National Institute of Design (NID) is an ‘Institute of National Importance’ as per the NID Act 2014 as well as an autonomous institute under the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. As per the NID Act (18 of 2014), the institute is a statutory authority empowered to award its own degrees—Masters of Design (M.Des.) of two-and-a-half year duration and Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) of four-year duration. The Institute is also a member of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Admission to all of the design courses is on the basis of the candidates’ performance in the two-stages of Design Aptitude Test. The objective of these exams is to assess the knowledge, skills and behavioural abilities of candidates.

Stage 1: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Prelims: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Prelims will be conducted at various test centres across India. Candidates should note that appearing for the DAT Prelims or being ranked in the shortlist does not guarantee automatic entitlement to admission. 

Stage 2: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Mains: Candidates shortlisted after the DAT Prelims will be invited to appear for the Stage 2 DAT Main exams at Ahmedabad, Bangaluru, Gandhi nagar, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. Excat details of the Test Centre will be mentioned in the DAT Mains Admit Card.

Weight of DAT Prelims and DAT Mains for final result

B.Des./GDPD

• DAT Prelims: 30%
• DAT Mains: 70% 

Held courses  in Campuses:

Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Ahmedabad

Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Andhra Pradesh

Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Haryana

Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Madhya Pradesh

Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Assam

Master of Design (M.Des.) at NID Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar & Bengaluru

The four-year Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) program is offered at NID Ahmedabad in the following areas of specialization:

 B.Des. offers following areas of specialization:

Faculty of Industrial Design

Faculty of Textile, Apparel, Lifestyle and Accessory Design

 Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) at NID Andhra Pradesh, NID Haryana, NID Madhya Pradesh, NID Assam

M.Des. offers following areas of specialization

Faculty of Communication Design

Faculty of Industrial Design

Information Technology- Integrated programs

Faculty of Inter- Discipline Design Studies

Faculty of Textile, Apparel, Lifestyle and Accessory Design

Aptitude Test (DAT) will be conducting in following two stages

Stage 1: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Prelims

Stage 2: Design Aptitude Test (DAT) Mains

• DAT Prelims Exam: 24 December  2023
• DAT Mains Exam: 16 February 2024

Bachelor of Design and  Graduate Diploma Program in Design (GDPD)

Age Limit-For Indian Nationals in General Category:

Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 2003 are eligible to apply for admission.

For Indian Nationals in Reserved Category (Other Backward Class-Non Creamy Layer  (OBC-NCL), Scheduled Caste (SC) & Scheduled Tribe (ST)): 

Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 2000 are eligible to apply for admission.

For Indian Nationals in PwD Reserved Category: 

Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 1998 are eligible to apply for admission.

For Foreign Nationals in Overseas (Supernumerary) Category:

Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 2003 are eligible to apply for admission.

Educational Qualification: Applications for academic year 2024-25 are open to applicants who have passed or will appear for higher secondary (10+2) qualifying examinations in the academic year 2024–25 in any stream (Science, Arts, Commerce, etc.) from any recognised board of education such as CBSE, IB, ICSE or their equivalent.

In addition to the seats available for the B.Des. Program, an additional 15% supernumerary seats are available for Overseas category candidates.

The number of seats available in Overseas (supernumerary) category is as under:

Program No. of supernumerary seats

Bachelor of Design, NID Ahmedabad: 19

Bachelor of Design, NID Madhya Pradesh: 11

Bachelor of Design, NID Haryana:11

Candidates under Overseas (supernumerary) category fall outside the ambit of seatsreserved for the GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST and PwD categories.

Master of Design

Age Limit-For Indian Nationals in General Category:  Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 1991 are eligible to apply for admission. 

For Indian Nationals in Reserved Category (Other Backward Class-Non Creamy Layer  (OBC-NCL), Scheduled Caste (SC) & Scheduled Tribe (ST)):   Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 1988 are eligible to apply for admission. 

For Indian Nationals in PwD Reserved Category: Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 1986 are eligible to apply for admission. 

For Foreign Nationals in Overseas (Supernumerary) Category: Only those candidates born on or after 1 July 1991 are eligible to apply for admission.

Educational Qualification: Candidate should holding Bachelor's Degree of minimum 4 years duration after 10+2 from recognised university.

In addition to the seats available for the M.Des. Program, an additional 15% supernumerary seats are available for Overseas category candidates.

The number of seats available in Overseas (supernumerary) category is as under:

Program No. of supernumerary seats

M.Des (discipline having 19 seats): 03

M.Des (discipline having 12 seats): 02

B.Des Sample Paper

M.Des Sample Paper

Category wise application fee for B.Des. and GDPD

General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL : Rs. 3,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 1,500/-

SC/ ST, General-PWD, General EWS-PWD, OBCNCL-PWD, SC-PWD, ST-PWD: Rs. 1,500/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 750/-

Overseas (Only B.Des.): Rs. 5,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 2,500/-

Category wise application fee M.Des. (Discipline-1)

General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL : Rs. 3,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 1,500/-

SC/ ST, General-PWD, General EWS-PWD, OBCNCL-PWD, SC-PWD, ST-PWD: Rs. 1,500/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 750/-

Overseas: Rs. 5,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 2,500/-

Category wise application fee M.Des. (Discipline-2)

General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL: Rs. 6,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 3,000/-

SC/ ST, General-PWD, General EWS-PWD, OBCNCL-PWD, SC-PWD, ST-PWD: Rs. 3,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 1,500/-

Overseas: Rs. 10,000/-

• For application received after friday 1 December 2023, late fee will be 50%. - Rs. 5,000/-

Application fee is NEITHER refundable NOR transferable.

Note- As per the order of the Supreme Court of India, third gender includes only transgender, enushs and hijras. Lesbian, gays and bisexuals need to select either Male or Female option as appropriate. 

Step 1: Sign up/ Registration

Candidate who are apply for B.Des/ M.Des and GDPD has to appy online by visitin NID website.

Candidate should have valid email id an mobile number while registering, since these contacts will be used for all future communication with the applicant. Ensure that this email id & mobile number is active till the last date.

After completing sign-up, an email will be sent to the registered email ID. 

Do not delete the email sent to you, as this will be useful for all future references.

Login to your account using the email id and date of birth provided during sign-up. 

Step 2: Fill in Online Application Form

1. Login and proceed to Step 2–Application Form.

2. Fill in all the required details.

3. Click ‘Save & Exit’ to complete the form at a later time or date.

4. After filling all details, click ‘Save & Proceed’ to go to the ‘Upload Document’ section.

Step 3: Upload your Documents as per instructions

The shortlisted candidate will have to upload the following documents as a single pdf file of size not more than 10 MB:

1. Any one valid photo identity (Aadhar Card, Election ID, Driving License, PAN Card, Passport)

2. Birth Certificate OR Proof of Date of Birth OR School Leaving Certificate

3. 10th Mark-sheet

4. 12th Mark-sheet

5. Migration certificate issued by the University

6. GEN-EWS/ OBC-NCL/ SC/ ST Certificate, if applicable

7. PwD Certificate, if applicable

8. Valid Passport, if applied under Supernumerary category

The candidates who have applied under Overseas category should produce a valid passport. The candidate must ensure that the passport is current (not expired) at the time of applying online. It is the candidate’s responsibility to obtain relevant visas and ensure that their passport is valid till the duration of the program.

The Application fees paid online (by Debit/ Credit Card) DOES NOT INCLUDE any banktransaction charges / convenience fee, and the same, as applicable, will have to be borne by the candidate.

You will be directed to the payment gateway. After completing the payment process, you will be redirected to the ‘Print’ section where you can save and print a copy of your application form (which would be done only after successful payment of the application fee).

Admit card will be available for download on the NID website as per schedule.

The exact date and time of DAT Main will be mentioned in the Admit Card.

Visit the official website of NID

Click on ‘Admit card’ tab

Fill in the required details and submit a button.

The admit card will be displayed on the screen.

Candidates should take a printout for future use.

Test Centres for DAT Prelims: The DAT Prelims will be conducted in the following cities in India:

Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Guwahati,Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kurukshetra, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna,Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Thiruvananthapuram and Vijayawada.

The result of the candidate will be available for one year after the announcement of the final result. Any details regarding the same will not be provided after one year. The evaluation criteria/break-up of marks followed for the assessment of paper/interview or the procedure followed in the interview may not be shared as it is highly subjective in nature, and may not be furnished in the larger public interest. The data regarding the waiting list, number of seats vacant and personal details of the candidates shortlisted after each stage will not be shared with any other person.

NID DAT 2023  Dates

Candidates shortlisted after the DAT Prelims will be invited to appear for the Stage 2 DATMains. Exact details of the Test Centre will be announced later in the DAT Mains Admit Card.