The number of BTech seats available across India has witnessed an impressive eight-year high after years of downward trend, says All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
A recent article by The Indian Express quoted AICTE as revealing that the approved intake for undergraduate engineering and technology programs for the academic session 2024-25 stood at 14.90 lakh, indicating an increase of at least 18.84% from 12.54 lakh in the 2021-22 academic session.
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As per the AICTE report, the first rise was witnessed during 2022-23 academic year with an increase of close to 2 per cent (12.74 lakh seats), followed by a 5 per cent rise in 2023-2024 (13.50 lakh seats). Before that, there was reportedly a year-on-year decline for most of the past decade since 2014-15 when the figure was 17.05 lakh seats.
In the 2024-25 academic year, the rise in seats was reportedly 10 percent.
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Following is the year-on-year data of B.Tech seats as per AICTE:
ACADEMIC YEAR | Seats in Lakh |
2014-15 | 17.05 |
2015-16 | 16.30 |
2016-17 | 15.56 |
2017-18 | 14.75 |
2018-19 | 14.04 |
2019-20 | 13.28 |
2020-21 | 12.86 |
2021-22 | 12.54 |
2022-23 | 12.74 |
2023-24 | 13.50 |
2024-25 | 14.90 |
Southern states take the cake
It has been further informed that the largest share of increase in seats has come from the three southern states, namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
While the intake in Tamil Nadu is reportedly 3,08,686 from the earlier 2,75,830 seats last year, the intake in Andhra Pradesh stands at 1,83,532 – indicating a rise of 23,518 from 1,60,014 seats in 2023-24.
In Telangana, the number of seats rose to 1,45,557 from 1,25,344 last year, indicating an increase of 20,213 seats.
The Indian Express The article quoted AICTE Member Secretary Rajive Kumar who attributed the increase in numbers to two factors –
- Approvals granted for engineering and technology courses for working professionals.
- Removal of an embargo on adding new seats in B.Tech programs in 2023-24.
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Kumar stated that the total number of approved institutions for undergraduate engineering courses in 2024-2025 is 2,906, adding that 1,256 institutions have been approved for an increase in intake this year which included approvals of courses for working professionals.
He further informed that the increase in intake was mostly for courses in the computer domain.
