GATE 2027 in Kanpur: Exam City, IIT Kanpur Zone and Back-up Choices
Kanpur is in the IIT Kanpur zone for GATE 2027. See which UP and MP cities can join it, why Mathura and NOIDA cannot, and who to contact.
Updated 4 November 2026 · GATEiit Team
Kanpur on the official list
The official GATE 2027 exam-city list has one entry for the city: Kanpur, under Uttar Pradesh in the IIT Kanpur zone. You will not find a Kanpur North or South to choose between. You pick "Kanpur", and GATE allots the centre, which you will see on the admit card.
Two rules sit on top of that. A candidate opts for six cities, and all six must be from the same zone. The list is also tentative: GATE 2027 can add or remove a city and can allot a city that is not among your six. The exam is held only in India.
Being in the zone office's home city changes nothing about the rules. You follow the same zone limits as a student in Gorakhpur or Jabalpur.
What fits with Kanpur on one form
Everything below is in the IIT Kanpur zone, so any of it can sit alongside Kanpur:
| State | IIT Kanpur zone exam cities |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi |
| Madhya Pradesh | Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar, Satna |
Lucknow is the obvious second choice. The Kanpur Nagar district administration describes Kanpur as 80 km west of Lucknow. After that, order the rest by where you could actually stay the night before: a relative in Prayagraj, a hostel friend in Jhansi, home in Bareilly.
A sample list for a Kanpur student:
- Kanpur
- Lucknow
- Prayagraj
- Jhansi
- Agra
- Varanasi or Gwalior
The district site lists Kanpur Central among stations with regular trains to Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Agra, Jabalpur and Bhopal. All of those are same-zone cities, which makes the back-up choices less of a gamble if GATE moves you out of Kanpur.
Cities that look close but are in another zone
Uttar Pradesh is split across three GATE zones, and the split catches Kanpur students who think of western UP or the NCR as nearby:
- IIT Roorkee zone: Ghaziabad, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar and NOIDA.
- IIT Delhi zone: Greater NOIDA and Mathura, along with New Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad.
None of these can appear on a form that has Kanpur. Mathura is the one to watch. The district site lists it among Kanpur Central's regular destinations, but Agra is IIT Kanpur zone and Mathura is IIT Delhi zone.
Madhya Pradesh has a similar split. Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar and Satna are with Kanpur; Indore and Ujjain are in the IIT Delhi zone. Bihar, including Patna, is in the IIT Guwahati zone.
If you are working in NOIDA or Gurugram and cannot get leave in February, you will have to drop Kanpur and build a list inside one of those zones instead. The Delhi page covers that case.
The zone office is in Kanpur
Exam-city questions for the zone go to IIT Kanpur. As listed on the official page:
- IIT Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016: gate@iitk.ac.in, 0512-2596962, 0512-2596963
Write from the email ID you registered with and quote your enrolment ID. For the application portal and anything about the papers, the organising institute is IIT Madras (helpdesk@gate.iitm.ac.in, 044-22578200).
A local office does not mean walking in. Email is the record GATE can act on, so use it even if you live near the campus at Kalyanpur.
From January to exam morning
The city allotment notification is due on 4 January 2027. The admit card date is still TBA on the important dates page; it will carry your centre and reporting time.
The district site lists several railway stations (Kanpur Central, Panki, Anwarganj and Kalianpur) and bus depots including Jhakarkatti, Vikash Nagar, Chunniganj and Fazalganj. If you are coming in from another town, check which of these is nearest your centre once the admit card is out, rather than assuming Central. If you live in the city, do a trial run on a weekend morning, since every GATE 2027 session falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
Taking DA and CS together? That combination is allowed, and GATE says the centre for the second paper may differ from the first but will be in the same city.
Carry the printed admit card and the original photo ID you gave in the form, plus whatever else the admit card lists. Results are due on 19 March 2027.
Institutes nearby, and preparing from Kanpur
IIT Kanpur is in the city, and its GATEiit page explains its GATE routes for DA and CSE candidates. Elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, MNNIT Allahabad and IIIT Allahabad in Prayagraj also have pages. Your exam city plays no part in admission to any of them.
GATEiit is online only, with no centre or office in Kanpur, and the material is free. Begin with GATE DA or GATE CSE for the syllabus and the WhatsApp group link. Then use /pyq for past papers by year, /practice for topic-wise questions, and the GATE DA 2027 guide or GATE CSE 2027 guide for a plan. More is on /guides, and the GATE 2027 page and exam-city overview cover national dates and other cities, including Lucknow and Prayagraj.
Institutes near Kanpur that admit through GATE
Frequently asked questions
Which GATE 2027 zone is Kanpur in?
The IIT Kanpur zone. The zone office is IIT Kanpur: gate@iitk.ac.in, 0512-2596962 or 0512-2596963.
Can I choose Kanpur and NOIDA together?
No. NOIDA is in the IIT Roorkee zone with Ghaziabad, Meerut, Moradabad and Muzaffarnagar, and all six choices must be from one zone.
Is Agra in the same zone as Kanpur? What about Mathura?
Agra is, so it can go with Kanpur. Mathura is in the IIT Delhi zone and cannot.
Can I add Gwalior or Bhopal after Kanpur?
Yes. Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sagar and Satna are all IIT Kanpur zone. Indore and Ujjain are IIT Delhi zone, so they cannot be added.
Will I definitely get a centre in Kanpur if I put it first?
Not guaranteed. GATE can allot a city outside your six options. The allotment notification is due on 4 January 2027.
Can I visit the IIT Kanpur GATE office to change my exam city?
Email gate@iitk.ac.in from your registered address with your enrolment ID. The application data correction window is listed as TBA, so check the official dates page.
Does writing GATE in Kanpur help with admission to IIT Kanpur?
No. Admission depends on your GATE score and the institute's own process, not the city you wrote in.
If I take both DA and CS, could I be sent to two cities?
No. GATE says the second paper's centre may differ but will be in the same city as the first.
Sources
Checked on against these official pages. Admission rules and exam cities can change, so confirm on the official site before you act.