To meet the growing demand of highly skilled technical manpower, at present, there are twenty three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) viz. at Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati, Roorkee, Hyderabad, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Ropar, Jodhpur, Gandhinagar, Indore, Mandi, Varanasi, Tirupati, Palakkad, Goa, Jammu, Dharwad, Dhanbad and Bhilai. All are governed by The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as "Institutions of national importance", and lays down their powers, duties, framework for governance etc.
The IITs offer undergraduate programmes in various branches of engineering and technology; postgraduate programmes with specialization and Ph.D. programmes in various engineering and science disciplines, interdisciplinary areas; and conduct basic, applied and sponsored research. At present, IITs offer B. Tech., B. Arch, M.Sc., M. Design, M. Phil., M. Tech, MBA and Ph.D. Degrees. Admission in IITs in various courses is done on the basis of merit in in admission tests such as Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) for B.Tech courses, Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for M.Tech and Joint Admission Test for M.Sc. (JAM).

Focus on Research:
To complement the renewed focus of the Government on developing indigenous R&D capabilities, boosting manufacturing and creating a successful startup culture in the country, following steps have been taken:-
a. Research Parks: Complementing the renewed focus of the Government on developing indigenous R&D capabilities, boosting manufacturing and creating a successful startup culture in the country, Research Parks are being established at various IITs
b. Impacting Research and Innovation Technology (IMPRINT): IMPRINT was launched on November 5, 2015, which aims at providing solutions to the most relevant engineering challenges and translating knowledge into viable technology in 10 selected technology domains, viz. health care, energy, sustainable habitat, Nano technology hardware, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, Information and communication technology, manufacturing, security and defence, and environmental science and climate change.
c. IMPRINT-II was formulated with a slightly modified strategy by merging the schemes IMPRINT and UAY. The projects under IMPRINT-II will be funded jointly by MoE and DST in the ratio of 50:50 by creating a joint corpus. Other participating Ministries/ Industries may volunteer to fund the projects relevant to them.
d. Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY): UAY was announced in 2015 with a view to promoting innovation of a higher order that directly impacts the needs of the Industry and thereby improves the competitive edge of Indian manufacturing. The project envisages collaboration between the academia and industry – within or outside India. The funding pattern of the projects selected would be 25% by Industry; 25% by participating Department/Ministry; and 50% by MOE.
e. ASEAN Fellowship Scheme: The scheme was approved for grant of upto 1000 fellowships to students of ASEAN countries to pursue integrated Ph.D programmes in the IITs, for 7 years (3 batches). For the students admitted, fellowships will be provided at the same rate as Indian students, along with the yearly research grant, as applicable. The IITs will make provision to cover living expenses of the selected students from their own resources. IIT Delhi is the National Coordinator of this scheme.

It has been decided to increase female enrolment from 8% in 2016 to 14% in 2018-19, 17% in 2019-20 and 20% in 2020-21 by creating supernumerary seats. By implementing the above decision, the female enrolment in B.Tech Programmes in IITs during the year 2018, 2019 & 2020 was increased to 15.29%, 18%& 19.8 respectively. In year 2021, the female enrolment in B.Tech was 19.72% by creating 1534 supernumerary seats.

List of IITs