IITs Vs NITs: What to Choose and How to Choose?

It is very difficult for students to choose a college of their choice after clearing the board exams because of the high level of competition among IITs vs NITs. Just a few years ago, the competition was very low compared to the present. Around a decade ago, the number of top engineering institutions in India was limited and the level of education was low. But now, with the improvement in education and infrastructure, the number of IITs has increased, with a sharp increase in the number of students aiming for top-tier IITs. This has raised the bar for competition among IITs vs NITs.

Almost, each and every IIT is considered top-notch just because of the name ‘IIT’ associated with it. This is the reason why a lot of students do not even consider NITs. Moreover, old NITs have lost their glory with the newly established IITs. But, if considered thoroughly, NITs are now the hub of talent for industries. Let us compare in detail the difference between IIT and NIT, what should a student choose after JEE Main, and how the procedure of admission through JEE Main follows.

IITs vs NITs: A Brief History

Before diving deep into the comparison of both IITs vs NITs, let us take a look at the stories behind the setting up of IITs vs NITs.

IITs: After the independence of India, Sir Ardeshir Dalal from the Viceroy’s Executive Council proposed to build a council of Scientific and Industrial Research for technical development of the labor.

Dr. Humayun Kabir encouraged Dr. B C Roy, the chief minister of West Bengal to think about the project.
Then they built a committee under Sir Nalini Ranjan Sarkar and took initiative to build the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur.
After this, four more campuses were set up in Bombay (Mumbai), Madras(Chennai), and KanpurandDelhi.
The country now has 23 IITs and all the IITs are governed under the Institutes of Technology Act, of 1961.

NITs: During the second five-year plan (1956–60)in India, the Government of India needed trained workers in newly set up industries. So they started Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs)all over India, with one college in each state.

This is one reason why many new NITs are associated with the name of the state rather than the city or town.
Due to the enormous costs of IITs, the government took the decision to turn RECs into National Institutes of Technology (NITs).
NITs are now declared institutions of national importance under the National Institutes of Technology Act, of 2007.

Number of IITs vs NITs

There are a total of 23 IITs vs 31 NITs.
Therefore, the number of seats in NITs is much more than the number of seats in IITs.
The level of education in NITs is close to that of the IITs.
However, the only difference between IIT and NIT is the kind of batch both colleges acquire.
Here is the complete list of various IITs vs NITs.

S. No.	Indian Institutes of Technology	National Institutes of Technology
1.	IIT Kharagpur	National Institute of Technology, Agartala
2.	IIT Mumbai	Motilal Nehru NIT Allahabad
3.	IIT Kanpur	Maulana Azad NIT Bhopal
4.	IIT Madras	NIT Calicut
5.	IIT Delhi	NIT Durgapur
6.	IIT Guwahati	NIT Hamirpur
7.	IIT Roorkee	Malaviya NIT Jaipur
8.	IIT Bhubaneswar	Dr. B. R. Ambedkar NIT Jalandhar
9.	IIT Gandhinagar	NIT Jamshedpur
10.	IIT Hyderabad	NIT Kurukshetra
11.	IIT Jodhpur	Visvesvaraya NIT Nagpur
12.	IIT Patna	NIT Patna
13.	IIT Ropar	NIT Raipur
14.	IIT Indore	NIT Rourkela
15.	IIT Mandi	NIT Silchar
16.	IIT (BHU) Varanasi	NIT Srinagar
17.	IIT Palakkad	SVNIT Surat
18.	IIT Tirupati	NIT Karnataka, Surathkal
19.	IIT Dhanbad	NIT Tadepalligudem
20.	IIT Bhilai	NIT Trichy
21.	IIT Goa	NIT Warangal
22.	IIT Jammu	NIT Arunachal Pradesh
23.	IIT Dharwad	NIT Sikkim
24.	–	NIT Goa
25.	–	NIT Meghalaya
26.	–	NIT Nagaland
27.	–	NIT Manipur
28.	–	NIT Mizoram
29.	–	NIT Uttarakhand
30.	–	NIT Delhi
31.	–	NIT Pondicherry

From the list, it is clear that students from various states can choose NITs over IITs due to the better availability of NITs in each and every state of India.

Admission Process in IITs vs NITs

After the Government of India decided to let go of a separate counseling process for IITs and NITs, admission to both types of institutions was possible only through JoSAA Counselling.
JoSAA stands for Joint Seat Allocation Authority. It is responsible for conducting counseling for all the government colleges through JEE Main and JEE Advanced scores of students.
So there’s not much difference in the process, but given below are the admission criteria and process of IITs vs NITs.

Admission to NITs –

The candidates who qualify for JEE Main can get admission to their desired NITs.
However, they have to clear the cut-off for NITs. JEE Main is conducted by NTA.
Previously, this exam was conducted by CBSE. But MHRD decided to hand over the responsibility of JEE Main to NTA.
NITs have almost 20,000 seats in various B.Tech courses.

Admission to IITs–

To get admission to IITs students have to qualify for the JEE Main exam and then JEE Advanced exam.
They need to hold at least 70 to 75% marks in the board exam or be in the top 20 percentile of their respective board.
The top 2.5 lac rankers of JEE Main can appear for JEE Advanced.
Along with this, students must also clear the JEE Advanced Cut-Off.
This is also applicable for admissions to Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Planning courses.
The IITs have around 11,000 seats for B.Tech specializations.

Course Curriculum for Students

IITs and NITs are not the same when compared to the level of studies.
IITs possess a high-grade infrastructure of courses, scope, and faculties as well as top-scoring students versus NITs.
On the other hand, NITs do have batches with diligent and smart students, in comparison to the level of top private colleges.
But NITs are always a second choice for students.
This is because IITs provide a wide range of courses with highly skilled faculty who prefer innovative teaching techniques.
Here is the list of courses offered by IITs vs NITs-

Degree Type	IIT Courses	NIT Courses
Undergraduate	B-Tech	B-Tech
	Dual Degree M.Sc.	Dual Degree Integrated Courses
	Dual Degree MA	BA
	Dual Degree MA	B.Sc.
	B-Arch	B-Arch
	B-Planning	B-Planning
Post Graduate	M-Tech	M-Tech
	MBA	MBA
	M.Sc.	M.Sc.
	M-Arch	M-Arch
	MS	MS
	Master of Design	MCA
	Post Graduate Diploma in Information and Technology (PGDIT)	–
	Master in Medical Science & Technology (MMST)	–
	Post Graduate Diploma (PGDIPL)	–
	Postgraduate Diploma in Maritime Operation & Management (PGDMOM)	–
Doctorate	PhD	PhD

The courses mentioned above have different curriculums according to the various branches that students opt for after taking admission to a college.
The exact curriculum can be viewed by visiting the official website of either of the colleges and looking up ‘Undergraduate Programmes’ offered by that college.
To get the best courses, students must clear the required cut-off for that particular course.
To do that, you might even need to score at least above 250 in JEE Main.
The number of courses offered is not limited to the ones mentioned above.
There are other similar courses in the technical field offered by both IITs and NITs.
Moreover, the most important part is the various specializations offered at both colleges with the faculty providing adequate support.
This is what major private colleges lack.

Infrastructure & Facilities

The technical support in IITs, the webmail system, the management of studies, and the online portal are what make students passionate about IITs as compared to NITs.
Arguably, NITs currently do not have a top-notch infrastructure. They might need some time to develop this kind of infrastructure.
Area wise too, IITs have larger campuses.
The largest NIT Campus is of NIT Trichy i.e. 800 acres.
While the largest IIT Campus is of IIT Kharagpur i.e. 2100 acres, almost 3 other IITs have a larger campus size than that of NIT Trichy.
The prototype labs, automatic machines, and Computer-aided-design data have made IITs more attractive than NITs.
Although, the research facility of both types of institutes is equally equipped with high-end latest technology.
To compare the faculties of IITs vs NITs, NITs have very prominent faculties with great industry and teaching experience.
The faculty is skilled and many are top-educated professors who graduated from IITs itself.
However, NITs contribute a large amount of research and development toward the country’s overall growth.
The top-tier, pre-established NITs are equivalent to the top-tier IITs.

Extra-Curricular Activities, Sports & Culture Fests at IITs vs NITs

The competition in co-curricular activities is almost the same for IITs as well as NITs.
Every year there are several competitions in sports and other activities which increase the decision-making skills of the students.
Colleges have their own bands, dance groups, sports teams, and drama teams which are made by actively enthusiastic students every year.
The extra-curricular activity which is performed by IITs are-
- Drama
- Dance
- Literature Club
- Music
- Quizzing
- Hindi Samiti
- Student Welfare
The students of both institutes are influenced to boost sports activity which helps them to increase their skill and personality and also provides chances for national-level competition.
The cultural fest is part of education for both of the institutes. Intercollege and international-level competitions are held.
Name of some cultural festival is given below for IITs vs NITs-

S.No.	Cultural Fests at IITs	Cultural Fests at NITs
1.	Shaastra	Advaitam
2.	Kshitij	Saptrang
3.	Techfest	Utkansh
4.	Cognizance	Utkarsh
5	Nvision	Confluence
6.	Technex	Aarohi

Placements & Salary Offered at IITs vs NITs

The role of the institute is big when it comes to the placement and salary package because initially, the institutes give the opportunity which gives you the educational reputation.
It depends on the student’s skill, not the type of institution.
When it comes to the opportunity it is obvious that higher packages are offered at IITs vs NITs.
Starting salary of IITs is 8,00,000 or above and students get chances to even go abroad at crores of annual CTC.
Although, there are many students holding high-paying jobs from NITs vs IITs students.

The 2022-2023 batch of IITs holds the highest salary and a great average placement package. Here is the data for some top IITs with the highest CTC offered, average CTC, and top companies that hired students.

IITB, IITM, IITKGP & IITK

IITs	IIT Bombay	IIT Madras	IIT Kharagpur	IIT Kanpur
Highest CTC	INR 4 crore per annum	INR 1.89 crore per annum	Above INR 2.6 crore per annum	INR 2.23 CPA Per Annum
Average CTC	_	_	_	_
Top Companies	Honeywell	Uber	Apple	–
	ISRO	Samsung	Google	–
	Airbus	Microsoft	Airbus	–
	Uber	Rubric Inc.		–
	Rubrik	Jaguar		–
	Millennium	Micron Tech		–
	Black Stone	–		–
	–	–	–	–
	–	–	–	–

IITD, IITI, IITG & IITR

IITs	IIT Delhi	IIT Indore	IIT Guwahati	IIT Roorkee
Highest CTC	INR 4 crore per annum	INR 56 LPA	INR 1.20 crore per annum	INR 2.15 crore per annum
Average CTC	INR 21.9 LPA	INR 23.50 LPA	_	_
Top Companies	Microsoft	Microsoft	American Express	BCG
	Zomato	Zomato	Qualcomm	Bajaj Auto
	Amazon	Amazon	JP Morgan	Flipkart
	Capgemini	Capgemini	C-DoT	Tata Steel
	Qualcomm	Qualcomm	_	_

IITH, IITP, IITRPR & IIT (BHU)

IITs	IIT Hyderabad	IIT Patna	IIT Ropar	IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Highest CTC	INR 65.40 LPA	INR 82.05 LPA	INR 50 LPA	INR 1.2 crore per annum
Average CTC	INR 20.40 LPA	INR 28.50 LPA	INR 28.54 LPA	INR 29 LPA
Top Companies	Flipkart,	Oracle	Goldman Sachs	UBER
	Indeed,	Atlassian	Amazon	UiPath
	Zomato	Zomato	Infosys	Microsoft
	_	_	_	Intel
	_	_	_	Mastercard
	_
	–	–	–	–

Notable Alumni of IITs vs NITs

There are some well-renowned names from IITs and NITs. While the alumni from NIT are not that famous, they still lead a large number of Indian Corporations.

S. No.	Name	Designation & Company	Alumnus
1	Sachin Bansal	Co-Founder of Flipkart	IIT
2	Raghuram Rajan	Former RBI Governor	IIT
3	N. R. Narayan Murthy	Co-Founder of Infosys	IIT
4	Nitish Kumar	Chief Minister of Bihar	NIT
5	Natarajan Chandrasekaran	Chairman of Tata Sons	NIT
6	Shyam Srinivasan	CEO of Federal Bank	NIT
7	Hemesh Singh	Co-Founder of Unacademy	NIT
8	Sanjiv Chaturvedi	Ramon Magsaysay Awardee	NIT
9	Sundar Pichai	CEO of Alphabet & Google	IIT
10	Nitesh Arora	Chairman of SoftBank Crop	IIT

We have now discussed almost all major aspects which vary in IITs and NITs. After considering these various aspects, you can move further with your decision to choose NITs or IITs depending on your preference. Both colleges have the requisite facilities that students need to excel in their particular fields. NITs take the scores of JEE Main while IITs take the scores of JEE Advanced. Due to heavy competition in JEE Advanced, the batches of IITs are filled with highly intelligent students who have already defeated more than 10 lakh students! So, do not stop here! You have a long journey ahead. Make sure to gear up for the preparations of JEE Main with everything you have! How about you start with the top android apps to prepare for JEE Main?