Of the 12,498 sanctioned teaching posts across India's 23 IITs, 4,804 (38.4%) remain vacant, with IIT Patna and IIT Kharagpur recording the highest vacancy rates.
IIT directors say intense competition from international universities, multinational R&D firms, and deep-tech startups, along with the institutes' highly selective hiring process, has made recruiting qualified faculty increasingly difficult.
The faculty shortage comes as the Centre plans to add 6,500 new IIT seats by 2028-29 and expand academic programmes, research, and interdisciplinary courses, raising concerns over maintaining teaching quality and research output.
THE INDIAN INSTITUTES of TECHNOLOGY (IITs) are India’s premier public engineering and technology universities and are considered among the country’s most prestigious higher educational institutions. However, these universities are facing a significant shortage of teachers. According to an analysis by Hindustan Times, of the total 12,498 sanctioned faculty posts across India’s 23 IITs, 4,804 posts were vacant as of January 30, 2026. This means that 38.4% of teaching positions in these prestigious institutions remain unfilled, meaning nearly two out of every five faculty positions are vacant.
The Hindustan Times analysed data uploaded by the IIT Council. These figures were compiled after a Rajya Sabha question raised by Indian Union Muslim League MP Abdul Wahab, who sought institute-wise details of sanctioned, filled, and vacant faculty posts in centrally funded higher educational institutions.
The shortage is especially severe at IIT Patna and IIT Kharagpur, where more than half of the teaching positions remain vacant. IIT Patna has a vacancy rate of 54.6%, while IIT Kharagpur stands at 51.3%. More than one-third of the sanctioned teaching posts are also vacant in 12 other IITs. While these institutions are launching new programmes and increasing student intake, the shortage of teachers remains a major concern.
IITs are a network of premier autonomous public technical universities in India. The first IIT was established in 1951 in Kharagpur, and since then, 23 IIT institutions have become operational across the country. Over the decades, these institutions have expanded significantly. IITs are transforming their academic landscape with futuristic, interdisciplinary courses and modernised learning policies.
The institutes are moving beyond traditional engineering disciplines by offering specialised degrees in Artificial Intelligence, Design, and Public Policy. Several IITs have also launched specialised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Notable recently introduced degrees span a mix of B.Tech, B.S., and postgraduate programmes across several campuses.
The documents uploaded by the IITs revealed inconsistencies in reservation-wise vacancy data. Only nine IITs provided caste category-wise vacancy details: IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Ropar, IIT Mandi, IIT Tirupati, and IIT Bhilai.
Together, SC, ST, and OBC vacancies account for 888 out of the 1,501 reported vacancies, nearly 60% of the total. Among these nine institutes, OBC vacancies stand at 477, General category vacancies at 443, SC vacancies at 261, EWS vacancies at 170, and ST vacancies at 150.
Some IIT faculty members believe that making the recruitment process more transparent could improve hiring outcomes. A faculty member from IIT Roorkee, while speaking to Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity, said, "The government prescribes reservation, but the shortlisting process is largely handled at the department level." The faculty member suggested that clearer and more transparent screening criteria would make the recruitment process fairer.
According to IIT directors, the large number of vacant positions is primarily due to the highly competitive global market for researchers and faculty. They told Hindustan Times that the biggest challenge is finding high-quality candidates for these positions. They explained that although IITs are among India's top institutions, they compete with leading global universities, multinational research and development (R&D) organisations, and deep-tech startups for talented PhD graduates.
They added that these global institutions often attract highly qualified candidates by offering better opportunities, making it difficult for IITs to recruit suitable faculty members.
Another reason it becomes difficult to fill the vacancies is the recruitment process followed by IITs. The directors said that IITs maintain a highly selective recruitment process. Instead of filling vacancies quickly with the first available applicants, the institutions prefer to wait until they find candidates who meet their academic and research standards.
The shortage comes at a time when the central government wants IITs to expand by adding up to 6,500 new student seats by 2028-29. This gap between the number of teachers and students could affect the institutions' academic expansion and global reputation. There are currently more than 1.35 lakh students studying across IITs.
In addition, the government is aiming to expand academic programmes, introduce new courses, and increase research activities on campuses, all of which could become more challenging if the faculty shortage continues.
Several IITs are trying to recruit more faculty members through intensified recruitment drives, year-round hiring, improved research grants, better laboratory facilities, international collaborations, and stronger startup ecosystems to attract talented faculty members from India and abroad.
The shortage affects both older and newer IITs.
Among the first-generation IITs, the vacancy rates are:
IIT Kharagpur – 51.3%
IIT Kanpur – 39%
IIT Bombay – 38.4%
IIT Delhi – 38.3%
Among the second-generation IITs:
IIT Patna – 54.6%
IIT Mandi – 39.9%
Among the third-generation IITs:
IIT (ISM) Dhanbad – 48.4%
IIT Goa – 45.8%
IIT Guwahati – 42.2%
On the other hand, the institutes with the lowest vacancy rates are:
IIT Dharwad – 1.07%
IIT Palakkad – 5.88%
IIT Ropar – 14.35%
IIT Tirupati – 14.38%
IIT Bhilai – 15.1%
(Edited by Harsh Pandey)
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