IIT Kharagpur vs IIT Indore: Faculty and Academics Compared

Quick Verdict

On Faculty and Academics, IIT Kharagpur comes out ahead. It is India's oldest Indian Institute of Technology (IIT — one of India's premier government-run engineering and technology institutes), founded in 1951, and it fields a much larger faculty base with a stronger research track record, reflected in a higher NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework — India's official government ranking system for higher education institutions) score. IIT Indore, established in 2009 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, is still a comparatively young institute that is building out its full faculty strength, though it already ranks respectably among India's newer IITs (infinitylearn.com).

Snapshot

Detailed Analysis

Scale and history. IIT Kharagpur was the first IIT ever established, founded in May 1950 at the site of the Hijli Detention Camp and formally inaugurated in 1951; it was declared an Institute of National Importance by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1956 (Wikipedia). That 75-year head start shows up directly in faculty strength: Kharagpur has 928 faculty members teaching roughly 15,862 students, versus IIT Indore's 204 faculty for about 2,323 students (Wikipedia). Based on these figures, the student-to-faculty ratio works out to roughly 17:1 at Kharagpur and roughly 11:1 at Indore — meaning that while Kharagpur has far more faculty in absolute terms, Indore's smaller scale gives each faculty member a lighter per-student load.

Research output and rankings. IIT Indore is one of the eight new IITs set up between 2008 and 2009 (alongside Gandhinagar, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Ropar, and Mandi), and institutes of this generation, per one source, "are still building permanent campuses and full faculty strength" (infinitylearn.com). This is visible in the NIRF 2025 Engineering ranking's Research and Professional Practice (RPC) sub-score, where Kharagpur scores 77.56 against Indore's 59.55 — a meaningfully wider gap than the two institutes' overall scores suggest (nirfindia.org). Kharagpur also holds a large edge in overall government funding: it draws an annual budget of about ₹1,302.45 crore, well above the roughly ₹900–1,300 million ($19–27 million) typical for IITs generally, while no comparable budget figure is available for Indore in the sourced data (Wikipedia).

Where Indore holds its own. Despite the gap, IIT Indore is not a weak performer — it sits at NIRF Engineering rank 12 nationally with a Teaching and Learning Resources (TLR) score of 81.25, which is actually close to (and by one measure exceeds relative to its RPC) Kharagpur's 85.26 TLR score, suggesting the teaching infrastructure and classroom-level resources at Indore are already fairly competitive even if its research ecosystem is younger (nirfindia.org). IIT Indore's Academic Office is described as the "central administrative unit responsible for managing and coordinating all academic activities" across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes, indicating a maturing but functioning academic governance structure (academic.iiti.ac.in).

Admissions consistency. Both institutes admit students through the same national process — JEE Advanced (Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced, the qualifying exam for admission to IITs) scores via JoSAA counselling — and generally require around 55% to 75% marks (this varies by IIT) in 10+2 or equivalent qualifying exams, so the entry bar for academics does not meaningfully differentiate the two on this specific dimension (pw.live).

Verdict

IIT Kharagpur is the clear winner on Faculty and Academics: it has more than four times the faculty strength, a substantially higher NIRF overall and engineering rank, and a much larger research funding base built up over seven decades. IIT Indore is the runner-up but is closing the gap faster than its age would suggest, particularly on teaching resources. A prospective student should lean toward Indore instead if a lower student-to-faculty ratio and more individual faculty attention (roughly 11:1 versus roughly 17:1, based on the figures above) matters more to them than the breadth of specializations, faculty depth, and established research ecosystem that come with Kharagpur's scale.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which IIT has more faculty, Kharagpur or Indore?

IIT Kharagpur, with 928 faculty members versus IIT Indore's 204 (Wikipedia).

Q: Which institute ranks higher in NIRF 2025?

IIT Kharagpur ranks 5th overall and 5th in engineering; IIT Indore ranks 27th overall and 12th in engineering (nirfindia.org, infinitylearn.com).

Q: Is IIT Indore's teaching quality far behind IIT Kharagpur's?

Not by much on the Teaching and Learning Resources sub-score — Indore scores 81.25 versus Kharagpur's 85.26 — though the gap widens considerably on research output (nirfindia.org).

Q: Which IIT is older?

IIT Kharagpur, established in 1951, making it the oldest IIT in India; IIT Indore was established in 2009 (Wikipedia, chunocollege.com).

Q: Do both IITs use the same admission process?

Yes, both admit undergraduates through JEE Advanced and JoSAA counselling, with typical qualifying marks of 55% to 75% in 10+2 (varies by IIT) (pw.live).

Q: Does IIT Indore have a smaller student-to-faculty ratio?

Based on the sourced faculty and student counts, yes — roughly 11 students per faculty member at Indore versus roughly 17 at Kharagpur (Wikipedia).

Q: Is IIT Indore still developing its academic infrastructure?

Sources note that IITs founded between 2001 and 2009, including Indore, are "still building permanent campuses and full faculty strength" (infinitylearn.com).

Q: Which IIT has stronger research output?

IIT Kharagpur, based on its considerably higher Research and Professional Practice (RPC) score in the NIRF Engineering ranking (77.56 vs 59.55) (nirfindia.org).

Related

For the complete picture beyond Faculty and Academics — placements, academics, campus life, and more — see the full IIT Kharagpur vs IIT Indore comparison.

Sources