IIT Delhi has secured the top position among Indian universities in the QS World University Rankings 2026, climbing from 150th to 123rd place since 2025. Delhi University has been ranked seventh among the top ten Indian universities. IIT Delhi has improved its standing by over 70 places in the last two years, ranking 123rd this year compared to 197th in 2024, based on criteria such as employer reputation, citations, sustainability, and academic reputation. The institute made its presence in the world ranking after 8 years.
In contrast, IIT Bombay has dropped 11 places, from 118 to 129. This year, 54 institutes from India have made it into the QS rankings. India is positioned in fourth place after the US (192), UK (90), and China (72), which is a significant achievement.
Notably, five Indian institutes have been ranked in the top 100 globally in the indicator category of employer reputation. IIT Delhi has secured the first position among Indian Institutes/Universities and 50th globally. The institute secured the global rank of 86 in the citations per faculty category. In sustainability and academic reputation, IIT Delhi has secured a global rank of 172 and 142. DU secured an overall global rank of 328, the same as last year.
Here's the top 10 Indian Institutes with their rankings in the QS Rankings
| Institute Names | Rankings |
| IIT Delhi | 123 |
| IIT Bombay | 129 |
| IIT Madras | 180 |
| IIT Kharagpur | 215 |
| IISc Bangalore | 219 |
| IIT Kanpur | 222 |
| Delhi University | 328 |
| IIT Guwahati | 334 |
| IIIT Roorkee | 339 |
| Anna University | 465 |
This year, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has become the world's number 1 university for the 14th consecutive year. It was followed by Imperial College London, Stanford, Oxford and Harvard. The reason behind this high ranking of IIT Delhi is its improvement in many metrics. There has been a tremendous increase of 23 places in employer reputation, 40 in faculty citations, 21 in employer results and especially 252 places in sustainability.
