The latest India Today MDRA Fashion Design Rankings, for 2026, place NIFT Gandhinagar at rank 6. In the 2025 edition it also held rank 6, with a total score of 1,660.7 out of 2,000. These are edition-specific Fashion Design survey results, not a universal NIFT campus order or a rank for every course. Use the ranking as one comparison point alongside the programme, fees, campus evidence and placement data that matter to you. India Today MDRA Fashion Design Rankings 2026 · India Today ranking table, 2025 edition · NIRF India Rankings 2025 report
Latest NIFT Gandhinagar ranking
India Today’s 2026 article reports NIFT Gandhinagar at rank 6 in its MDRA Fashion Design Rankings. The article lists Gandhinagar alongside other NIFT campuses and identifies the survey edition as 2026. It does not publish Gandhinagar’s score breakdown in the article, so the 2025 parameter scores below should not be presented as 2026 results.
For the 2025 edition, India Today’s detailed table assigns Gandhinagar rank 6, the same rank shown for 2024. A shared rank is not a unique position: the 2025 table also places NIFT Patna at rank 6. Gandhinagar’s 2025 total score was 1,660.7 out of a possible 2,000. The previous-year rank and score help describe the published survey history, but they do not prove that the campus’s underlying teaching or student outcomes stayed unchanged.
What the 2025 scorecard says
India Today divides its 2025 Fashion Design score into five reported components and separate objective and perceptual totals. Gandhinagar received 138 out of 180 for Intake Quality and Governance (IQG), 247.5 out of 300 for Academic Excellence (ACE), 139.5 out of 180 for Infrastructure and Living Experience (ILE), 182.9 out of 240 for Personality and Leadership Development (PLD), and 216.1 out of 300 for Placement and Career Progression (PCP). The table reports an objective score of 924 out of 1,200 and a perceptual score of 736.7 out of 800, which sum to 1,660.7 out of 2,000.
The arithmetic is visible in the same table: 138 + 247.5 + 139.5 + 182.9 + 216.1 = 924.0 for the objective components; 924.0 + 736.7 = 1,660.7 total. This makes the score easier to interpret than rank alone. In this edition, the PCP component is 216.1/300, while the overall total also includes admissions/governance, academics, campus experience, leadership development and a much larger perceptual component. A reader focused on placements should inspect placement reporting directly rather than treating the overall rank as a placement rate.
For context within that same 2025 survey, NIFT New Delhi scored 1,786.1 and ranked first, while NIFT Mumbai scored 1,692.4 and ranked third. Gandhinagar’s total was 125.4 points below New Delhi and 31.7 points below Mumbai. These are reproducible score differences within one survey edition, not a quality gap that can be translated into a student’s expected outcome. Different scores can reflect multiple survey inputs, and the public table does not establish why each difference occurred.
Do not mix rankings with cutoffs or placement claims
A Fashion Design survey rank, a NIFTEE Common Merit Rank and a placement result answer different questions. India Today’s campus rank reflects its survey assessment for an edition; NIFT’s counselling OR-CR tables report opening and closing ranks for seats by programme, round, quota and category; placement reports describe a particular graduating cohort and reporting method. A rank of 6 is not an admission cutoff, and the college’s rank does not tell an applicant what CMR is needed for a specific Gandhinagar programme.
NIFT’s 2024-25 annual report also recounts an India Today placement-record distinction for the Gandhinagar campus. That statement is narrower than an overall campus rank and tied to a separate placement assessment. It should not be rewritten as “ranked number one NIFT” or merged with an overall Fashion Design table. For a current placement decision, compare the cohort, denominator, programmes covered, salaries and employer participation in the placement source itself.
NIRF is another distinct framework. The Ministry of Education’s India Rankings 2025 covers categories such as Overall, Universities and Colleges, and subject domains including Engineering, Management, Law, Architecture and Planning, and Agriculture and Allied Sectors. It does not list a Fashion Design or Design subject domain in that edition. This means NIRF is not a like-for-like fashion-campus ranking for Gandhinagar; it does not make a media survey equivalent to NIRF or establish a national design position.
How to use the ranking when choosing a programme
Start with the exact course you want. Gandhinagar lists four B.Des specialisations, B.F.Tech Apparel Production, M.Des and M.F.M.; the India Today Fashion Design ranking is not a separate score for each of those programmes. Check the campus curriculum, course-specific studio and workshop access, fees, financial support, hostel arrangements and the latest comparable placement report. Ask whether an outcome figure covers your intended programme and graduating year.
Then check the ranking publisher and year. The 2026 article gives a current rank but no score breakdown; the detailed 2025 table provides component scores. Keep those facts attached to their editions. A later edition may change the position or scoring inputs. When comparing two campuses, use the same survey year and category, and compare parameter scores only when the publisher reports them for both campuses. Do not combine one publisher’s overall rank with another publisher’s placement rank as if they were a common scale.
The available evidence supports a bounded conclusion: NIFT Gandhinagar is sixth in India Today MDRA’s Fashion Design Rankings 2026; its 2025 edition rank was also sixth, with a published 1,660.7/2,000 score and the component breakdown above. That is useful comparative context, not a substitute for judging the specific programme and evidence that matter to your choice.