NEW DELHI: Twenty-three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) reported 45 student suicides between 2020-21 and 2024-25, 28 of them involving students from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities, according to official data.
The numbers were compiled after data was obtained from all the IITs for a provisionally-admitted Lok Sabha starred question dated December 8, 2025.
The 28 students accounted for more than 62 per cent of all suicides reported by the IITs during the period.
Twelve of those who died were from OBC, nine from SC and seven from ST communities. Sixteen were from the General category and one from the Economically Weaker Sections category.
The number of suicides rose sharply in 2023-24, when the IITs reported 16 deaths, up from six the previous year. Thirteen suicides were reported in 2024-25.
IIT-Hyderabad reported the highest number of suicides over the five years at seven. IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur reported six each, while IIT-Madras reported five and IIT (BHU)-Varanasi four.
In 2024-25, four of the 13 students who died by suicide were from OBC, three from ST and two from SC communities, while four were from the General category.
The compilation separately records eight unnatural deaths over the five years. They are not included in the figure of 45 suicides.
However, the document does not provide the course-wise break-up of the students who died by suicide or details of the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The raw numbers, therefore, cannot be used to draw conclusions about the reasons for the deaths.
The compilation was prepared in connection with the Lok Sabha Provisionally Admitted Starred Diary No. 3682 dated December 8, 2025.