In a world full of choices, it is difficult to pick out one. Selecting the best educational institute per se is the toughest job one has to do in his/her lifetime. To assist you in picking the best from the rest, given below is a list of the top private engineering colleges in India; many of which come close to good government colleges. To step into one of these, make sure you give all the entrance exams that these institutes conduct.
1. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Situated in Powai, Mumbai, between the Vihar and Powai lakes, IIT Bombay was the second IIT to be established in 1958 with assistance from UNESCO and funds contributed by the Soviet Union. It has a total area of about 550 acres. The annual technology festival of IIT Bombay, Techfest is Asia’s largest science and tech festival, while Mood Indigo is also Asia’s largest college cultural festival that is held in December. Some of the notable alumni of IIT Bombay are Manohar Parrikar (Defence Minister of India), Jairam Ramesh (Member of Parliament), and Bhavish Aggarwal (founder of Ola Cabs). It is, without doubt, among the top engineering colleges in India.
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Bombay has been ranked 179 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF and Outlook India have both held IIT Bombay at 2nd ranks.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED)
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (UCEED)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 1,08,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 29,400 per annum |
2. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
IIT Kharagpur is located at a distance of about 120 kilometers to the west of Kolkata. It was the first of the IITs to be established by the government of India in 1951. Among all the IITs, IIT Kharagpur has the largest campus (2,100 acres), the most departments, and the highest student enrolment. It is known for its festivals: Spring Fest (Social and Cultural Festival) and Kshitij (Asia’s largest Techno-Management Festival). Spring Fest is held in January and includes cultural competitions in addition to stage shows (known as Star-nights) by singers and performers. IIT Kharagpur is a member of LAOTSE, a network of universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars. Some of the notable alumni are Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google Inc.), Arvind Kejriwal (Chief Minister of Delhi) and Arunabh Kumar (co-founder of TVF). With such enterprising alumni, it is hardly a matter of surprise that IIT Kharagpur is among the top engineering colleges in India!
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Kharagpur has been ranked 308 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF, Outlook India and India Today have held IIT Kharagpur at 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 67,500 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 25,500 per annum |
3. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Located in the village of Kalyanpur in Kanpur district and created in the year 1959, IIT Kanpur has a total area of about 1000 acres. IIT Kanpur is the first Indian institute to offer education in the field of Computer Science. The institute has also set up an office in New York with alumnus, Sanjeev Khosla designated as the overseas brand ambassador of the institute. N.R. Narayan Murthy, the founder of Infosys, is an alumnus of this institute.
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Kanpur has been ranked 293 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF, Outlook India and India Today have held IIT Kanpur at 5th, 4th, and 1st ranks respectively.
In the year 2017, IIT Kanpur offered the maximum package of 18.5 lakhs, with the course fee of 1,11,642.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED)
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 2,06,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 58,600 per annum |
4. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
IIT Madras located on Chennai’s Sardar Patel Road is one of the top engineering colleges in India. Much of the area of the 620-acre campus is a protected forest, carved out of the Guindy National Park, home to a diversity of wildlife. The IIT Madras Research Park, the first of its kind to be established in India, functions to propel successful innovation in established companies and provide a nurturing ecosystem to startups through incubation efforts and technical infrastructure. Corporate clients of IIT Madras Research park include Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Saint-Gobain and Forbes Marshall. Shaastra is the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. It is typically held in the second week of January and is the first ISO 9001:2000 certified student festival in the world. Saarang is the annual social and cultural festival of IIT Madras. It is a five-day-long event held towards the end of January every year and attracts a crowd of 50,000 students and young people from across the country.
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Madras has been ranked 264 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF and Outlook India have held IIT Madras at 1st and 4th ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 82,400 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 82,500 per annum |
5. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
With a total area of 325 acres, IIT Delhi is undoubtedly one of the top engineering colleges in India. The Government of India negotiated with the British Government for collaboration in setting up an Institute of technology at Delhi. The campus has its own water supply and backup electricity supply along with shopping complexes to cater to the daily needs of residents. Some of its notable alumni are Raghuram Rajan (Governer of RBI), Chetan Bhagat (Writer), and Binny and Sachin Bansal (founders of Flipkart).
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Delhi has been ranked 172 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF and Outlook India have both held IIT Delhi at 4th and 1st ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED)
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 82,300 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 36,400 per annum |
6. Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani is widely known as the best private engineering institute of India. The institute was established in its present form in 1964 and is located in Pilani, about 220 kilometers west of Delhi. BITS administers the All-India computerized competitive entrance examination, BITSAT (BITS Admission Test) every year for giving admissions in B.tech programme. APOGEE (A Professions Oriented Gathering over Educational Experience) is the annual technical festival, held in March. Oasis is the cultural festival conducted annually since 1971 by the students. Organized one week prior to Diwali, the festival attracts more than 200 colleges from across the country. Some of the notable alumni of BITS Pilani are Sanjay Mehrotra (co-founder and CEO of SanDisk), Prithviraj Chavan (former Chief Minister of Maharashtra) and Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail). It has established itself to be one of the top engineering colleges in India.
Ranking
Outlook India and India Today have held BITS Pilani at 6th and 3rd ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
BITSAT
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 3,29,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 3,38,000 per annum |
7. Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is the seventh IIT to be declared in the country and is undoubtedly one of the top engineering colleges in India. The main campus in Roorkee has an area of 365 acres. The Department of Civil Engineering was established in 1847 and is the oldest engineering department in India. Students of IIT Roorkee conduct two fests every year, Cognizance (Technical festival) and Thomso (Cultural festival). The institute has produced many alumni who played important roles in the technological development of India and made a significant impact in the corporate world. According to latest updates, ten alumni have won Padma awards and 25 have been Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology awardees.
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Roorkee has been ranked 431 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF has held IIT Roorkee at 6th rank.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED)
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 1,57,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 22,400 per annum |
8. Indian Institute of Technology, BHU
IIT-BHU is located in Varanasi and was founded in 1919 as the Banaras Engineering College. One of the top engineering colleges in India, it was designated an Indian Institute of Technology in 2012. Technex is the annual technical festival of the institute. It has footsteps dating back to 1939. It brings together students from all over the country to participate in the celebration and learn from the experts in the fields of both academia and industry. Kashiyatra is the institute’s annual social and cultural festival.
Ranking
NIRF has held IIT BHU at 31st rank nationally.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 2,09,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 30,000 per annum |
9. Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
IIT Guwahati is located on the northern banks of Brahmaputra and abuts the North Guwahati town of Amingaon. It is considered as the most beautiful campus in India and among the top engineering colleges in India. The campus is on a 700 acres plot of land around 20 km from the heart of the city. It has the Brahmaputra on one side and hills and vast open spaces on others. It was established in 1994. Every year the students and administration of IIT Guwahati together organize a number of festivals and competitions. Alcheringa, popularly known as “Alcher”, is the annual cultural extravaganza of IIT Guwahati. Techniche is the techno-management festival of IIT Guwahati, which is held in September every year over three days.
Ranking
Internationally, IIT Guwahati has been ranked 501 by QS World University of Rankings. NIRF and India Today have held IIT Guwahati at 7th and 9th ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Advanced
Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) – Mains, Paper 2
Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED)
Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 2,05,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 17,400 per annum |
10. College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai
The College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) is a public engineering college in Chennai, India and is India’s oldest technical institution. Founded in 1794, CEG has 16 Departments, 6 University Affiliated centers, and 12 Research centers where research programs are offered. With close ties with industry, excellent research practices, and multiple extra-curricular options, the institution advances the progression of the student’s quest for knowledge.
Kurukshetra, the first ever techno-management college festival attains UNESCO patronage and has continued to be one of the most-awaited inter-college technical festivals. It has been certified with the ISO 9001:2015 and has acquired the support of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Digital India and the National e-Governance Division, Government of India in 2016. It conducts technical events, workshops, guest lectures, and displays projects to expand students’ technical opportunities and knowledge.
Sangarsh organized by the Rotaract Club is a musical concert aimed at raising funds for needy sections of society.Techofes, the inter-college cultural event is one of South India’s largest college festivals with an exciting array of events from debates to dance, innovative workshops on photography, DJ-ing, etc. and pro shows.
Ranking
Outlook India and The Week have held CEG at 7th and 11th ranks respectively.
Intake Examinations
Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA)
Fees
| Courses | Average Fees |
| B.Tech/B.E | Rs. 36,000 per annum |
| M.Tech/M.E | Rs. 24,400 per annum |
To step into one of these colleges, one must put together day and night and work hard to crack the entrance examinations. To attain this, one needs to have a well-planned strategy and a structured way ahead. Remember, the path may be difficult but the destination would be worth the struggle. Work hard and grab your seat.
All the best!
