NIFT vs NID Salary Package 2025: Know Highest & Average Salaries Offered

The top design exams in India are NID and NIFT. There has often been a comparison between NIFT vs NID salary packages, their placements, and job profiles. Both the exams promise a wide career scope with a handsome package but in different aspects.

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The average starting salary of NIFT graduates is nearly INR 7 LPA, and the highest pay can reach as high as INR 25 LPA. In the meantime, NID Alumni have an average placement of INR 18-30 LPA, and the highest placement stands at INR 50 LPA. Top key recruiters, such as Titan, Myntra, Raymond, and FabIndia, frequently hire graduates from NIFT, whereas NID attracts global brands like Adobe, J.P. Morgan, Philips, and Microsoft.

The explosion in the demand for people who have majored in design from the premiere design colleges have made them even more necessary now and has also made the future of design in the coming years brighter and promising.

Both NIFT and NID come packed with strong placement records that enhance the return on your investment in skill as well as creativity. Let us now have a detailed look at NIFT vs NID salary packages to help you guide your choice of design college.

NIFT vs NID Salary Package Comparison

Salary outcomes can be a determining factor in the case of your decision-making between NIFT and NID. Its corporate connections are better in the fields of fashion, textile, and lifestyl,e and average salaries hover between INR 5 to INR 7 LPA in the different campuses, with the best ones clocked at a phenomenal INR 20 LPA in the best cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. In contrast, NID, especially the campuses such as Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, has substantially greater salaries because it focuses on industrial design, UX/UI, product innovation and/or visual communications.

Below is a simplified comparison of average and highest salary packages for graduates from both institutes:

NIFT			NID
NIFT Campus	Avg Salary (INR)	Highest Salary (INR)	NID Campus	Avg Salary (INR)	Highest Salary (INR)
NIFT Delhi	INR 5-7 LPA	INR 17-22 LPA	NID Ahmedabad	INR 9–10 LPA	INR 40–45 LPA
NIFT Mumbai	INR 3-5 LPA	INR 18 LPA	NID Bengaluru	INR 17-21 LPA	INR 48-50 LPA
NIFT Bengaluru	INR 21 LPA	INR 50 LPA	NID Gandhinagar	INR 8-21 LPA	INR 46 LPA
NIFT Hyderabad	INR 4-6 LPA	INR 18 LPA	NID Vijayawada	INR 6-12 LPA	INR 30 LPA

Note: Salary figures vary depending on the placement year, course specialization and employer profile.

Top Recruiters and Job Profiles for NIFT Graduates

NIFT provides an extensive post-degree career path when it comes to fashion and textile, digital branding and product development. Depending on your specialization and the strength of your portfolio, there are various job opportunities and salary for NIFT gradautes. The following list includes the entire list of the best job profiles that the NIFT graduates commonly go for and the list of recruiters who are frequent at the campuses for the placements.

Job Profile	Industry	Top Recruiters
Fashion Designer	Fashion and Apparel	FabIndia, Raymond, H&M, Aditya Birla, Ritu Kumar
Merchandising Manager	Retail and Export	Shahi Exports, Trent, Arvind, ZARA, Reliance Trends
Textile Designer	Home and Fashion Textiles	D’Decor, Welspun, Raymond, Bombay Dyeing
Visual Merchandiser	Fashion Retail	Marks and Spencer, Lifestyle, Westside, Pantaloons
Fashion Communication Exec.	Media, PR, E-commerce	Conde Nast, Myntra, Future Group, WGSN
Fashion Technologist	Apparel Manufacturing	Decathlon, Texport, Madura Garments, Arvind Mills

NIFT Average Salary Package 2025: Campus-wise & course-wise salary offered

Top Recruiters and Job Profiles for NID Graduates

The National Institute of Design (NID), just like NIFT, also churns out some of the most desirable design professionals in the country. You have an opportunity to pursue careers in such spheres as industrial design, visual communication, product design, animation and UX/UI. Graduates of NID are conceptual thinkers, user-focused designers and innovative-oriented. Below is a detailed list of top NID placements and job profiles along with the companies that regularly hire NID graduates.

Job Profile	Industry	Top Recruiters
Product Designer	Consumer Products, FMCG	Titan, Godrej, Philips, Whirlpool, Tata Motors
UX Designer	IT, SaaS, Startups	Flipkart, Microsoft, IBM, Infosys, TCS
Communication Designer	Branding, Media, Agencies	Elephant Design, Lopez Design, DY Works, Landor
Animation Film Designer	Media, Ed-Tech, Gaming	Toonz, Green Gold, BYJU’S, Disney India
Transportation Designer	Automotive, Mobility	Mahindra, Tata Motors, TVS, Maruti Suzuki
Design Researcher	Strategy, Consulting	IDEO, SAP, Fractal Ink, Future Factory

Which is Better: NIFT or NID?

NIFT vs. NID is not a question of one being better than the other, but which one is better suited to your career aspirations. The following is a comparison of the major differences that will enable you to make a well-informed decision.

Criteria	NIFT	NID
Entrance Exam	GAT, CAT, Situation Test / GDPI	DAT Prelims + Mains
Core Focus	Fashion, Textile, Lifestyle Design	Product, Industrial, UX, Communication
Top Campuses	Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru	Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar
Fee Structure	INR 2–3 LPA (UG average)	INR 2.5–3.5 LPA (UG average)
Industry Connect	Fashion, Apparel, Retail	Product, Tech, Consulting
Global Ranking	Strong in fashion education	Strong in design innovation
Alumni Strength	Fashion brands, e-commerce leaders	Design consultancies, tech giants

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Best Colleges Apart from NIFT and NID

Conclusion

In case you intend to take up a career in the field of design, NIFT and NID is your best bet. NIFT is the winner when it comes to a placement in fashion and textile as well as lifestyle and NID is the winner among industrial design/ UX, animation and product innovating. The placements of both institutes have been consistently increasing and the best packages received at NIFT last year was about INR 50 LPA whereas the best offers at NID have been in the range of INR 40 LPA last year.

You should select the one among NIFT and NID, depending on the area you like the most, what type of recruiters you would like to have and what skills you would like to master. In any case, it can only be fruitful when relying on your personal input, portfolio performance and on-going skill development.