NIFTEM Kundli PhD Admission 2025-26

2 June, 2025

Sonipat, Haryana

Full details for NIFTEM Kundli PhD Admission 2025-26.

National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) Kundli invites application for PhD Admission 2025-26.

Vacancy

PhD program offered at the following departments –

  • Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science (AES)
  • Department of Food Business Management and Entrepreneurship Development (FBM&ED)
  • Department of Food Engineering (FE)
  • Department of Food Science and Technology (FST)
  • Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences (IDS)

Seats

  • FE: UR-6, OBC-NCL-4, SC-3, ST-1, EWS-1, Total Seats-15
  • FST: UR-3, OBC-NCL-3, SC-2, ST-1, EWS-1, Total Seats-10
  • IDS: UR-7, OBC-NCL-4, SC-3, ST-1, EWS-2, Total Seats-17
  • AES: UR-4, OBC-NCL-2, SC-2, ST-1, EWS-1, Total Seats-10
  • FBM&ED: UR-8, OBC-NCL-5, SC-3, ST-2, EWS-2, Total Seats-20

Areas of Research

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (AES)

  • Post-harvest Management of Fruits and Vegetables
  • Post-harvest Engineering, including Design and Development of machinery
  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Supply Chain Management of Agri- Horti Produce
  • Biomass Valorisation and Bioremediation
  • Biopolymers and Sustainable Food Packaging
  • Fermentation Technologies

Food Engineering (FE)

  • Novel Food Processing Technologies
  • Drying and Dehydration Technologies
  • Sustainable Food Processing Technologies
  • Computational Modelling for Food Product Design/ Safety and Quality Applications
  • Food Equipment Design
  • Non-Thermal Processing Technologies
  • Structural and functional design of Food Processing Equipments
  • Engineering prospects in foods

Food Science and Technology (FST)

  • Novel Food Processing Technologies
  • Drying and Dehydration Technologies
  • Sustainable Food Processing Technologies
  • Food Process/ Product Optimization
  • New Food Product Development
  • Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods
  • Nutrition and Fortification including Public Health Nutrition
  • Alternate Proteins including Plant Protein and Cell Cultured Meat
  • Speciality foods
  • Immuno Nutrition
  • Prebiotics, Probiotics & Symbiotics
  • Fermentation technologies
  • Computational modelling for food product design/ safety and quality applications
  • Advanced quantification methods in food sciences

Food Business Management & Entrepreneurship Development (FBM&ED)

  • Food and Agribusiness Management
  • Business Strategies
  • Operations and Decision Sciences
  • Finance, Accounting, and Economics
  • Marketing and Organization Behaviour

Interdisciplinary Sciences (IDS)

  • Food Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Food Contaminants and Adulteration
  • Biochemical Engineering, Enzyme Engineering and Technology
  • Food Safety, Toxicity and Bioavailability
  • Mathematical and Statistical Modelling in Testing of Foods and Food Systems
  • Nanoscience and Nanotechnology including Nanomaterial
  • Prebiotics, Probiotics & Symbiotics
  • Fermentation Technologies
  • Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Machine Learning, Big Data Analysis and Block Chain in Food Safety and Quality
  • Computational Modelling for Food Product Design/ Safety and Quality Applications
  • Advanced Quantification Methods in Food Sciences

PhD Admission Modes

  • Full-time Ph.D. student with NIFTEM-K fellowship.
  • Full-time Ph.D. student with a valid fellowship from other sponsoring agencies (UGC/CSIR/DBT/ICMR/ADF/QIP, etc.). NIFTEM-K will not provide any fellowship to the students admitted thorough the valid fellowship.
  • Industry/Academia sponsored Ph.D. student.

Eligibility Criteria

  • The candidate possesses a 3- or 4-year Bachelor’s degree and two-year M.E./ M. Tech. /Master’s Degree in a relevant discipline (Area of research given below) with at least 55% marks with a relaxation of 5% marks i.e. 50% for the candidates from SC/ST/OBC (Non-Creamy layers)/ Differently-abled category.
  • The candidates to be admitted for industry/academia sponsored Ph.D. who are working professionals and are permitted by their employer to pursue the Ph.D. degree programme. Such candidates will either be supported financially by their employer or will bear the expenses themselves. No fellowship shall be provided by the institute to such applicants. The candidate has to produce the NOC at the time of interview from the employer (Annexures III)
  • The Department reserves the right not to fill up the vacant seats for the Ph.D. program if suitable candidates are not available.

Selection Process

  • The selection is purely on merit basis only.
  • Candidates appearing in RET-2025 must clear RET Stage-1 to qualify for Stage 2 and Stage 3. NET qualified candidates (without fellowship) will be exempted from RET Stage-1 but will have to appear for the RET Stage-2 and Stage-3.
  • The distribution of marks for academic score is attached in Annexure- IV.
  • The candidate (Full time) with valid fellowship will be exempted from the RET (Stage-1 and 2) exam and directly eligible for the interview (Stage-3).
  • Separate department-wise merit lists will be prepared.

Provisions for admission for Ph.D. degree programme:

  • Candidates with valid external fellowship (UGC/CSIR/ DBT/ICMR/ ADF/QIP, etc.) in the main subject. All selected applicants are required to give an undertaking at the time of enrolment to a Ph.D. programme that he/she will join the institute along with the Fellowship, failing which his/her admission will be cancelled by the concerned department or Institute.
  • Candidate who clear NET exam conducted by UGC, ICAR, CSIR, ICMR etc.
  • Candidate who clear the RET-2025.
  • The Industry/Academia Sponsored Ph.D. candidates who are officially sponsored by their employer or with external funding.
    • The sponsorship should be obtained at the time of submitting the application.
    • The sponsored candidate has to submit a No Objection Certificate on proper letterhead stating that for the period of his/her studies in the program, the candidate would be treated as on duty and that he/she will be allowed to complete the required coursework credits and conduct research. In the absence of this, the application will be summarily rejected.
    • All eligible Industry/Academic Sponsored Candidates are exempted from RET-2025 (Stage I and Stage II), but will have to appear for interview.
    • Industry/Academia sponsored Ph.D. should have a minimum of 3 years of experience in Industry/Academia.
    • The Industry/Academia sponsored Ph.D. candidates will not be entitled to any financial assistance from the Institute.
    • After admission, a permanent faculty member from the concerned department at NIFTEM-K will be recognized as the Research Supervisor, and the provision for an external co-supervisor from the sponsoring organization may be opted with due approval from NIFTEM-K.
    • The applicant will be required to complete the minimum course credits after which the candidates may opt to conduct their research work in their own organization under the supervision of their supervisor from NIFTEM-K and the co-supervisor from their own organization.
    • In case, if the candidate wants to conduct the research at NIFTEM-K, they will have to be permitted by the sponsoring industry/academia organization with which they are employed.
    • Minimum PhD requirement criteria for the Industry Sponsored PhD remains the same as is for regular PhD Scholars.

NIFTEM Kundli Research Entrance Test (RET) 2025 Details

  • Stage 1: General Aptitude Test
    • The test will consist of multiple-choice questions.
    • The test duration is 60 minutes.
    • Each question will carry one mark.
    • There will be no negative marking.
    • It is only a qualifying stage.
    • Candidates who obtain/secure 40% or above marks in Stage 1 will be eligible to appear in Stage 2 and Stage 3. A relaxation of 5% of marks shall be allowed for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC (Non-Creamy layers)/EWS/Differently-abled category.
  • Stage 2: Department level screening
    • Candidates will have to appear for a written exam as per the entrance paper choice given in the application.
    • The test duration is 60 minutes.
    • Question papers will consist of objective questions, abstract writing, case studies, etc.
  • Stage 3: Interview
    • After the written exam, candidates will have to appear for an interview and be required to present their research areas/interests before the interview panel.
    • Those who secure less than 50% marks in the interview will be considered NOT FOUND SUITABLE (NFS) even if they had qualified RET Stage-2 with a high score or are in possession of any fellowship.

Notes:

  • If a candidate qualifies UGC-JRF/NET or Joint CSIR-UGC JRF/NET in a reserved category, then that candidate can be considered against an unreserved category seat if his/her score of JRF/NET is greater than or equal to the cut-off score of JRF/NET of unreserved category for that year for that examination.
  • The candidate must provide the paper choice for the RET-2025, Stage-2 written exam for the specified department to which they applied. In case if the candidate is interested to take admission in other departments, he/she has to appear and clear the RET-2025 Stage 2 and 3 of the respective department.
  • In case, if any candidate wishes to apply for more than one discipline, they will have to apply for each discipline separately and are required to pay the requisite fee for respective disciplines.
  • Research Entrance Tests (RET-2025) for all three stages will only be conducted at the NIFTEM Campus, Kundli, District-Sonepat. There is no other center within or outside the country. The candidates must visit the website regularly for further details.

Fellowship

Regular Ph.D. Scholars, whether NET qualified or RET Qualified, are eligible to receive a monthly fellowship of Rs. 22,000/- per month for the first year, Rs. 24,000/- per month for the second year, Rs. 26,000/- per month for the third year. Further, there is provision of contingency for the Ph.D. Scholars.

Application Process

  • Candidates have to apply online.
  • Candidates are advised to read all the details on NIFTEM website /admission brochure for the necessary documents to be submitted and make prior arrangement before reporting.

Important Dates

  • Commencement of the Online Application: 22 April, 2025
  • Last date of submission of Online application (Extended): 5 June, 2025
  • Announcement of List of (i) Eligible/shortlisted candidates (fellowship holders, if any) and (ii) Eligible/shortlisted candidates for RET-2025: 6 June, 2025
  • Stage 1(offline mode), Time:9.00AM-10.00 AM: 9 June, 2025
  • Declaration of Stage1result: 9 June, 2025
  • Stage 2 Department written exam for Ph.D. candidates (offline mode): 9 June, 2025
  • Stage 3 Interview for PhD candidates (offline mode): 9 June, 2025 to 10 June, 2025
  • Announcement of Final Merit list for Ph.D. candidates: 11 June, 2025
  • Email Intimation for Counseling will be sent to eligible candidates. Counseling and Fee payment (1st semester) by students: 12 June, 2025 to 16 June, 2025
  • Physical Reporting selected candidates: 22 July, 2025

Important Links