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QS Asia rankings: IIT Delhi stays India's best at 66th as most Indian universities slip
India has 325 universities in the QS Asia list for 2027, second only to mainland China, but most of the returning ones lost ground and Delhi University dropped out of the top 100.
Key points
- IIT Delhi is India's top-ranked university at 66th in Asia, down from 59th.
- Of returning Indian universities, 71% fell, 18% rose and 11% held their place.
- The University of Delhi slipped out of the Asian top 100 to 106th.
India has 325 universities in the QS Asia University Rankings 2027, released on Tuesday, the second-largest presence after mainland China. But the headline count hides a weaker showing: most Indian institutions that were ranked last year have moved down the table.
According to QS, 71% of returning Indian universities fell, 18% rose and 11% held their place.
The top Indian names
IIT Delhi remains India’s best-placed university, but it slipped from 59th to 66th. The Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru fell from 64th to 79th, IIT Bombay from 71st to 83rd and IIT Madras from 70th to 85th. IIT Kharagpur dropped to 90th and IIT Kanpur to 97th.
The University of Delhi left the Asian top 100, moving from 95th to 106th. Further down the list, IIT Hyderabad climbed to 251st. IIT Bombay was placed seventh in Asia on employer reputation, one of the measures QS uses.
‘Moved down’, not worse
Ben Sowter, Senior Vice President at QS, cautioned against reading the numbers as a collapse. The 71% figure, he said, is “the share of institutions that moved down”, not a fall in performance of that size. He added that two-thirds of the Indian universities that lost rank actually improved their overall scores, a sign that rivals elsewhere in Asia are improving faster.
For students and policymakers the message is mixed. India now has more universities than ever in the Asian table, but its best-known institutions are losing ground to faster-moving neighbours.