Pune, Maharashtra, July 31: India’s Best Design Awards (IBDA) has announced winners of the country’s Best Design Students 2026, which recognize some of the country’s most promising young designers for their creativity, innovation and academic excellence.
The annual recognition recognises great design talent from top design colleges in India and the increasing quality of design education in India.
The Best Design Awards (IBDA) since 2015 has been the focal point for professional and academic design in India. A national platform for young designers to present their work, get industry recognition and meet more people in the design world.
When announcing the winners, the organisers stressed that this year’s chosen students in design were from all areas of design education and that they were all students of design practice with a strong focus on innovation, sustainability and user-centered thinking.
Sudhir Sharma of IndiDesign and DesignIndia highlighted the broader purpose of design education.
Design education is more than technical skills; it is learning to observe, ask and respond thoughtfully to the world around us. The students recognised this year have the curiosity, discipline and independent thinking needed to shape the future of design,” he said.
The list of India’s Best Design students 2026 is made with students from the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bhopal, Bengaluru and Vijayawada campuses) and MIT Art, Design & Technology University, Symbiosis Institute of Design, Indian Institutes of Technology, Delhi Technological University, Whistling Woods International.
ISDI School of Design & Innovation, CEPT University, RV University, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, UnitedWorld Institute of Design (UID) and Nirma University, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Presidency University, Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, Sasi Creative Institute of Design, ITM Institute of Design and Media and Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin, among others.
The winners are
Adit Deshpande, Anusha Malusare, Aswanth A, Deekshita Pramod, Deepesh Bhandari, Dhatri Srinivas, Dia Bhandari, Harsh Solanki, Harshavardhan Pandian, Isha Saxena, Ishika Vasnani, Jay Upadhyaya, Kaira Mahajan, Kanisha Shah, Khushi Chhajed, Manasi Sawant, Mithra Kumar, Nandana Rijju, Prarambh Rajankar, Priya Rathod, Priyanka Parulekar, Reva Dalal, Safa Gavankar, Sai Boddeti, Shashwat Alok, Sheil Joshi, Shreya Srinivas, Tapala Nadamuni, Tejas Mallikarjun JR and Varsha John.
These students will be selected for being innovative and creative to address real-world challenges through design. Their work illustrates the growing reach of the Indian design education across product design, communication, architecture, fashion, digital experiences and interdisciplinary innovation.
The winners of these awards will be formally awarded at the DesignIndia Show 2026 on August 29, 2026 at The Westin, Pune. Design professionals, educators, industry leaders and creative professionals from all over India will be invited to the show.
Since its inception, India's Best Design Awards IndiDesign have acknowledged the creative and design talents of the students and have also given the platform for creativity in a more advanced way for young people in the country.
