Case study · Government and public sectorWhy is NIT Raipur's NIRF rank falling and what would bring it back within three years?
NIT Raipur fell from 64th to 86th in NIRF Engineering between 2021 and 2025, although its score rose. We traced the lost ground to six fixable causes and found seven measures, each already working at a peer NIT worth about 4.2 points.
Built entirely from public data: NIRF rankings and data submissions 2018 to 2025, NIT Raipur notices and reports, CSR filings and peer NIT documents. Prepared for NIT Raipur's leadership in October 2026. Figures marked (est.) are Arcvane estimates, explained in the study's appendix.
The challenge
NIT Raipur's NIRF Engineering rank fell from 64th in 2021 to 86th in 2025, and its Overall band dropped from 101–150 to 151–200. Yet its score rose over the same years, from 44.8 to 47.6. The leadership needed to know why the rank kept falling while the score went up, and what would bring it back within three years.
What we did
We rebuilt NIT Raipur's NIRF scores from the published rankings and data submissions for 2018 to 2025, and compared them head by head with 12 other NITs. We split the shortfall against the rank-75 line into Raipur's own decline and faster improvement by peers, then traced each lost point to a cause using institute notices, placement reports, PG admission bulletins and CSR filings. For every cause we found a peer NIT that had already solved it, and estimated the gain with NIRF's own formulas.
What we found
Of the 4.7 points Raipur fell behind since 2021, 2.1 is its own decline in teaching and outreach and 2.6 is peers improving faster. The biggest single gap is faculty: 272 in post where the 1:15 ratio needs 369. We recommended seven measures, each proven at a peer NIT: hiring all year towards 1:15, CSR-funded labs, PG outreach, a PG placement committee, credit for NPTEL and SWAYAM courses, an alumni-led perception programme, and many small research grants. Together they are worth about 4.2 points, or rank 63 on 2025 scores, and bring rank 75 within reach by NIRF 2030 (est.).
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