The NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) is the primary ranking system approved by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, to assess and rank higher education institutions all over the country. It offers a clear and quite detailed picture of which universities, colleges and institutes are the best in terms of the teaching quality, research, placements, inclusiveness and reputation.
NIRF publishes annual “India Rankings” for different categories like Overall, University, Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Law, Medical, Architecture, and others. In 2025, the coverage was of 7,600+ educational institutions spread over 17 categories, with a new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) category that deals with green practices and social responsibility.
Top 5 IIMs in NIRF Management Ranking 2025
We can see from the NIRF 2025 management rankings how the major IIMs are standing in relation to each other, their positions and their strengths. If you want to know the exact scores, you can always check them out on the official NIRF portal.
IIM Ahmedabad – Rank 1
IIM Ahmedabad stays at the top spot in the NIRF 2025 Management rankings, thus extending its record of consecutive wins. Its total NIRF score is still close to 83, which is a good indicator of the quality of teaching, a very impressive graduation outcome (placements and higher studies), plus a very good perception of employers and academics. Two-year MBA and one-year MBA-PGPX, along with the research centre, are the main reasons why IIM Ahmedabad is ahead of the competition by a large margin.
IIM Bangalore – Rank 2
The second place of IIM Bangalore in the NIRF 2025 Management ranking list shows the B-school to be still highly attractive to Indian students wishing to pursue an MBA across the country. In fact, the institute is strong in many respects - teaching, research, and graduation outcomes, with flagship MBA, MBA (Business Analytics) and executive programmes continuously achieving excellent placements in consulting, technology, and finance. To sum up, IIM Bangalore's position in the NIRF ranking has been very consistent over the recent years, when the school was placed in the top two.
IIM Kozhikode – Rank 3
IIM Kozhikode grasped a NIRF 2025 3rd place and thus confirmed being one of the three best-ranked management institutes at the national level. The institute has been progressively increasing its scores over the last cycles, mainly in perception, research and inclusiveness, and the main factors behind this are the student intake and new academic centres from which it benefits. Not only good placements in consulting and analytics, but also strong MBA and online/working professionals programmes have become the major features of IIM in recent years.
IIM Calcutta – Rank 4
IIM Calcutta, in the past, together with Ahmedabad and Bangalore, made up the "top three", but now it remains only in the top 10 of the NIRF 2025 Management rankings and has dropped a hook. The relative decline indicates that the competition among the IIMs has become more intense since the Calcutta Institute still exhibits very strong graduation outcomes and perception. It is quite obvious that the flagship MBA, finance and analytics, and the international tie-ups are still the reasons why the B-schools are among the best in India.
IIM Lucknow - Rank 5
IIM Lucknow, historically strong among the older IIMs, has improved to Rank 5 in the NIRF 2025 Management rankings after being around 7th in recent years. This upward movement reflects growing strengths in graduation outcomes and perception amid intensifying competition, while its flagship MBA, agribusiness programmes, and executive offerings at Lucknow and Noida campuses keep it firmly among India's elite B-schools.
Other IIMs in the NIRF 2025 list
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