NIRF MBA Ranking 2026: Is It Out Yet?
No. As of 16 October 2026 the NIRF 2026 management ranking has not been published. MBAUniverse reported on 23 September that it was delayed because of changes at the Ministry of Education; a 29 September report said the ministry was expected to release it in the first week of October but hadn’t confirmed a date; and there is no 2026 management list on nirfindia.org as we write.
Beware of “NIRF 2026 list out” pages
Search for the ranking and you’ll find pages headed something like “NIRF Management Ranking 2026: Top 10”, complete with a confident table. Until the ministry publishes, those tables are last year’s data under this year’s headline. Two quick checks: does the page link to a 2026 list on nirfindia.org, and does it give an actual release date? If neither, treat it as the 2025 list.
What to use in the meantime
The 2025 list is still the latest official one, and for shortlisting it’s good enough. A ranking is a tiebreaker, not an eligibility test: what decides whether you get in is your percentile against each college’s own cut-off. The table pairs the best-ranked NIRF 2025 institutes with the percentile they actually admit at, limited to those you can reach at 80 percentile or below.
| NIRF 2025 | College | City | CAT band | Total fee | Avg CTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Amrita CoimbatoreAmrita School of Business Coimbatore | Coimbatore | 50–65 %ile | ₹12.9 L | 8.4 LPA |
| 28 | Jamia Millia IslamiaCentre for Management Studies Jamia Millia Islamia | New Delhi | 65–80 %ile | ₹0.5 L | n/a |
| 32 | Chandigarh UniversityUniversity Institute of Management Chandigarh University | Mohali | 50–65 %ile | ₹5.7 L | 5.5 LPA |
| 33 | MICAMICA | Ahmedabad | 80–90 %ile | ₹28 L | 19.2 LPA |
| 36 | UPES DehradunUPES School of Business | Dehradun | 60–75 %ile | ₹20.3 L | 8.3 LPA |
| 37 | GLIM ChennaiGreat Lakes Institute of Management Chennai | Chennai | 80–90 %ile | ₹22.5 L | 15 LPA |
| 40 | IMI DelhiInternational Management Institute Delhi | New Delhi | 80–90 %ile | ₹23.5 L | 17.9 LPA |
| 41 | Jaipuria NoidaJaipuria Institute of Management Noida | Noida | 60–75 %ile | ₹15.8 L | 11.3 LPA |
| 42 | IMI KolkataInternational Management Institute Kolkata | Kolkata | 75–85 %ile | ₹15 L | 13.1 LPA |
| 44 | LPULovely Professional University | Phagwara | 60–75 %ile | ₹5.8 L | 6 LPA |
NIRF 2025 rank, not the 2026 ranking. Sorted by NIRF 2025 rank.
The full version, with every NIRF-ranked college we cover and the percentile it needs, is on the NIRF 2025 ranking page.
How late is it, historically?
| Edition | Released |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 4 April |
| 2017 | 3 April |
| 2018 | 3 April |
| 2019 | 8 April |
| 2020 | 11 June |
| 2021 | 9 September |
| 2022 | 15 July |
| 2023 | 5 June |
| 2024 | 12 August |
| 2025 | 4 September |
| 2026 | Not yet released (12 October) |
NIRF has no fixed release date. The first four editions came in early April, then it drifted: June in 2020 and 2023, July in 2022, August in 2024, and September in 2021 and 2025. As of 12 October this year’s list is later than any previous edition, which fits MBAUniverse’s report of a delay linked to changes at the Ministry of Education. The history tells you it’s unusual. It doesn’t tell you when it will come out.
The NIRF 2025 top 10, for reference
| Rank | Institute |
|---|---|
| 1 | IIM Ahmedabad |
| 2 | IIM Bangalore |
| 3 | IIM Kozhikode |
| 4 | IIT Delhi |
| 5 | IIM Lucknow |
| 6 | IIM Mumbai |
| 7 | IIM Calcutta |
| 8 | IIM Indore |
| 9 | MDI Gurgaon |
| 10 | XLRI Jamshedpur (Xavier School of Management) |
These ten admit well above this site’s range. The table in the previous section shows the best-ranked institutes you can reach at 80 percentile or below.
Should you wait for it?
Almost certainly not. Application deadlines at most institutes don’t depend on when NIRF is published. If you’re choosing between two colleges that are close on fees and placements, the new ranking might tip the decision. Wait for that one decision, not for the whole search.
When it comes out
We’ll replace the status line at the top of this page the day the ministry publishes, and the NIRF 2025 page will stay as the baseline for comparison.
Questions people ask
Is the NIRF 2026 management ranking out?
Not as of 16 October 2026. The latest published list is NIRF 2025.
When will NIRF 2026 be released?
No date has been confirmed. A 29 September report said the Ministry of Education was expected to release it in the first week of October; that is an expectation, not an announcement.
Which is the latest NIRF MBA ranking?
The NIRF 2025 Management Ranking. Any “2026 list” published before the ministry’s release is the 2025 data.
Does a college’s NIRF rank decide admission?
No. Admission depends on each institute’s own process: entrance score, interview and academics. NIRF is an independent ranking.
While NIRF 2026 is pending, the only national MBA ranking with a 2026 edition is IIRF’s. Our IIRF MBA Ranking 2026 guide lists both top-10s and checks which ranked schools admit below 90 percentile.
Where this comes from
Status checked on 16 October 2026. Release dates for 2016 to 2025 are from the pages below.