After a decade of the establishment of third-generation IITs and AIIMS, their popularity among students in comparison to the older IITs and AIIMS remains debatable. While some say that newly established institutes provide an entrepreneurial experience with opportunities to build new traditions, others say that getting an IIT tag is only the beginning of a journey to build a credible and robust institute. Experts say the difference between new and old IITs, and AIIMS is the difference of velocity versus maturity.
A performance audit by the CAG shows that by 2021–22, while the new IITs had expanded, they continue to face several challenges—ranging from infrastructure delays and faculty shortages to weak research output. Experts say that generous funding offsets these challenges.
In medicine, government medical colleges are still preferred over the new AIIMS campuses. In engineering, regional colleges and reputed private institutions are often ranked above the newer IITs. Experts, however, say that placement records of third-generation institutes have significantly improved and could become a factor that draws more students.
What students say
S. Mayuri from Ranchi studied at IIT Ropar for a year and then moved to a GFTI in her hometown. “The culture and mentoring mattered more than the tag. Slapping an IIT tag on a new building doesn’t make it an IIT”, she says.
However, the experience is not universal. Shivanshi Chaudhary, an alumnus of IIT Jodhpur and currently a Product Manager in Seattle, U.S.A., shares a contrasting opinion. She had to make a choice between IIT Jodhpur and CSE at BITS Pilani. Ms. Chaudhary decided to choose the former.
Ms. Chaudhary described studying at a new IIT as a more entrepreneurial experience than academic. “It felt like starting our own company and building a new brand. We worked day and night to write the student constitution, set up the student body council, start and lead technical and cultural clubs, establish labs and program new machinery, and even plan and raise capital for student festivals. Joining a new IIT was the best decision of my life.”
Ayush Agarwal, who chose NIT Trichy over a new IIT despite qualifying for both, explains, “Older NITs have better rankings, experienced faculty, more helpful seniors, and stronger alumni networks. There’s a better culture and lifestyle in the hostels. There are many benefits.”
Prof. Arun K. Tangirala, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Tirupati, highlights that the central difference between old and new IIT is perhaps between maturity and velocity. He says, “Older IITs have established research ecosystems, vast alumni networks, and decades of institutional stability. Post-2008 IITs, however, are defined by adaptability. Newer IITs follow an innovation model, where infrastructure is built on resourcefulness and pioneering student spirit. Our curriculum remains dynamically interdisciplinary, unburdened by legacy silos. Most importantly, young faculty offer intensive, personalised mentorship and drive institutional excellence from the ground up.”
Infrastructure
According to an official release, by 2028–29, all five post-2014 IITs are expected to have world-class infrastructure, including research parks, new hostels, and academic buildings.
A Performance Audit by the CAG, however, highlights significant delays in constructing academic blocks, hostels, and laboratories—the backbone of any technical institute.
Despite construction beginning in phases from 2012, timelines slipped dramatically — IIT Hyderabad (delayed up to 56 months), IIT Mandi (up to 41 months), IIT Ropar (up to 39 months), IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Indore (up to 37 months). Slow campus development also affected the timely installation of lab equipment and fund utilisation, ultimately hampering research and teaching.
Siddhant Mohan, a B.Tech Electrical Engineering student at IIT Tirupati, says, “The quantity of infrastructure is the common drawback of any new IIT. The old IITs are far ahead in this aspect. However, it’s not a huge obstacle—it can be overcome with determination. Some first-year students at IIT Tirupati even built a quadcopter on their own despite the lack of facilities.”
Prof. Tangirala adds, “Newer IITs may be challenged by the need to build from the ground up. But they offer high potential, including rapid promotion and institution-building roles. Young faculty view building labs from scratch as an opportunity to incorporate state-of-the-art features. Moreover, generous ministry funding significantly offsets these challenges.”
Placements
A paper titled “Are IIT placements dropping? Here’s a fact check” (2024) by O.R.S. Rao, Chancellor of ICFAI University, Sikkim, analysed three years of placement data from IIT Bombay and found that placement rates in the past decade remained consistently between 80% and 90%, except for a dip in 2021–22 due to COVID-19. Sector-wise analysis shows that IT and allied sectors remain the largest recruiters, with their share rising from 26% to 36% in the last three years.
Prof. Rao says, “The highest packages are offered to students from older IITs, followed by the newer IITs and then the NITs. This isn’t uniform across branches—students in circuit branches at old IITs receive the highest offers. The average salary at the old IITs is over ₹25 lakh per annum, while students at newer IITs receive around ₹12 lakh per annum. Top MNCs related to investment banking and consulting do not visit newer IITs or NITs. Product companies like Intel and Oracle and R&D labs visit the newer IITs, while NITs are hired in bulk by manufacturing companies and firms like TCS and Wipro.”
At IIT Tirupati, Prof. Tangirala notes remarkable progress: “Placement outcomes have improved from 64% to 90% over the last three academic years. The number of recruiters has expanded from 46 companies in 2022–23 to 141 companies in 2024–25, nearly a threefold increase, with more organisations from emerging and core sectors.”
According to Prof. Tangirala, “Students at IIT Tirupati are receiving expanding opportunities for industry collaboration and internships, including structured six-month internships with PPO pathways and a broad employer network of 141 organisations across engineering and technology sectors.”
Research, internships and industry collaborations
The paper ‘Institutional Shifts in Contribution to Indian Research Output During the Last Two Decades’ places the five IITs established after 2014 among the top 100 Indian institutions in terms of research publications between 2014 and 2023.
The performance audit notes that although several patents were filed between 2014 and 2019, five of the eight IITs did not receive even a single patent grant during this period. The Ministry had recommended establishing Research and Technology Development Councils within each IIT to guide R&D strategy. But the report observes that most councils remained in “nascent stages,” limiting the intended thrust towards innovation.
Deepak Tiwari, an IIT Hyderabad alumnus, notes, “IIT Hyderabad has excellent ongoing research, and its tie-up with Japan is a boon. IIT Indore has the best coding culture in the country. If you want an excellent on-campus life, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and the best hostels in India, choose IIT Indore. IIT Gandhinagar stands out with its emphasis on liberal arts, project-oriented learning, and compulsory courses in design and life sciences.”
According to the paper “Research Output and Visualisation of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India: A Special Reference to Open Access”, six newly established AIIMS—Raipur, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Bhubaneswar and Patna—have collectively produced 12,157 research publications with an average of 8.266 citations per paper. AIIMS Jodhpur leads in total publications with 3,056 papers, while AIIMS Rishikesh has the highest number of open-access publications (1,758).
Faculty
As of 2021–22, the performance audit found that no IIT met the ideal 1:10 faculty-to-student ratio. In 2025, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of 130 faculty posts in the five new IlTs. The Ministry linked faculty posts to student numbers using a 1:10 ratio. Yet, despite active recruitment, vacancies ranging from 5% to 36% persisted across seven IITs during 2014–19. These shortages restricted student intake and increased workloads on existing faculty, affecting the quality of teaching and mentorship.
The Ministry of Education had planned an intake of 18,880 students in the first six years (2008–14) across the eight new IITs. According to the Ministry of Education, the current intake capacity of the five IITs established after 2014—IIT Tirupati, IIT Palakkad, IIT Bhilai, IIT Jammu and IIT Dharwad—is 7,111 for the academic year 2025.
Rahul Sinha, currently pursuing his M.Tech at IIT Dhanbad, observes, “The number of students per faculty is lower in new IITs compared to RECs, which enables more personalised teaching. New IITs are more active in foreign exchange programs as well.”
Older IITs, such as IIT Kharagpur, offer a wide range of programmes—up to 15 B.Tech courses—while newer IITs offer fewer programmes; IIT Indore and IIT Tirupati offer six B. Tech courses each, and IIT Bhubaneswar offers eight.
Roshan Ravikumar, a first-year B.Tech student at VIT Bhopal, says, “I chose to study in a reputed private institute because many new IITs have very few seats and limited courses. Seniors from my school also discouraged joining new IITs.”
“It is true that not all new IITs have performed equally well over the years. The location of these new institutions is a huge obstacle for them. In newer institutions, IIT Hyderabad is competing well with the older IITs in terms of placements, too. Besides, the other new ones in Gandhinagar and Bhopal are also performing well. The brand IIT is stronger and the only thing that matters in the end,” points out O.R.S. Rao.
Does location matter? Insights from new AIIMS
Akshat Gosain, who chose Seth G.S. Medical College under the State quota over AIIMS Madurai, explains, “AIIMS Madurai is still under construction and currently operates from GRMC Ramanathapuram. My seniors advised me to join a regional medical college because language is a serious issue for North Indian students.”
Rahul Sharma, a second-year student at Calcutta National Medical College, shares, “I was reluctant to join AIIMS Guwahati because students must serve a two-year bond after graduation and a five-year bond after post-graduation in Assam. I preferred West Bengal medical colleges, which have no bond. The patient load is very high there, but it felt more practical for me.”
AIIMS Nagpur remains more popular than AIIMS Patna and AIIMS Raipur despite its lower NIRF ranking. N. Srimathy, a third-year student at AIIMS Nagpur, explains, “AIIMS Raipur and Patna rank higher, but Nagpur offers single-occupancy rooms with attached washrooms. New AIIMS have low patient inflow, meaning less exposure. AIIMS has no bond service, but you lose the state quota for PG admissions.”
Conclusion
Academicians say that reputed institutions cannot be built overnight. Vijender Singh Chauhan, Associate Professor at Delhi University, explains, “New institutions lag for several reasons. First, they receive minimal investment in economic and social trust. Second, they are not owned by the cities in which they are located. For example, IIT Patna is 630 km away from the city, making it neither rooted in the region nor fully able to leverage the IIT brand. Third, faculty and students often treat these institutions as stepping stones, leading to a lack of ownership.”
He adds that greater emphasis must be placed on character-building, “We need to chisel teachers, increase collaborations with established universities, and focus on producing quality publications. Cities must also take ownership of these institutions by solving local problems, engaging communities, and encouraging greater interaction. This is how premier institutions like IIT Delhi and JNU were built.”
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