GATE 2027 in Bhopal: Exam City, IIT Kanpur Zone and Indore Trap
GATE 2027 in Bhopal: IIT Kanpur zone, why Indore and Ujjain cannot share your form, a six-city list, the zone office and nearby institutes.
Updated 3 November 2026 · GATEiit Team
Where Bhopal sits on the list
The official GATE 2027 exam-city page has a single entry for us: "Bhopal", under Madhya Pradesh, in the zone coordinated by IIT Kanpur. The entry is not split by area. You select Bhopal and GATE allots a centre somewhere in or around the city, which the admit card will name.
Bhopal is the state capital and the headquarters of Bhopal district, according to the district administration. None of that changes the exam. What matters on the form is where you will be in February, and that may be your home town rather than your college.
Three rules from the official page frame everything below. You choose six cities. All six must be in the same zone. The list is tentative: GATE may add or remove a city, and may allot one outside your options if it has to. GATE 2027 is held only in India.
Madhya Pradesh is split between two zones
Seven MP cities are on the list, and they do not share a zone:
| Zone (coordinating institute) | Madhya Pradesh exam cities |
|---|---|
| IIT Kanpur | Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar, Satna |
| IIT Delhi | Indore, Ujjain |
This is the trap for anyone from Indore or Ujjain who studies in Bhopal. If your family is in Indore, you cannot list Bhopal first and Indore as a back-up. The form has to be either a Bhopal (IIT Kanpur zone) list or an Indore (IIT Delhi zone) list.
The neighbouring states do not help either. Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Vadodara are in the IIT Bombay zone. Raipur and Bhilai-Durg are in the IIT Kharagpur zone. Kota and Udaipur are in the IIT Delhi zone with Indore. From Bhopal, the only cross-border options that fit are the Uttar Pradesh cities in the IIT Kanpur zone.
A six-city list with Bhopal first
The IIT Kanpur zone gives you the other four MP cities plus nine in Uttar Pradesh: Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj and Varanasi. A list that stays close to home could look like this:
- Bhopal
- Sagar
- Jabalpur
- Gwalior
- Satna
- Jhansi, or Kanpur or Lucknow if you have someone to stay with there
Reorder the back-ups by where you could really sleep the night before. A centre in an unfamiliar city on a February morning leaves no room for a late train, so a cousin's flat in Jabalpur is worth more than a city that only looks close on the map.
If you choose Indore as your base instead, a same-zone list could run Indore, Ujjain, Kota, Udaipur, Ajmer and Jaipur, or New Delhi if you will be in NCR. The Jaipur page and the Delhi page cover that zone in more detail.
Who to write to, and the dates to watch
Exam-city questions from Bhopal go to the IIT Kanpur zone office, as listed on the official page:
- IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016: gate@iitk.ac.in, 0512-2596962, 0512-2596963
Write from your registered email ID and include your enrolment ID. For the portal or the paper itself, the organising institute for GATE 2027 is IIT Madras (helpdesk@gate.iitm.ac.in, 044-22578200).
Registration closed with the special window on 16 October 2026. The important dates page lists the application data correction window (on candidate request, with a fee) as TBA, so check there before you count on changing a city.
The city allotment notification is due on 4 January 2027. The admit card date is TBA; that document carries your centre address and reporting time. Results are due on 19 March 2027. All dates on the official page are liable to change.
On the exam morning
Once the admit card is out, look up your centre the same evening and work out the route from wherever you will spend the night before. Do not assume the centre is near your hostel or home.
Carry the printed admit card, the original photo ID you gave in the application, and anything else the admit card asks for. Its instructions on what you may bring are final.
If you registered for DA and CS as two papers, the two-paper page says the centre for your second paper may be different from the first, but it will be in the same city. Check both centres on the admit card rather than assuming one building.
Institutes a Bhopal aspirant looks at
In Bhopal itself, GATEiit has a page for MANIT Bhopal, and elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh for IIT Indore, in Indore. Each page explains the GATE routes for DA and CSE candidates.
Further away, GATEiit has pages for IIT Kanpur, which is also our zone office, MNNIT Allahabad in Prayagraj, VNIT Nagpur in Nagpur and IIT Delhi. The full list is at /institutes.
Your exam city has nothing to do with admission. Writing GATE in Indore does not help with IIT Indore, and writing in Bhopal does not hurt. Choose the city for the exam day and the institutes for the course.
Preparing from Bhopal with GATEiit
GATEiit is online only. It has no centre, office or classroom in Bhopal or anywhere else, and the material is free.
Begin with your paper page: GATE DA for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, or GATE CSE for Computer Science and Information Technology. Each has the syllabus and the WhatsApp group link. DA and CS are an allowed two-paper combination in GATE 2027.
Previous papers are on /pyq and topic-wise questions on /practice. For a study plan, the GATE DA 2027 guide and the GATE CSE 2027 guide are the places to start, and /guides has the rest. Every GATE 2027 session falls on a Saturday or Sunday, so weekend mocks are the closest rehearsal.
The GATE 2027 page has the national schedule, and the exam-city overview links the other city pages, including Lucknow for the UP side of our zone.
Institutes near Bhopal that admit through GATE
Frequently asked questions
Which GATE 2027 zone is Bhopal in?
The IIT Kanpur zone. Exam-city questions go to gate@iitk.ac.in or 0512-2596962 / 0512-2596963.
Can I choose Bhopal and Indore together?
No. Indore is in the IIT Delhi zone and Bhopal in the IIT Kanpur zone, and all six choices must come from one zone. Ujjain is in the same position as Indore.
Which Madhya Pradesh cities can go with Bhopal?
Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar and Satna. They are the other MP cities in the IIT Kanpur zone.
My family lives in Indore. Should I write there?
You can, but then the whole form is an IIT Delhi-zone list, such as Indore, Ujjain, Kota, Udaipur, Ajmer and Jaipur. Bhopal cannot be on it.
Can I add Nagpur or Raipur as a back-up?
Not with Bhopal. Nagpur is in the IIT Bombay zone and Raipur in the IIT Kharagpur zone.
Is there more than one Bhopal option on the form?
No. The official list has one entry, Bhopal. GATE allots the centre, and the admit card gives the address.
When will I know my exam city?
The city allotment notification is scheduled for 4 January 2027. The admit card date is still TBA.
Does writing GATE near IIT Indore help me get in there?
No. Admission depends on your GATE score and the institute's own process. The exam city plays no part.
Sources
Checked on against these official pages. Admission rules and exam cities can change, so confirm on the official site before you act.