India has 54 institutions in the QS World University Rankings, making it the 4th most represented country after the US (192), the UK (90) and China (72).
The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi is the best-ranked Indian institution in the QS World University Rankings for 2026; it has climbed more than 70 places in two years to secure the 123rd spot in the list.
With eight new institutions added to the ranking this year, India now has 54 institutions in the list, making it the fourth most represented country after the US (192 institutions), the UK (90 institutions) and China (72 institutions).
No other country or territory has seen as many universities added to the rankings this year.
Jordan and Azerbaijan are the second most improved countries and have both seen six universities added in the 2026 rankings.
Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan lauded India's performance, saying the country has hit a new high.
IIT-Delhi ranked 123rd this year compared to 197 and 150 in the previous two years. This has been due to outstanding results in employer reputation (where it now ranks 50th), citations (86th), sustainability (172nd) and academic reputation (142nd).
IIT-Delhi has jointly bagged the rank alongside the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.
While IIT-Bombay slipped to 129th this year from its all-time best rank of 118 in 2025, it remains in the global top 130 and continues to score high on employer reputation, ranking 39th.
The coveted QS World University Rankings, published annually by the London-based global higher education analytics firm Quacquarelli Symonds, assess universities based on a variety of performance indicators including academic reputation, faculty-student ratio, research impact, international student diversity and graduate employability.
'India is rewriting the global higher education map. No other country has seen more universities debut in this edition of the QS World University Rankings -- a clear sign of a system evolving at speed and scale,' Jessica Turner, CEO, QS, said.
'In the world's most populous nation -- with more than 40 per cent of its people under the age of 25 -- the drive to expand both access and quality is not just an education agenda, it is a national imperative,' she stated.
'Delivering on India's 50 per cent gross enrolment ratio target by 2035 will require growth on an extraordinary scale -- equivalent to building 14 new universities every week, according to QS estimates,' she added.
'We see clear progress,' Turner said. 'Indian universities are strengthening their global research footprint and advancing in areas such as citations per faculty, sustainability, and international research network.
'But the rankings also highlight the next frontier -- attracting more international students and faculty and building academic capacity to support quality at scale.'
Close to half of the 46 Indian universities featured in last year's ranking improved their positions this year.
Overall, from 106 countries and territories, 54 universities featured in the 2026 ranking are from India.
QS officials noted that, in just a decade, India's ranked universities have grown from 11 to 54 -- a 390 per cent increase, the strongest performance across the G20 and testament to the growing global recognition of India's higher education excellence.
Six of India's 11 public and private institutes of eminence have improved their positions this year, including Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, which climbed 47 places and entered the top 200 for the first time at the 180th spot.
All three private institutes of eminence increased their positions with only two private universities -- the Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences (503rd) and Chandigarh University (575th) -- ahead of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science at 668.