The National Institute of Fashion Technology offers admission into the BDes and BFTech programmes under the NIFT lateral entry admission (NLEA) scheme. The NIFT NLEA seat matrix will be released online at nift.ac.in. Candidates shortlisted for NIFT NLEA admission will be allotted seats under this scheme. Hence candidates want to know ‘How many seats are available in NIFT lateral entry 2026?’. The details for the same are provided below in the article as for the seat availability under the NIFT lateral entry 2026.
The NIFT lateral entry 2026 is an opportunity for the candidates who have completed their Diploma in the relevant field of Design & Technology. NIFT NLEA 2026 is the scheme of offering direct admission to the third semester of the UG programmes, namely BDes and BFTech.
As the NIFT 2026 official brochure is yet to be published, candidates interested in obtaining design course admission into the third semester can go through the NIFT NLEA seat availability as provided below based on the previous year. NIFT authorities will release the NLEA seat matrix category-wise and programme-wise. The total number of seats available for NIFT NLEA 2026 category-wise across all the NIFT campuses are as follows.
Programmes | Seats for | Total | |||
Open/OBC/EWS | SC | ST | NRI | ||
Bachelor of Design (BDes) | |||||
Accessory design | 18 | 23 | 41 | 30 | 112 |
Fashion communication | 5 | 19 | 41 | 18 | 83 |
Fashion design | 11 | 20 | 26 | 16 | 73 |
Fashion interiors | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
Knitwear design | 3 | 5 | 14 | 9 | 31 |
Leather design | 6 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 40 |
Textile design | 24 | 30 | 40 | 31 | 125 |
Bachelor of Fashion Technology (BFTech) | |||||
Apparel production | 69 | 55 | 47 | 58 | 229 |
Total | 140 | 166 | 222 | 180 | 708 |
Note: The listed seats are tentative where the final number of seats will be displayed at the time of seat allocation.
Aspirants interested to get admitted into the 3rd semester of the NIFT UG programmes need to appear for the NIFT entrance examination. The NIFT 2026 will be held in January as per the trend of previous year. The NIFT admission is based on the scores obtained by the candidates in the entrance exam of NIFT (GAT and CAT) and also on the NIFT Situation test for BDes. For BFTech admission, only the scores in GAT will be considered as there is no CAT exam for this programme.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
There may be variations in the total number of seats for NIFT NLEA.
A total of 479 seats are available for NIFT BDes under the NLEA scheme.
The NIFT NLEA programme is an opportunity for the students to obtain direct admission into the 3rd semester of the NIFT UG courses.
On Question asked by student community
HELLO,
I am providing you the link below through which you will be able to download the NIFT Question papers with solutions PDF
Here is the link :-
https://design.careers360.com/articles/nift-question-paper
In the above link , you will get the direct links to download the year vise question papers with solutions ,
Hello,
Yes, a diploma holder in Computer Engineering can apply for the NIFT entrance exam , but only through the lateral entry route.
NIFT allows candidates with a 3-year or 4-year engineering diploma from a recognized board to apply for B.F.Tech (Fashion Technology) through lateral entry. The diploma must be
Hello aspirant,
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has determined the official date for NIFT 2026 applicant registrations, which is expected to open in November 2025. Online applications will be accepted through January 2026.
For complete information, you can visit our site through following link:
https://design.careers360.com/exams/nift-entrance-exam
Thank you
Hello Neharika
These are the topics which are most important in the Current affairs section in respect to NIFT Entrance Exam:
1. National and International Awards and Honors
2. Government Schemes and Initiatives
3. Sports
4. Appointments and Newsmakers
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7. International
Hello,
According to the sources, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) entrance exam for 2026 will be held in February 2026. Also, the registration period may open from November 2025.
I hope it will clear your query!!
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