IIT Gandhinagar vs IIT Madras: Courses, Seats, Cutoffs, Fees, Placements and Research (2026)
IIT Madras received 9.8 times as much sponsored research funding (₹1,128.82 crore vs ₹114.87 crore, FY 2024-25). IIT Madras leads on industry consultancy by 1519% (₹460.28 crore vs ₹28.43 crore, FY 2024-25). IIT Madras has a 264% larger faculty (720 vs 198, NIRF 2026).
Last updated: 14 Oct 2026.
Who should pick which (our analysis)
IIT Gandhinagar
Our analysis: IIT Gandhinagar suits you if you value a flexible curriculum over a big intake. It allows branch change after the first semester (with a CPI of 9.5 or above, without restriction). It also offers dual majors, minors in 25 areas, and a semester of external exposure. Its eight B.Tech branches include Integrated Circuit Design & Technology and Artificial Intelligence.At a glance
Swipe sideways. The first column stays put.
| Point | IIT Gandhinagar | IIT Madras | Source (year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Established (year) | 2008 | 1959 | official website JoSAA 2026 institute profile |
| Location (city, state) | Palaj, Gandhinagar, Gujarat | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | JoSAA 2026 institute profile josaa.admissions.nic.in |
| Campus area | Not published | 650 acres | JoSAA 2026 institute profile |
| Official website | iitgn.ac.in | iitm.ac.in | iitgn.ac.in |
| NIRF Overall rank | 39 | 1 | NIRF 2025 |
| NIRF Engineering rank | 25 | 1 | NIRF 2025 |
| B.Tech tuition per semester | Not published | ₹1,00,000 | 2026-27 |
| First-semester academic fees | Not published | ₹1,41,402 | 2026-27 |
| Fee waiver notes | SC, ST and PwD (40%+): tuition waiver. Parental income up to ₹2.5 lakh: full tuition waiver; ₹2.5–5 lakh: pay one-third of tuition. Income below ₹9 lakh: interest-free Vidyalaxmi loan for the tuition payable. | SC, ST and PwD: no tuition. Family income below ₹1 lakh: full tuition remission; ₹1–5 lakh: two-thirds remission (first-semester total ₹74,735). | 2026-27 |
| Hostel / mess fee | First semester: mess and laundry advance ₹24,960 + hostel seat rent and utilities ₹20,384 | Seat rent ₹7,500 per semester; hostel fee circular at fees.iitm.ac.in; advance mess charges depend on the mess tender | 2026-27 |
| Total JoSAA seats | 360 | 1,118 | JoSAA 2026 |
| UG 4-year median salary | ₹14 lakh | ₹17.78 lakh | 2024-25 |
| UG 4-year placed / graduated | 166 placed of 213 graduates | 631 placed of 781 graduates | 2024-25 |
| UG 5-year (dual) median salary | Not published | ₹22 lakh | 2024-25 |
| PG 2-year median salary | ₹8 lakh | ₹15 lakh | 2024-25 |
| PG 2-year placed | 111 | 644 | 2024-25 |
| UG 4-year went for higher studies | 44 | 147 | 2024-25 |
| Total UG 4-year students | Not published | 3,733 | 2024-25 |
| Faculty count | 198 | 720 | NIRF 2026 |
| Full-time PhD students | 736 | 2,399 | 2024-25 |
| Full-time PhDs graduated | Not published | 485 | 2024-25 |
| Sponsored research received | ₹114.87 crore | ₹1,128.82 crore | FY 2024-25 |
| Consultancy received | ₹28.43 crore | ₹460.28 crore | FY 2024-25 |
How IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Madras differ
- IIT Madras received 9.8 times as much sponsored research funding (₹1,128.82 crore vs ₹114.87 crore, FY 2024-25).
- IIT Madras leads on industry consultancy by 1519% (₹460.28 crore vs ₹28.43 crore, FY 2024-25).
- IIT Madras has a 264% larger faculty (720 vs 198, NIRF 2026).
- IIT Madras runs a 226% bigger PhD programme (2,399 vs 736, 2024-25).
- IIT Madras offers 3.1 times as much JoSAA seats (1,118 vs 360, JoSAA 2026).
- IIT Madras reported a ₹3.78 lakh higher 4-year UG median salary (₹17.78 lakh vs ₹14 lakh).
- IIT Madras ranks higher in NIRF 2025 Overall (1 vs 39).
- IIT Madras ranks higher in NIRF 2025 Engineering (1 vs 25).
- IIT Madras has more 4-year B.Tech CSE seats (87 vs 60).
- Only IIT Gandhinagar offers Integrated Circuit Design & Technology, Artificial Intelligence among these two.
- Only IIT Madras offers Aerospace Engineering, Engineering Physics, Biological Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics among these two.
Worked out from the official numbers above.
Courses and seats
IIT Gandhinagar
- B.Tech (4 years)
IIT Madras
- B.Tech, B.S. and 5-year dual degree
- B.S. Medical Sciences and Engineering, B.S. Chemistry
- M.Sc, M.Tech, MBA, EMBA, M.A.
- MS (Research) and PhD
- Online B.S. in Data Science and Applications, B.S. in Electronic Systems
Seats per branch
| Branch | IIT Gandhinagar | IIT Madras |
|---|---|---|
| Chemical Engineering | 50 | 104 |
| Civil Engineering | 40 | 111 |
| Computer Science and Engineering | 60 | 87 |
| Electrical Engineering | 50 | 154 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 50 | 144 |
| Integrated Circuit Design & Technology | 30 | Not offered |
| Artificial Intelligence | 40 | Not offered |
| Materials Engineering | 40 | 54 |
| Aerospace Engineering | Not offered | 54 |
| Engineering Physics | Not offered | 42 |
| Biological Engineering | Not offered | 30 |
| Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics | Not offered | 50 |
| Computational Engineering and Mechanics | Not offered | 40 |
| Instrumentation and Biomedical Engineering | Not offered | 40 |
| Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering | Not offered | 73 |
| B.S. Physics | Not offered | 12 |
| B.S. Mathematics | Not offered | 20 |
| B.S. Biological Science | Not offered | 30 |
| Aerospace Engineering, 5-year dual degree | Not offered | 9 |
| Engineering Design, 5-year dual degree | Not offered | 64 |
Source: JoSAA 2026 · JoSAA 2026
They have 6 branch names in common. What seat counts tell you →
JoSAA cutoffs: opening and closing ranks
OPEN closing ranks, 2024–2026. Lower is harder.
| Branch | IIT Gandhinagar | IIT Madras | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
| Aerospace Engineering | – | – | – | 2815 | 3211 | 3278 |
| Aerospace Engineering (5-yr) | – | – | – | 2984 | 2808 | 3389 |
| Artificial Intelligence | 2309 | 2236 | 2745 | – | – | – |
| Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics | – | – | – | 419 | 306 | 226 |
| Biological Engineering | – | – | – | 5755 | 5261 | 6440 |
| Biological Science | – | – | – | 10682 | 10290 | 12204 |
| BS in Mathematics | – | – | – | – | – | 1804 |
| Chemical Engineering | 8269 | 9276 | 9842 | 3972 | 4116 | 4162 |
| Civil Engineering | 10234 | 10796 | 12508 | 5688 | 6112 | 6225 |
| Computational Engineering and Mechanics | – | – | – | – | 1309 | 1314 |
| Computer Science and Engineering | 1708 | 2020 | 2315 | 159 | 171 | 151 |
| Computer Science and Engineering (5-yr) | 2234 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Electrical Engineering | 4055 | 3931 | 4007 | 838 | 849 | 749 |
| Electrical Engineering (5-yr) | 4588 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Engineering Design (5-yr) | – | – | – | 3656 | 3380 | 3093 |
| Engineering Physics | – | – | – | 1858 | 1441 | 1316 |
| Instrumentation and Biomedical Engineering | – | – | – | – | 4366 | 4011 |
| Integrated Circuit Design & Technology | 4349 | 4652 | 4460 | – | – | – |
| Metallurgical and Materials Engineering | 11298 | 11066 | 12873 | 4748 | 5499 | 5398 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 6344 | 6904 | 7236 | 2310 | 2468 | 2619 |
| Mechanical Engineering (5-yr) | 7422 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering | – | – | – | 7404 | 7433 | 8354 |
| Physics | – | – | – | – | 3804 | 3918 |
| Physics (5-yr) | – | – | – | 2742 | – | – |
All categories and seat pools
| Institute | Branch | Category | Seats | Year | Round | Opening | Closing |
|---|
Source: josaa.nic.in, final rounds.
M.Tech (GATE) cutoffs
No verified GATE cutoffs yet. How M.Tech admission works →
CSE OPEN closing ranks: IIT Gandhinagar 2,315 (2026), IIT Madras 151 (2026). What a closing rank means →
Fees
Fee waiver notes: IIT Gandhinagar: SC, ST and PwD (40%+): tuition waiver. Parental income up to ₹2.5 lakh: full tuition waiver; ₹2.5–5 lakh: pay one-third of tuition. Income below ₹9 lakh: interest-free Vidyalaxmi loan for the tuition payable.. IIT Madras: SC, ST and PwD: no tuition. Family income below ₹1 lakh: full tuition remission; ₹1–5 lakh: two-thirds remission (first-semester total ₹74,735)..
Hostel / mess fee: IIT Gandhinagar: First semester: mess and laundry advance ₹24,960 + hostel seat rent and utilities ₹20,384. IIT Madras: Seat rent ₹7,500 per semester; hostel fee circular at fees.iitm.ac.in; advance mess charges depend on the mess tender.
Research, labs and projects
Notable labs / facilities
IIT Gandhinagar
- PARAM Ananta supercomputer
- High-performance computing (HPC) platform for research and teaching
josaa.admissions.nic.in (JoSAA 2026 institute profile)
IIT Madras
- Sophisticated Analytical Instruments Facility (SAIF)
- Material Science Research Centre (MSRC)
- Central Electronics Centre (CEC)
- AQUA high-performance computing cluster (11,680 cores, 30 GPUs)
josaa.admissions.nic.in (JoSAA 2026 institute profile)
For industry consultancy, IIT Madras earns the most of the two. Why research funding matters →
IIT Gandhinagar: what these numbers mean
Its fee aid is among the most generous we found. Families earning up to ₹2.5 lakh get full tuition waiver, and those earning ₹2.5–5 lakh pay only one-third. SC, ST and PwD students get a waiver too. Interest-free loans are available below ₹9 lakh. We have not listed a tuition figure, because the JoSAA 2026 fee table's parts do not add up to its total. Please check the fee on iitgn.ac.in before you pay. NIRF 2026 data shows 166 of 213 four-year graduates placed in 2024-25, at a median of ₹14 lakh. 44 went for higher studies. Sponsored research was ₹114.87 crore in FY 2024-25, high for its size. The PARAM Ananta supercomputer is on campus. Hostels are air-conditioned at night, and laundry is part of the mess charge.How to choose
- Rank first, name second. CSE OPEN closing ranks: IIT Gandhinagar 2,315 (2026), IIT Madras 151 (2026).
- They have 6 branch names in common. Shortlist by branch before institute.
- IIT Gandhinagar is in Palaj, Gandhinagar, Gujarat; IIT Madras is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Weigh travel and living costs.
FAQ
Which is better, IIT Gandhinagar or IIT Madras?
On NIRF 2025 Overall, IIT Gandhinagar is #39 and IIT Madras is #1. Your branch matters more than this gap.
Which has better placements, IIT Gandhinagar or IIT Madras?
UG medians: IIT Gandhinagar ₹14 lakh, IIT Madras ₹17.78 lakh.
How many CSE seats do IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Madras have?
IIT Gandhinagar: 60. IIT Madras: 87.
Which does more research, IIT Gandhinagar or IIT Madras?
IIT Madras brings in more sponsored research (₹1,128.82 crore).
Sources
- iitgn.ac.in › about
- josaa.admissions.nic.in › InstProfile
- iitgn.ac.in
- nirfindia.org › OverallRanking
- nirfindia.org › EngineeringRanking
- iitgn.ac.in › IIT Gandhinagar NIRF 2026 updated overll …
- josaa.admissions.nic.in › InstProfile
- iitm.ac.in
- iitm.ac.in › NIRF_Overall_2026.pdf
- josaa.admissions.nic.in › openingclosingrankarchieve
- josaa.admissions.nic.in › CurrentORCR
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