunita Verma
Health & Policy Reporter
Sunita covers public health policy, hospitals and government health schemes from New Delhi.