The number of women admitted to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) increased by nearly 52 per cent between 2019 and 2025, according to admission data from the 23 institutes.

Female student intake rose from 2,416 in 2019 to 3,664 in 2025. During the same period, the total number of allotted seats increased by about 34 per cent, from 13,604 to 18,188.

Women accounted for 17.76 per cent of students allotted seats in 2019. Their share increased by 2.39 percentage points to 20.15 per cent in 2025.

The rise follows the introduction of supernumerary seats aimed at increasing women’s representation in IIT undergraduate programmes. The government had set targets of 14 per cent female enrolment in 2018–19, 17 per cent in 2019–20 and 20 per cent in 2020–21.

A total of 835 supernumerary seats were created in 2018–19, followed by 1,122 in 2019–20. The additional seats were introduced without reducing the number available to gender-neutral candidates.

In 2019, women’s representation across individual IITs ranged from 16.67 per cent at IIT Goa to 20.68 per cent at IIT Indore. By 2025, every IIT recorded a female share of about 19 per cent or more.

IIT Tirupati reported the highest share of women in 2025 at 21.57 per cent, followed by IIT Madras at 21.09 per cent. IIT Delhi and IIT Indore each recorded 20.63 per cent.

IIT Bombay’s female share increased from 17.78 per cent in 2019 to 19.57 per cent in 2025, while IIT Kharagpur’s rose from 16.82 per cent to 19.19 per cent. IIT Hyderabad recorded an increase from 18.61 per cent to 20.13 per cent.

The data shows that women now account for about one in five students admitted to IITs.

Inputs from Indian Express

Also Read: SC seeks timeline for front-of-pack warning labels on packaged foods