Why Has XLRI's NIRF Rank Declined? What the NIRF Scores Reveal

NIRF Rankings 2026: XLRI Jamshedpur has dipped down from 8th rank (2022) to 9th rank (2023-2024) and then to 10th rank in the category of Management under NIRF. The decrease in ranks as shown by decreasing numbers is due to the structural factors of the NIRF ranking system and not due to a fall in the academic excellence and placement performance of XLRI. Under the NIRF ranking system, 60% of the total marks have been allocated for Research and Professional Practices (RPC) and Teaching, Learning & Resources (TLR). It includes Scopus citations, patents filed, and the hard ratio of faculty members to students.

XLRI being one of the premier management schools that focuses more on practice-oriented education, human resource management, and industry cases, it would definitely end up producing lesser publications than multi-disciplinary technical institutes and IIMs that have larger Ph.D students and government funding for research. Apart from that, the category of Outreach and Inclusivity (OI) comprises state quota and government scholarship distribution, where it is natural that private and self-funded organisations would score lesser. On the contrary, XLRI performs very well in Graduation Outcomes (GO) and Peer Perception (PR).

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NIRF Rankings 2026: XLRI's Rank Over The Years

Based on the reports of NIRF Management category, XLRI Jamshedpur (Xavier School of Management) has dropped in ranking in two different years between 2021 to 2025: 

In the 5-year duration period, the overall ranking of XLRI Jamshedpur has decreased by 2 ranks (from 8th in 2021 to 10th in 2025).

NIRF Rankings 2026: PARAMETER-WISE REASON FOR THE DROPS

• Main Factors That Contributed to the Fall in the Ranking of 2023: The main reasons for the fall of XLRI in the 2023 ranking included small reductions in Teaching, Learning & Resources (-0.24 points) and Outreach & Inclusivity (-1.75 points) along with fast-growing results of competing colleges.   

• Second Rank Fall (2024-2025): The college fell from 9th to 10th position getting the same score of 68.45.  

• Massive Negativity of Perception: The main factor which led to such a massive fall in 2025 was massive (-21.01) reduction of Peer & Employer Perception (PR) which was reduced from 45.02 down to 24.01.  

• Less Teaching Resources: Academic factors contributed to the lower result of 2025 due to a massive reduction in Teaching, Learning & Resources (-6.53 points) along with Graduation Outcomes (-2.96 points).

• Research and Outperformance: Interestingly enough, the fall of rank in 2025 happened despite a massive (+26.28) growth of Research and Professional Practice (RP from 39.79 to 66.07) and (+6.01) of Outreach & Inclusivity (OI).

Which Rival Institutes Took Over XLRI?

In 2023: Overtaken by NITIE Mumbai (now IIM Mumbai)

XLRI was ranked at position 8, and its position was 9 after losing its position to NITIE Mumbai (now IIM Mumbai). This was largely due to the increase in research publication volume and government funding that helped NITIE to jump to Position 7. In 2025: XLRI dropped further down to Position 10 when MDI Gurgaon shot up to Position 9. This along with other factors helped XLRI slip from Position 9 to Position 10. Below given is the breakdown:

Also Check: IIM Mumbai NIRF Rankings: Where Do Older IIMs Still Have an Edge

In 2025: Overtaken by MDI Gurugram

In 2025 XLRI dropped to 10th place from its 9th position after having been overtaken by MDI Gurugram. The ranking of MDI increased by two places to achieve the 9th rank due to improvement in various parameters in terms of Teaching and Research of NIRF. However, during the same period, XLRI witnessed a steep fall in PR (Peer and Employer Perception) and TLR (Teaching, Learning, and Resources). Below given is the breakdown:

Also Read: MDI Gurgaon NIRF Ranking : What Improved, Parameter-Wise Analysis from 2021 to 2025

Why IIM Mumbai (NITIE) Outranks XLRI in NIRF Rankings Over The Years

The reason why IIM Mumbai is higher ranked than XLRI Jamshedpur is that of some structural differences in the ranking methodology of NIRF. First, 30% weightage is allocated to Research and Professional Practice (RP), which suits IIM Mumbai perfectly well thanks to its scientific past, numerous Ph.D. classes, and prolific research activity. 

In comparison, XLRI is engaged primarily with practitioner-oriented case studies. Second, IIM Mumbai receives nearly maximum scores for Graduation Outcomes (GO) owing to its high median salaries and special courses of industrial engineering. Finally, change in name from NITIE to “IIM” led to a jump in Peer Perception (PR) from 19.03 to 62.

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