The NIFT lateral entry cutoff is a key factor for those who want direct entry in the second year of BDes and BFTech at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Candidates who have applied for NIFTEE NLEA admission process should appear for the same exam as the NIFTEE 2025. However, the cutoff and the ranking along with the allotment of seats varies for NIFTEE and NIFTEE NLEA.
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Candidates can follow the article to know about the NIFT Lateral Entry cutoff 2025 and the opening and closing rank CMR for NIFTEE NLEA 2025. Candidates can also verify the NIFT seat allotment for NLEA candidates across different categories as well. This article aims to answer whether NIFT allows lateral entry and by how much.
The seats for the NIFT NLEA admission process are tentative and final seats will be available at the time of seat allocation. NIFT reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of seats offered at its discretion before seat allocation based on NIFT lateral entry eligibility.
Candidates who are aiming for the Lateral Entry method for direct second year admission to the BDes programme need to be aware of the NIFT NLEA Cutoff Rank. The NIFT Result provides the rankings which dictates whether and where a candidate can apply for B.Des or B.F.Tech.
There are three rounds for the NLEA admission process via NIFT lateral examination. Moreover, the focus for the table below will be on the open category thus answering who qualifies for lateral entry?
NIFT Bengaluru | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
OBC | 12 | 12 | |
Open | 4 | 4 | |
NIFT Bhopal | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
SC | 14 | 14 | |
Open | 3 | 3 | |
Open | 24 | 24 | |
NIFT Chennai | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 15 | 15 | |
NIFT Daman | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 20 | 20 | |
NIFT Gandhinagar | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 6 | 6 | |
Open | 21 | 21 | |
Open | 1 | 1 | |
Open | 22 | 22 | |
Gen-EWS | 27 | 27 | |
NIFT Hyderabad | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 9 | 9 | |
Open | 28 | 28 | |
Open | 16 | 16 | |
NIFT Kannur | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 2 | 2 | |
NIFT Kolkata | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) | OBC | 11 | 11 |
Open | 7 | 7 | |
OBC | 2 | 2 | |
Round 3 | |||
Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) | Open | 11 | 11 |
NIFT New Delhi | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 1 | 1 | |
NIFT Jodhpur | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 18 | 18 | |
NIFT Bhubaneswar | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 26 | 26 | |
Round 2 | |||
Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design) | Open | 10 | 10 |
NIFT Varanasi | |||
Round 1 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
OBC | 23 | 23 | |
SC | 8 | 8 | |
Round 3 | |||
Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication) | Open | 8 | 8 |
NIFT Shillong | |||
Round 3 | |||
Program | Category | Opening Rank (CMR) | Closing Rank (CMR) |
Open | 17 | 17 |
This constitutes the opening and closing category wise rank for NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025. Candidates taken into the programme at each NIFT branch are situated at the specified ranking of the CMR.
The NIFT CMR ranks accounts for the category wise distribution, such as the NIFT Lateral entry cutoff for OBC. Candidates who qualify for the NIFT counselling are viable to seek admission out of the specified number of seats. The tentative NIFT Seat allotment 2025
For the NLEA admissions are as follows.
Programmes | Tentative Seats | ||
Bachelor of Design (B.Des Programmes) | Open or OBC/EWS | SC | ST |
Accessory Design (AD) | 18 | 23 | 41 |
Fashion Communication (FC) | 5 | 19 | 41 |
Fashion Design (FD) | 11 | 20 | 26 |
Fashion Interiors (FI) | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Knitwear Design (KD) | 3 | 5 | 14 |
Leather Design (LD) | 6 | 10 | 9 |
Textile Design (TD) | 24 | 30 | 40 |
Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F.Tech.) | Open or OBC/EWS | SC | ST |
Apparel Production (AP) | 69 | 55 | 47 |
Total | 140 | 166 | 222 |
After NIFT results are announced, students can use a NIFT College Predictor tool to know which campuses they are eligible for based on their score and NIFT NLEA cutoff trends. This helps in making an informed choice during counseling.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Candidates proceed to the counseling process, which typically involves three seat allotment rounds followed by a Spot Round to fill any vacant seats.
For B.Des a 3- or 4-year diploma in a fashion-related field from a recognized board, along with passing the 10th or 12th standard is needed. For B.F.Tech, the same diploma applies, but the 12th standard must have Physics and Mathematics.
The National Institute of Fashion Technology offers a 'Lateral Entry Admission' scheme (NLEA) that allows candidates to get admitted to the third semester of UG programmes.
NTA has released the NIFT 2025 exam statistics on its official site, nift.ac.in. According to NIFT exam statistics, a total of 33,877 students registered, and 31,061 wrote the NIFT entrance exam, marking an overall attendance of 91.69%.
The Common Merit Rank (CMR) is an all-India rank assigned to candidates based on their performance in the NIFT entrance exam, regardless of their category. It represents the overall position of a candidate among all test-takers.
On Question asked by student community
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
5. Science and Technology
6. Indian and World Economy
7. International Relations
8. Fashion Industry Updates
9. Books and Authors
10. Art and Culture
11. Environmental and Social Issues
To know more about NIFT Entrance Exam: NIFT Entrance Exam by CAREERS360
Hope this answer helps! Thank You!!!
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!!
Dear Candidate ,
Yes , you are eligible for NIFT - UG 2026 . Based on your birthdate , you will be 19 years old as of August 1 , 2026 , which is well within the age limit .
NIFT requires applicants to be under 24 years of age on August 1 of the admission year , with a 5 year relaxation for SC/ST/PwD candidates .
Hello
The syllabus of NIFT 2026 will be released on October 2025 by Nift officials on their official website nift.ac.in . The syllabus comprises of topics General Ability Test (GAT) and Creative Ability Test (CAT). The syllabus is different for UG and PG programmes. The GAT syllabus consists of :
The CAT syllabus consists important topics like
To download the complete syllabus kindly refer this
https://design.careers360.com/articles/nift-syllabus
Good luck !
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