IISc Cut-offs for GATE EC: M.Tech and PhD, 2024–2026
IISc's M.Tech page names GATE EC, or any GATE paper, in the qualification line of 18 M.Tech programmes — some accept a paper only with a particular degree — with 271 seats between them, shared with candidates from other GATE papers, and 29 research departments had a GATE EC interview cut-off in 2026. For the 2026 M.Tech admissions, the score IISc says should have brought an interview or test call ranged from 550 to 800 (UR), depending on the programme. In 2026, UR offers to GATE EC candidates ran from 581 (Smart Mobility and Logistics Systems) to 950 (Microelectronics and VLSI Design, whose own lowest UR offer was 804); offers to OBC-NCL, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates went lower, down to 452 (Scheduled Caste category, Electronics and Communication Engineering). For PhD and M.Tech (Research), the 2026 interview-call cut-off ranged from 500 to 820 (UR) across departments.
Updated 23 September 2026 · Valid until 28 February 2027
| Programme | Department or centre | Seats | How IISc selects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospace Engineering (AE) | Aerospace Engineering | 19 | 100% GATE score, no interview |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) | Kotak IISc AI ML Centre (KIAC) | 35 | 70% of GATE score + 30% written test |
| Bioengineering | Bioengineering | 11 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Computational and Data Science (CP) | Computational and Data Sciences | 24 | 70% of GATE Score + 30% (written and Interview) |
| Earth and Climate Sciences (EaCS) | Jointly conducted by the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Earth Science | 9 | 100% GATE score, no interview |
| Electronic Product Design (EPD) | Electronic Systems Engineering | 9 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Electronic Systems Engineering (ESE) | Electronic Systems Engineering | 25 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) | Electrical Communication Engineering | 19 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Instrumentation Systems (INS) | Instrumentation and Applied Physics | 10 | 70% GATE score and 30% from interviews |
| Microelectronics and VLSI Design (MV) | Jointly conducted by Electrical Communication Engg & Electronic Systems Engg | 20 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Mobility Engineering (MobE) | Mechanical Engineering (involves more than one department, EE, ESE,AE, RB-CPS, CPDM, CiSTUP, CE) | 11 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview, “selection through an aptitude test & interview process” |
| Product Design, Development and Management (any GATE paper) | Design and Manufacturing | 18 | 70% weightage on CEED/GATE/CAT score + 30% performance in interview |
| Quantum Technology (QT) (any GATE paper) | Instrumentation and Applied Physics | 7 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) | Robert Bosch Center for Cyber Physical Systems | 17 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview |
| Semiconductor Technology (SemT) | Nano Science and Engineering | 7 | 100% GATE score, no interview |
| Signal Processing (SP) | Jointly conducted by Electrical Engineering & Electrical Communication Engineering | 11 | 100% GATE score, no interview |
| Smart Manufacturing(SM) (any GATE paper) | Design and Manufacturing | 11 | 70% of GATE score + 30% interview. (No written test) |
| Smart Mobility and Logistics Systems | Center for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation & Urban Planning | 8 | 70% GATE score + 30% interview |
| All 18 programmes above | — | 271 | Seats shared with candidates from other GATE papers |
Source: IISc's M.Tech/M.Des admission page (iisc.ac.in/admissions/m-tech-m-des/), as on 23 September 2026, for the 2026-27 admissions: discipline, department, intake and selection process as IISc lists them. A programme is listed when its qualification line names GATE EC or accepts any GATE paper. Several programmes accept a paper only with a particular degree, so read the programme's own qualification line before applying; IISc also states "Candidates can apply to a maximum of 3 disciplines from the M. Tech. and M. Des. programs."
M.Tech: the GATE EC score above which IISc says applicants should have been called for an interview or test
| Programme | 2026 UR | OBC | EWS | SC | ST | PwD | 2025 UR | 2024 UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microelectronics and VLSI Design | 800 | 720 | 720 | 530 | 530 | 800 | 685 | 750 |
| Electronic Systems Engineering | 775 | 700 | 700 | 515 | 515 | 775 | 680 | 750 |
| Electronic Product Design | 750 | 675 | 675 | 500 | 500 | 750 | 600 | 550 |
| Instrumentation Systems | 750 | 650 | 500 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 700 | 500 |
| Computational and Data Sciences | 700 | 650 | 650 | 500 | 425 | 650 | 700 | 600 |
| Smart Manufacturing | 700 | 600 | 600 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 600 | 500 |
| Robotics and Autonomous Systems | 670 | 650 | 550 | 450 | 350 | 400 | 650 | 550 |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering | 650 | 600 | 570 | 450 | 440 | 500 | 625 | 550 |
| Artificial Intelligence | 600 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 400 | 600 | 600 | 600 |
| Bioengineering | 600 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 400 | 500 | 675 | 600 |
| Product Design Development and Management (M.Des) | 600 | 500 | 500 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 600 | 500 |
| Quantum Technology | 600 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 600 | 600 |
| Mobility Engineering | 575 | 525 | 525 | 400 | 245 | 525 | 630 | 640 |
| Smart Mobility and Logistics Systems | 550 | 540 | 540 | 500 | 500 | 540 | 540 | — |
| Earth and Climate Sciences | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 650 |
| Semiconductor Technology | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 650 |
| Signal Processing | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 621 |
Source: IISc's "Cut Off Report for Course Programme M.Tech/M.Des" for the 2026-27, 2025-26 and 2024-25 admissions (https://www.iisc.ac.in/admissions/cut-off-report-and-gate-score-of-previous-years/), GATE scores out of 1000. IISc's 2026 M.Tech/M.Des report (dated 03-04-2026) opens: “Applicants who applied for M.Tech/ M.Des programmes, , and has secured a score higher than the cut-off indicated, and has not received a call letter on the applicant home page/ dashboard of admission portal for interview/ written test (as applicable), may send an e-mail to admission office at admission.acad@iisc.ac.in or ar.acad3@iisc.ac.in on or before 8th April 2026 [17:00hrs] along with the following documents: i) Application form, ii) GATE/ CEED/ CAT (as applicable) Scorecard.” The 2025 and 2024 reports print the same rule with deadlines of 4th April 2025 and 6th April 2024. A cut-off is the score that should have brought a call, not the score that brought a seat. Categories as IISc prints them: UR (printed 'GN' in some years), OBC-NCL, EWS, SC, ST and PwD (printed 'PH' in some years). IISc's reports also carry a KM (Kashmiri-Migrant) column and, in some years, a column labelled WQ that its admission pages do not define; neither is reproduced here, see the original report.
| Programme | 2026 UR | OBC | EWS | SC | ST | PwD | 2025 UR lowest | 2024 UR lowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microelectronics and VLSI Design | 804–950 | 755–852 | 775–848 | 621–743 | 580 | — | 811 | 866 |
| Electronic Product Design | 755–933 | 678–739 | 698–743 | 552–580 | — | — | 643 | 568 |
| Semiconductor Technology | 889–925 | 856 | — | 718 | — | — | 979 | 816 |
| Signal Processing | 819–881 | 783–791 | 779 | 714 | — | — | 862 | 658 |
| Electronic Systems Engineering | 775–870 | 706–739 | 706–743 | 532–779 | — | — | 749 | 762 |
| Artificial Intelligence | 856 | 840 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Electronics and Communication Engineering | 670–824 | 605–735 | 589–670 | 452–637 | 467–528 | — | 659 | 608 |
| Robotics and Autonomous Systems | 682 | 682 | — | — | — | — | — | 757 |
| Product Design Development and Management | 666 | 580 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Smart Mobility and Logistics Systems | 581 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aerospace Engineering | — | — | — | — | — | — | 733 | 745 |
| Computational and Data Science | — | — | — | 690 | — | — | — | 883 |
| Earth and Climate Sciences | — | 568 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Instrumentation Systems | — | 666–670 | 641 | 459–475 | — | — | 725 | 584 |
| Mobility Engineering | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Quantum Technology | — | 589 | — | — | — | — | 682 | 654 |
| Smart Manufacturing | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Source: IISc's M.Tech/M.Des "Operated GATE Score" reports for 2026-27, 2025-26 and 2024-25 (https://www.iisc.ac.in/admissions/cut-off-report-and-gate-score-of-previous-years/). 2024 is printed pooled across COAP offer rounds 1 to 5; 2025 and 2026 are printed round by round and are pooled here the same way, the lowest score offered and the highest, across all rounds. A dash means IISc printed no offer for that category. Categories as IISc prints them: UR (printed 'GN' in some years), OBC-NCL, EWS, SC, ST and PwD (printed 'PH' in some years). IISc's reports also carry a KM (Kashmiri-Migrant) column and, in some years, a column labelled WQ that its admission pages do not define; neither is reproduced here, see the original report.
PhD and M.Tech (Research): the GATE EC score above which IISc says applicants should have been called for interview
| Department | 2026 UR | OBC | EWS | SC | ST | PwD | 2025 UR | 2024 UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence | 820 | 710 | 675 | 500 | 400 | 700 | — | — |
| Computer Science and Automation | 820 | 800 | 800 | 610 | 425 | 525 | 820 | 820 |
| Astronomy and Astrophysics | 800 | 700 | 550 | 500 | 300 | 300 | — | — |
| High Energy Physics | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 803 |
| Physics | 800 | 750 | 750 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 800 | 800 |
| Climate Change | 750 | 650 | 600 | 600 | 600 | 600 | — | — |
| Neuroscience | 750 | 650 | 650 | 425 | 360 | 360 | — | — |
| Bioengineering | 700 | 600 | 500 | 500 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 700 |
| Ecological Sciences | 700 | 650 | 700 | 600 | 600 | 700 | — | 700 |
| Mathematics | 685 | 580 | 680 | 400 | 300 | 500 | 700 | 850 |
| Computational and Data Science * | 660 | 570 | 570 | 420 | 400 | 550 | 590 | 590 |
| Brain, Computation, and Data Science | 650 | 575 | 540 | 400 | 400 | 540 | — | — |
| Materials Research | 650 | 550 | 550 | 300 | 300 | 400 | — | — |
| Mechanical Engineering | 625 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 250 | 275 | — | — |
| Aerospace Engineering | 600 | 540 | 540 | 420 | 420 | 540 | 600 | 600 |
| Cyber Physical Systems | 600 | 530 | 450 | 400 | 350 | 350 | — | — |
| Design and Manufacturing | 600 | 500 | 500 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 500 | 500 |
| Electrical Communication Engineering | 600 | 520 | 500 | 400 | 300 | 500 | 520 | 650 |
| Electrical Engineering | 600 | 540 | 540 | 360 | 360 | 360 | 600 | 600 |
| Nanoscience and Engineering | 600 | 500 | 500 | 400 | 300 | 400 | 550 | 600 |
| Public Health | 600 | 550 | 550 | 500 | 500 | 500 | — | — |
| Electronic Systems Engineering | 570 | 513 | 513 | 380 | 380 | 513 | 420 | 700 |
| Instrumentation and Applied Physics | 550 | 400 | 400 | 350 | 350 | 350 | 550 | 500 |
| Materials Engineering | 550 | 500 | 450 | 350 | 300 | 450 | 500 | 400 |
| Mathematical Sciences | 550 | 400 | 350 | 250 | 250 | 350 | 480 | 500 |
| Management Studies | 510 | 440 | 500 | 350 | 250 | 440 | — | — |
| Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences | 500 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 | 550 | 550 |
| Organic Chemistry | 500 | 450 | 450 | 350 | 250 | 350 | — | — |
| Solid State and Structural Chemistry | 500 | 400 | 400 | 350 | 300 | 400 | 600 | — |
| Centre for Earth Sciences | — | — | — | — | — | — | 650 | — |
| Centre for Sustainable Technologies | — | — | — | — | — | — | 550 | 700 |
| Interdisciplinary Program - Energy | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 600 |
| Interdisciplinary Program - Water Research | — | — | — | — | — | — | 600 | 470 |
| Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber Physical Systems | — | — | — | — | — | — | 630 | 700 |
Source: IISc's "Cut Off Report for Research Programmes – PhD and M.Tech (Research)" for 2026-27, 2025-26 and 2024-25 (https://www.iisc.ac.in/admissions/cut-off-report-and-gate-score-of-previous-years/), GATE mode of entry only. IISc's 2026 research-programmes report (dated 21-04-2026) opens: “Applicants who applied for PhD/M.Tech (Res) programmes, and has secured a score higher than the cut-off indicated, and has not received a call letter on the applicant home page/ dashboard of admission portal for interview, may send an e-mail to admission office at admission.acad@iisc.ac.in or ar.acad3@iisc.ac.in on or before 30th April 2026 [1700hrs] along with the following documents: i. Application form, ii. NET JRF/ GATE etc. (as applicable) Rank/ Score card.” The 2025 and 2024 reports print the same rule with deadlines of 25 April 2025 and 25th April 2024. A cut-off is the score that should have brought a call, not the score that brought a seat. IISc's research-programmes page: “The selection is based on the performance in the interview (in some of the departments, an aptitude test/ preliminary interview will precede the interview/ final Interview).” and “Students with a B.E./B.Tech. degree and a GATE score who meet the basic qualification for eligibility for the relevant engineering departments are eligible to be considered both for the Ph.D. program as well as the M.Tech.(Research) program. The candidates may communicate this to the department at the time of interview.” and “The number of candidates called for interview will depend on the number of vacancies available in each department.” * IISc marks this figure “Revised Cutoff” in its 2024 report. Categories as IISc prints them: UR (printed 'GN' in some years), OBC-NCL, EWS, SC, ST and PwD (printed 'PH' in some years). IISc's reports also carry a KM (Kashmiri-Migrant) column and, in some years, a column labelled WQ that its admission pages do not define; neither is reproduced here, see the original report.
About this resource
This is the GATE EC page of IAE Academy's IISc guide. It holds only IISc's numbers for GATE EC. What the routes are, what each pays and costs, and when to apply are in the overview at /resources/iisc-admissions-guide.
Three kinds of number appear here, and they mean different things. A call cut-off is the GATE score above which IISc says an applicant should have been called for an interview or test. An offer score is a score at which IISc made an M.Tech offer. The first table is not a number at all: it lists the M.Tech programmes whose qualification line names GATE EC or accepts any GATE paper, some only with a particular degree, with each one's seats, which candidates from other papers compete for too, and how it selects.
Nothing on this page predicts 2027. For research programmes IISc states that the number of candidates called for interview depends on the vacancies in each department. Of the 16 research departments with a UR cut-off in all three years here, 11 changed at least once and 5 printed the same figure each year; the three-year columns show which.
What's included
- ✓The IISc M.Tech programmes whose qualification line names GATE EC or any GATE paper, with seats and selection formula
- ✓M.Tech interview/test-call cut-offs for GATE EC, by programme and category, 2024 to 2026
- ✓The lowest and highest GATE EC scores at which M.Tech offers were made, 2024 to 2026
- ✓PhD and M.Tech (Research) interview-call cut-offs for GATE EC, by department and category, 2024 to 2026
How to use this resource
Start with the first table: it tells you which programmes you can apply to with GATE EC, and whether each one interviews.
Find your category column in the cut-off tables. The 2026 figure is the most recent; the 2025 and 2024 UR columns show how much it moves.
Use the offer table to see the scores at which seats were offered, not only called for interview.
Then read the overview for fees, scholarships and dates. The January 2027 PhD and M.Tech (Research) intake closes on 26 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What GATE EC score do I need for an IISc M.Tech?+
IISc does not publish one number. It publishes, programme by programme, the score above which applicants should have been called for an interview or test, and the range of scores at which offers were made. For 2026 the GATE EC call cut-offs ranged from 550 to 800 (UR), and UR offers ran from 581 (Smart Mobility and Logistics Systems) to 950 (Microelectronics and VLSI Design, whose own lowest UR offer was 804); offers to OBC-NCL, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates went lower, down to 452 (Scheduled Caste category, Electronics and Communication Engineering). The tables on this page give each listed programme, with IISc's UR, OBC, EWS, SC, ST and PwD figures for 2026 (its KM and WQ columns are not reproduced) and the UR figure for 2025 and 2024.
What GATE EC score gets an interview for a PhD at IISc?+
In the 2026 admissions, IISc's interview-call cut-off for GATE EC ranged from 500 to 820 (UR) across the 29 departments that listed the paper. IISc says selection is then on the interview, in some departments after an aptitude test or preliminary interview, and that a B.E./B.Tech. graduate with a GATE score who meets the basic eligibility for the relevant engineering department can be considered for both the PhD and the M.Tech (Research), and may say so at the interview; both sentences are quoted under the research table.
Which IISc M.Tech programmes take GATE EC without an interview?+
For 2026-27, those whose selection IISc states as 100% of the GATE score, with no interview or test: Aerospace Engineering (AE); Earth and Climate Sciences (EaCS); Semiconductor Technology (SemT); Signal Processing (SP). Artificial Intelligence (AI) selects on 70% of the GATE score and 30% written test, also with no interview. Every other programme listed adds an interview (for some, with a written test) worth 30%, as the first table shows. Check each programme's qualification line: some accept a paper only with a particular degree.
How does IISc make M.Tech offers to GATE EC candidates?+
Through COAP. IISc's M.Tech page states: “We will use the Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP) to make the offer for admission into the M.Tech. Programmes and M.Des. Programme through GATE qualification.” That is why its offer reports are organised by COAP round.
Is a cut-off the score I need to get admitted?+
No. A cut-off is the score above which IISc says an applicant should have been called for an interview or test. After the call, research programmes select on the interview, which in some departments follows an aptitude test or preliminary interview; most M.Tech programmes count the interview or test for 30% alongside 70% of the GATE score, and programmes that select on 100% of the GATE score have no such stage. The offer table shows the scores at which seats were offered. For research programmes IISc also states that the number of candidates called for interview depends on the vacancies in each department. Of the 16 research departments with a UR cut-off in all three years here, 11 changed at least once and 5 printed the same figure each year. A past cut-off is a guide, not a promise.
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