NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025: Category-Wise Opening & Closing Rank (CMR)

NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025: Category-Wise Opening & Closing Rank (CMR)

Achyuth NambiarUpdated on 22 Sep 2025, 03:46 PM IST

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.

This Story also Contains

  1. NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025: Understanding Campus Merit Rank (CMR)
  2. Complete Guide to Seat Allotment in NIFT Lateral Entry
  3. NIFT College Predictor for Lateral Entry
NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025: Category-Wise Opening & Closing Rank (CMR)
NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025

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.

NIFT Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025: Understanding Campus Merit Rank (CMR)

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 Lateral Entry Cutoff 2025 with Opening and Closing Rank for Category-wise Differentiation

NIFT Bengaluru

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Knitwear Design)

OBC

12

12

Open

4

4

NIFT Bhopal

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

SC

14

14

Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)

Open

3

3

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication)

Open

24

24

NIFT Chennai

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Textile Design)

Open

15

15

NIFT Daman

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Textile Design)

Open

20

20

NIFT Gandhinagar

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

Open

6

6

Bachelor of Design (Textile Design)

Open

21

21

Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)

Open

1

1

Bachelor of Design (Accessory Design)

Open

22

22

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication)

Gen-EWS

27

27

NIFT Hyderabad

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

Open

9

9

Bachelor of Design (Textile Design)

Open

28

28

Bachelor of Design (Knitwear Design)

Open

16

16

NIFT Kannur

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication)

Open

2

2

NIFT Kolkata

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

OBC

11

11

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

Open

7

7

Bachelor of Fashion Technology (Apparel Production)

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)

Bachelor of Design (Knitwear Design)

Open

1

1

NIFT Jodhpur

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Textile Design)

Open

18

18

NIFT Bhubaneswar

Round 1

Program

Category

Opening Rank (CMR)

Closing Rank (CMR)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

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)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

OBC

23

23

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Communication)

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)

Bachelor of Design (Fashion Design)

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.

Complete Guide to Seat Allotment in NIFT Lateral Entry

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.

NLEA NIFTEE Admission Seats (Tentative)

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

NIFT College Predictor for Lateral Entry

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)

Q: How many rounds for NIFT lateral entry admission?
A:

Candidates proceed to the counseling process, which typically involves three seat allotment rounds followed by a Spot Round to fill any vacant seats.

Q: What is NIFT lateral entry 2025 CMR eligibility?
A:

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.

Q: Is lateral entry possible in NIFT?
A:

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. 

Q: How many people gave NIFT in 2025?
A:

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%.

Q: What is the rank of CMR in NIFT?
A:

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.

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Questions related to NIFT Entrance Exam

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to NIFT Entrance Exam ?

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
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6. Indian and World Economy
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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!!

Hello,
It’s completely understandable to feel disheartened after not getting a seat in the first and second rounds, especially when you’ve filled all the colleges and have your hopes set on a particular course like Fashion Communication . With an OBC rank of 1910 and CMR 7192, your chances can improve in the upcoming counselling rounds as more students withdraw or shift to other colleges.
So make sure to check the further rounds of counselling and don’t lose hope. Many students get seats in the 3rd, 4th, and mop-up rounds. You can also consider updating your preference list or keeping a wider range of courses and campuses open in case you're okay with related fields.
Keep checking the official NIFT website for updates on seat allotment and further counselling instructions.
Thank you

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 :

  • Communication ability and English comprehension
  • Quantitative ability
  • Analytical and Reasoning
  • Case study
  • General knowledge and current affairs

The CAT syllabus consists important topics like

  • Creative ability
  • Observation power
  • Discernment ability
  • Design ability
  • Colour combination ability

To download the complete syllabus kindly refer this

https://design.careers360.com/articles/nift-syllabus

Good luck !