Securing admission to the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is a major milestone for aspirants dreaming of a career in fashion and design. After clearing the NIFT entrance exam, the next phase is the NIFT counselling process—a structured procedure that ensures deserving candidates are allocated to the various UG & PG programs across NIFT campuses. NIFT will start the registration for NIFT counselling tentatively in May-June 2025. The dates of counselling will be out once Stage II of the NIFT admission process 2025 is complete. NIFT stage II includes the Situation Test, Studio Test, and/or Personal Interview. The result for the NIFTEE 2025 Stage I was already declared on April 24, 2025. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has declared the stage 2 examination, which will be held on June 8, 2025.
Let’s understand the NIFT counselling along with NIFT seat allotment and other important details.
NIFT Counselling Eligibility Criteria 2025
To be eligible for the counselling procedure of the NIFT programs of the participating institutes, an applicant must fulfill the following NIFT eligibility criteria.
- Age Limit:
- For UG programs- Maximum age should be less than 24 years as of 1st August of the year of admission. (5-year relaxation for SC/ST/PwD candidates).
- For PG programs- There is no age limit for PG candidates.
- NIFT Qualification: Candidates must obtain a merit rank in the NIFT entrance exam.
- Examination Qualification:
- For UG programs- You should have passed all subjects in the 10+2 qualifying examination in 2022 or 2025.
- For PG programs- Undergraduate in any stream from any recognized institute or an undergraduate diploma of a minimum of three years from NIFT/NID.
NIFT Counselling Dates & Schedule 2025
The NIFT counselling 2025 is likely to be scheduled in June 2025, following the declaration of the final results. Candidates must register online and fill out their preferences for campuses and programs. The important events included in NIFT counselling 2025 are document verification, choice filling, and fee payment. The following table gives a tentative schedule for the NIFT counselling 2025:
| NIFT Counselling Dates & Schedule 2025 | |
| Events | Dates (tentative) |
| Round 1 | |
| Registration and Document Uploading | June 2025 |
| Document Verification | June 2025 |
| Choice Filling and Locking | June 2025 |
| Seat Allotment | June 2025 |
| Willingness Submission and Admission Fee Payment | June 2025 |
| Round 2 | |
| Correction in Application Form | June 2025 |
| Document Verification (who have made the corrections) | June 2025 |
| Choice Filling/Modifications | June 2025 |
| Seat Allotment | July 2025 |
| Willingness Submission and Admission Fee Payment | July 2025 |
| Withdrawal | July 2025 |
| Round 3 | |
| Correction in Application Form | July 2025 |
| Document Verification (who have made the corrections) | July 2025 |
| Choice Filling/Modifications | July 2025 |
| Seat Allotment | July 2025 |
| Willingness Submission and Admission Fee Payment | July 2025 |
| Withdrawal | July 2025 |
| Round 4 | |
| Correction in Application Form | July 2025 |
| Document Verification (who have made the corrections) | July 2025 |
| Choice Filling/Modifications | July 2025 |
| Seat Allotment | July 2025 |
| Willingness Submission and Admission Fee Payment | July 2025 |
| Withdrawal | July 2025 |
| Spot Round Counselling | |
| Registration and Participation Fee Payment | July 2025 |
| Document Verification of New Registered Candidates | July 2025 |
| Choice Filling/Modifications and Locking | July 2025 |
| Seat Allotment | July 2025 |
| Admission Fee Payment | July 2025 |
| Physical reporting at allotted institute | July 2025 |
NIFT Counselling Process 2025
The NIFT entrance exam is held annually for the admission of candidates to design programs. Candidates who have secured a Common Merit Rank (CMR) in NIFT 2025 will be eligible to participate in the NIFT 2025 counselling process. It consists of 4 seat allocation rounds and one spot round counselling, which we have mentioned in the previous section.
Check the following steps to know how to register for the NIFT 2025 counselling:
- Online Registration for NIFT Counselling 2025: Visit the official NIFT website, nift.ac.in. Log in using your NIFT roll number, date of birth, and password.
- Document Upload and Verification: Candidates must upload the scanned copies of the below-mentioned documents. Verification is usually conducted online or through virtual mode. Some documents may be verified at the time of physical reporting, if required.
Documents required for NIFT counselling:
- NIFT Admit Card
- NIFT Scorecard
- Class 10th and 12th marksheets
- Graduation marksheets
- Birth certificate
- Category certificate
- Medical certificate
- Passport-size photographs
- Transfer and immigration certificate
- Choice Filling Process: For the choice filling process in NIFT counselling, candidates are given a list of campuses and design courses from which they have to select their preferences. The list will be available campus-wise and program-wise. Candidates can fill in and prioritize NIFT campuses and programs based on their preferences.
- Choice Locking Process: The NIFT counselling Choice Locking Procees is the last step in the choice submission phase, where candidates confirm their preferences. After filling in the choices, candidates must review and lock the choices by clicking the “ I agree to lock my choices” option. This step ensures that no further modifications can be made to the submitted preferences. Candidates’ locked choices are considered final for seat allotment rounds.
- Pay NIFT Counselling Fee: After successfully registering, uploading required documents, and locking the preferred choices, candidates are required to pay the counselling registration fee of Rs. 9,300/-, which is non-refundable.
- Verification: Your application will be sent for verification to NIFT. Once it gets verified, you will receive a counselling slot for the NIFT exam.
- NIFT Seat Allotment: The 19 NIFT campuses offer a total of 4,837 seats across various programs, including B.Des, M.Des, B.F.Tech, M.F.Tech, and M.F.M. Candidates must pay a seat acceptance fee upon allocation to confirm their seats. The below mentioned are the criteria for NIFT seat allotment:
- Candidate’s merit rank in NIFT 2025
- Seat intake for the applied program by the candidates
- Options selected by the candidates (campus + academic program)
- Admission category—Open, SC, ST, PwD, etc.
- Receive Allotment Letter: Once all the steps mentioned above are completed, authorities will issue an allotment letter or admission receipt duly signed by the Nodal Officer of the NIFT campus.
- Pay the Admission fee: If you accept the allotted seat, you need to pay the admission fee (which includes registration fee adjustment). If you do not accept or fail to respond within the deadlines, the seat is forfeited, and your candidature will get canceled.
NIFT Seat Allotment Process
The NIFT seat allotment is a process that considers the candidate’s merit rank, preferences submitted during choice filling, applicant category, and seat availability across NIFT campuses. Candidates will receive provisional allocation letters via email and will be routed to an online payment mechanism to pay the Seat Acceptance Fee.
- Your application will be cancelled if you do not remit the seat acceptance fee before the deadline or decline admission. These vacant seats will be filled during the subsequent rounds of seat allotment.
- If you are allotted your FIRST choice of institute, you can either accept (‘freeze’) it or decline the offer.
- If you choose to DECLINE the offer, you will NOT be considered for subsequent rounds.
- If you choose the ‘freeze’ option, you have ACCEPTED the offer and do not wish to participate in further rounds of seat allocation. You will NOT be considered for subsequent rounds of admission.
- If you choose the ‘float’ option, it means you have ACCEPTED the offer and have indicated that you will accept admission to an institute of your higher preference. Otherwise, you will continue with the currently accepted institute. You will be considered in subsequent rounds of admission.
- For those who choose the ‘float’ option, allocating a seat in an institute of your higher preference would automatically result in the forfeiture of the seat you accepted in the earlier round.
- You only have to remit the seat acceptance fee once. Thus, aspirants allotted another seat (because they chose the ‘float’ option) do not have to pay the seat acceptance fee again.
- For those who accept offered seats, the seat acceptance fee will be adjusted against the admitting institute’s fees at the time of joining.
Details mentioned in NIFT Counselling and Seat Allotment Result 2025
The following details will be mentioned on the NIFT seat allotment result:
- Opening and Closing Rank Institute-wise
- Candide’s Category, roll number, and rank
- NIFT Seat Allotment Summary
Reporting at the allotted College after NIFT Counselling Process 2025
After completing the NIFT 2025 counselling and seat allotment process, you must visit your allotted college to complete all the admission formalities.
Officials in the respective college will verify your original documents. If any discrepancy is found at the time of admission, then the admitting institute will reserve the right to cancel your admission.
NIFT Counselling 2025 FAQs
Ans. No, the NIFT counselling fee is not refundable, but it will get adjusted in your academics fee while taking admissions.
Ans. No. Once choices are locked, they cannot be changed.
Ans. You can reject the seat and wait for the next round. However, doing so comes with a risk of not getting a better seat in later rounds.