NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 – NTA conducted the entrance exam for NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 (or NLEA 2025) on February 9. The NLEA 2025 exam included one paper – the General Ability Test (GAT). The paper was conducted in a computer-based mode.
The candidate could select NLEA 2025 exam centers when filling out the application form.
NLEA 2025 application was OPEN from November 22 to January 6. With a late fee of INR 5000, applications was accepted till January 9. The window to edit the NLEA application form 2025 was available from January 10-16, 2025.
The scores of the NLEA 2025 entrance exam will be used to shortlist candidates for a Studio Test + PI (B.Des) / TAT + PI (B.F.Tec).
Keep reading to learn the full details about the NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025.
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Table of Contents
NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 – Key Highlights
| Particulars | Description |
| Name of the exam | NLEA Admission |
| Conducting Body | NTA |
| Frequency of exam | Annual |
| Number of attempts | NTA hasn’t prescribed any number of attempts. However, the candidate needs to meet age and academic requirements |
| What is NLEA admission 2025? | Under the NLEA scheme, the candidate will be considered for admission directly to the 3rd semester of the B.Des/ B.F.Tech program. |
| Stages of the NLEA 2025 entrance exam | The exam will be conducted in TWO stages: Stage 1 – The candidate appears in GAT exam Stage 2: B.Des – Shortlisted candidates next appear in a Studio Test + Personal Interview. B.F.Tech – The candidate next appears in a Technical Ability Test (TAT) + Personal Interview |
| NLEA 2025 FINAL result | The final result will be prepared by giving weightage to both Stage 1 and Stage 2. |
| Useful Resources | NIFT 2025 – ProspectusNIFT 2025 – Information BulletinNIFT 2025 – Admission GuidelinesNLEA 2025 Seat Matrix |
| Difference with NIFT 2025 entrance exam | NTA conducts the NIFT 2025 entrance exam for regular admission. Meaning, candidates who qualify NIFT 2025 will be eligible for admission to the 1st semester. In contrast, NLEA offers direct admission to 3rd semester. |
| NLEA 2025 official website | https://www.nift.ac.in/admission https://exams.nta.ac.in/NIFT/ |
NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 Important Dates
| NLEA Events | Dates |
| Registration STARTS for NLEA 2025 | November 22, 2025 |
| Last date to apply | January 6, 2025 |
| Last date to apply with a late fee of INR 5000 | January 9, 2025 |
| Window to edit the application form | January 10-16, 2025 |
| Advance City Intimation Slip | To be announced later through the website |
| Admit card download | 3rd week of January 2025 |
| NLEA 2025 entrance exam The paper includes the GAT Test | February 9, 2025 |
| Answer Key for GAT Examination only (using registered user ID & password) | February, 2025 |
| Result of Entrance Examination | March 2025 |
| Situation Test (Regular) / Studio Test, Personal Interview & documents verification (NLEA) at Test Centres | April 2025 |
| Declaration of Final Result (Online) | Last week of April 2025 |
| Seat Allocation | May-June 2025 |
NLEA Application Form 2025
NTA had released the NLEA 2025 application form online at exams.nta.ac.in/NIFT.
The candidate had to carefully go through the NLEA 2025 eligibility criteria before applying for NLEA 2025.
Note that admission officials will verify all the data entered by the candidate at the time of NLEA 2025 counseling and seat allotment.
If any fake or incorrect data is found, NTA officials may disqualify the candidate. So, use only genuine and verifiable information.
Also Read:
- NIFT Cut-off 2025 – Download year-wise Cut-off PDF, How is Cut-off Prepared
- NIFT 2025 Participating Institute & Seat Matrix – Check Program-wise Seats, Reservation
- Key Resource to Prepare for NIFT Entrance Exam 2025
How to fill out NLEA 2025 application form
- Online registration – The candidate needs to go to the NIFT admission portal and click on fresh registration. Share your Aadhaar details and then fill in other preliminary information to get registered.
- Login – The candidate needs to log-in to the newly created candidate account and fill in the application form, including contact, academic, and personal details.
- Select test center – The NIFT 2025 exam will be conducted in 82 cities. The candidate needs to select their choice of exam cities in the order of priority.
- Upload documents – The list of document and image specifications are mentioned in the guidelines. Upload the documents following the guidelines.
- Fee payment – Once the application is complete in all respects, pay the application fee to complete the NLEA application process 2025.
NLEA Application Fee 2025
| Category | NIFT 2024 Application Fee (non-refundable) |
| General/OBC (Non-Creamy)/GEN-EWS Category | INR 3,000 |
| SC/ ST/ PwD Category | INR 1,500 |
NLEA Application Form 2025 – Document Checklist
| Document | Size | Format |
| A recent Photograph | 10Kb – 200Kb | jpeg |
| Signature | 4kb – 30kb | jpeg |
NLEA Eligibility Criteria 2025
The eligibility criteria for NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 is given below for the B.Des and M.Des courses.
NIFT NLEA Eligibility Criteria 2025
| Program | NLEA 2025 Eligibility Criteria |
| Bachelor of Design (B.Des) | Passed Secondary School Examination/10th AND Passed 3 or 4-year diploma recognized by AICTE/AIU/ UGC or a State Board of Technical Education in courses related to Fashion / Apparel / Textile and Accessories / Home Science/ Handloom Technology / Products / Visual Communication / Graphic Design / Industrial Design / Interior Design / Multimedia Design / Apparel Technology / Leather/ Fine arts. OR Passed Senior Secondary /12th recognized by AIU. AND Students who have completed the 2-year regular UG Diploma Programme at NIFT after passing the Senior Secondary Examination/ 12th standard. |
| Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F.Tech) | Passed Secondary School Examination/10th AND Passed 3- or 4-year diploma recognized by AICTE/AIU/UGC or a State Board of Technical Education in courses related toFashion/Apparel/Textile/Home Science/Handloom Technology. OR Passed Senior Secondary/12th standard recognized by AIU with Mathematics. AND Students who have completed 2 years UG Diploma Program at NIFT after passing Senior Secondary Examination/ 12th Standard |
NLEA Exam Pattern 2025
The exam pattern for the NLEA 2025 exam is outlined in the NIFT NTA information Bulletin 2025.
The exam pattern provides insights into the NLEA 2025 question paper, for instance the exam type, types of questions asked, weightage, and test timings.
Note that the NLEA 2025 question paper will include a General Ability Test (GAT).
Candidates who qualify in the GAT exam will be shortlisted for the next stage of the admission process.
NLEA Exam Pattern 2025 – B.Des
| Test | Weightage | Timelines | Venue |
| GAT | 40 | Exam date – Feb 9 Timings: 9- 11 am | Test centers will be allotted per the choices selected by the candidate when filling the form. |
| Studio Test | 40 | April 2025 | |
| PersonalInterview | 20 | ||
| Verification ofdocuments/eligibility | – |
NLEA Exam Pattern 2025 – B.F.Tech
| Test | Weightage | Timelines | Venue |
| GAT | 40 | Exam date – Feb 9 Timings: 9- 11 am | Test centers will be allotted per the choices selected by the candidate when filling the form. |
| Technical Ability Test (TAT) | 40 | April 2025 | |
| PersonalInterview | 20 | ||
| Verification ofdocuments/eligibility | – |
NLEA Exam Center 2025
The candidate will have to select exam centres when applying for NLEA 2025.
The list of NIFT 2025 exam centres is published in the NIFT 2025 information brochure. The list includes the name of 82 cities where the exam will be conducted.
Select your preferred cities in the order of priority.
| S. No. | State | City | |
| 1 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Port Blair | |
| 2 | Andhra Pradesh | Kurnool | |
| 3 | Andhra Pradesh | Vijayawada | |
| 4 | Andhra Pradesh | Visakhapatnam | |
| 5 | Andhra Pradesh | Rajahmundry | |
| 6 | Andhra Pradesh | Tirupathi | |
| 7 | Arunachal Pradesh | Naharlagun | |
| 8 | Assam | Guwahati | |
| 9 | Bihar | Muzaffarpur | |
| 10 | Bihar | Patna | |
| 11 | Chandigarh | Chandigarh/Mohali | |
| 12 | Chhattisgarh | Raipur | |
| 13 | Chhattisgarh | Jagdalpur | |
| 14 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | Silvassa | |
| 15 | Delhi | Delhi NCR | |
| 16 | Goa | Mapusa | |
| 17 | Gujarat | Ahmedabad/ Gandhinagar | |
| 18 | Gujarat | Rajkot | |
| 19 | Gujarat | Surat | |
| 20 | Gujarat | Anand | |
| 21 | Gujarat | Gandhinagar | |
| 22 | Gujarat | Mehsana | |
| 23 | Haryana | Hisar | |
| 24 | Haryana | Kurukshetra | |
| 25 | Himachal Pradesh | Bilaspur Hp | |
| 26 | Himachal Pradesh | Kangra | |
| 27 | Jammu And Kashmir | Jammu | |
| 28 | Jammu And Kashmir | Srinagar | |
| 29 | Jharkhand | Dhanbad | |
| 30 | Jharkhand | Ranchi | |
| 31 | Karnataka | Bengaluru | |
| 32 | Karnataka | Mysuru (Mysore) | |
| 33 | Karnataka | Mangalore (Mangalore) | |
| 34 | Kerala | Ernakulam | |
| 35 | Kerala | Kannur | |
| 36 | Kerala | Kozhikode | |
| 37 | Kerala | Kollam | |
| 38 | Kerala | Kottayam | |
| 39 | Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | |
| 40 | Kerala | Thrissur | |
| 41 | Ladakh | Leh / Kargil | |
| 42 | Lakshadweep | Kavaratti | |
| 43 | Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal | |
| 44 | Madhya Pradesh | Jabalpur | |
| 45 | Madhya Pradesh | Gwalior | |
| 46 | Madhya Pradesh | Satna | |
| 47 | Madhya Pradesh | Ujjain | |
| 48 | Maharashtra | Mumbai / Thane | |
| 49 | Maharashtra | Nagpur | |
| 50 | Maharashtra | Pune | |
| 51 | Maharashtra | Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar | |
| 52 | Maharashtra | Amravati | |
| 53 | Maharashtra | Kolhapur | |
| 54 | Maharashtra | Nanded | |
| 55 | Manipur | Imphal | |
| 56 | Meghalaya | Shillong | |
| 57 | Mizoram | Aizawl | |
| 58 | Nagaland | Kohima | |
| 59 | Odisha | Berhampur-Ganjam | |
| 60 | Odisha | Bhubaneswar | |
| 61 | Puducherry | Pondicherry | |
| 62 | Punjab | Ludhiana | |
| 63 | Rajasthan | Jaipur | |
| 64 | Rajasthan | Jodhpur | |
| 65 | Rajasthan | Udaipur | |
| 66 | Sikkim | Gangtok | |
| 67 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai | |
| 68 | Tamil Nadu | Coimbatore | |
| 69 | Tamil Nadu | Madurai | |
| 70 | Tamil Nadu | Salem | |
| 71 | Tamil Nadu | Tiruchirappalli | |
| 72 | Tamil Nadu | Vellore | |
| 73 | Telangana | Hyderabad | |
| 74 | Tripura | Agartala | |
| 75 | Uttar Pradesh | Meerut | |
| 76 | Uttar Pradesh | Muzaffarnagar | |
| 77 | Uttar Pradesh | Kanpur | |
| 78 | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow | |
| 79 | Uttar Pradesh | Varanasi | |
| 80 | Uttarakhand | Dehradun | |
| 81 | Uttarakhand | Haldwani | |
| 82 | West Bengal | Kolkata | |
NIFT Lateral Entry Admission 2025 – Result
NTA will declare the NLEA 2025 results in March 2025.
The results will be declared online and has to be checked by entering one’s application number and date of birth.
The scores of the NLEA 2025 entrance exam will be used to shortlist candidates for the Studio Test and PI (B.Des)/ TAT and PI (B.F.Tech).
The FINAL result of NLEA 2025 will be prepared by giving weightage to each of the exam components.
The NLEA 2025 merit rank will be used for the counseling and seat allotment process.
NIFT 2025 – NLEA Counseling
The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIF) will conduct counseling and seat allotment for NLEA 2025 soon after the final results are declared.
Candidates will be shortlisted for counseling based on their NLEA merit rank 2025.
As part of the counseling process, candidates will have to get registered and select campus in the order of priority.
The NLEA 2025 seat allotment will be based on:
- NLEA 2025 merit rank of the candidate
- Seat available for the applied program
- Admission Category
NLEA 2025 Seat Intake
| Programs | TOTAL | G. TOTAL | |||
| Open/OBC/EWS | SC | ST | NRI | ||
| Bachelor Programmes – Bachelor of Design (B.Des) | |||||
| Fashion Design (FD) | 5 | 3 | 19 | 24 | 51 |
| Leather Design (LD) | 3 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 37 |
| Accessory Design (AD) | 9 | 29 | 39 | 40 | 117 |
| Textile Design (TD) | 15 | 33 | 49 | 37 | 134 |
| Knitwear Design (KD) | 1 | 6 | 19 | 18 | 44 |
| Fashion Communication (FC) | 3 | 6 | 32 | 21 | 62 |
| Bachelor Programme – Bachelor of Fashion Technology (B.F.Tech.) | |||||
| Apparel Production (AP) | 128 | 67 | 50 | 59 | 304 |
| Total | 164 | 154 | 217 | 214 | 749 |