GATE 2027 in Port Blair: The Islands' Only Exam City and the IISc Zone

Scroll to the top of the IISc block on the official GATE 2027 exam-city page and the first state listed is Andaman and Nicobar, with a single entry: Port Blair. No other town in the territory has an entry. Whichever island you live on, Port Blair is the only place in the territory where you can ask to write GATE.

The town has a new name. The Government of India announced on 13 September 2024 that Port Blair would be renamed "Sri Vijaya Puram". The GATE 2027 list still prints "Port Blair", and that is the name to look for on the form and in any allotment message. Treat the two names as the same town.

The general rules apply here too:

• You choose six cities, all from one zone.
• The list is tentative. GATE may add or remove a city, and may allot one that is not among your six.
• GATE 2027 is held only in India.

The city name tells you the town, not the centre. The centre's address comes only on the admit card.

This is the part that catches island students out. The South Andaman district's travel page lists passenger ships to Port Blair from Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, and flights linking Port Blair with Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi and Bhubaneswar. Not one of those cities is in the IISc zone.

City	Zone	Can it sit with Port Blair?
Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South	IISc	Yes
Hyderabad, Mysuru, Mangaluru	IISc	Yes
Chennai North, Chennai South	IIT Madras	No
Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar	IIT Kharagpur	No
New Delhi	IIT Delhi	No

So a form with Port Blair and Chennai South breaks the same-zone rule, however natural the pairing feels. Lakshadweep, the other island territory, is in the IIT Madras zone, which shows the zones are not drawn by geography.

If you are studying on the mainland, say in Chennai or Kolkata, and will stay there for February, the cleaner choice may be a full list in that city's zone with Port Blair left off. The Chennai page and the Kolkata page cover those zones.

If you will be in the islands in February, Port Blair goes first. The other five only matter if GATE cannot seat you in Port Blair, so pick IISc-zone cities you could actually get to:

1. Port Blair
2. Bengaluru North
3. Bengaluru South
4. Hyderabad
5. Mysuru
6. Mangaluru

Tumakuru or Kolar could replace Mysuru or Mangaluru if you have family near Bengaluru. The Bengaluru page explains its two entries, and the Hyderabad page covers that city.

Registration has closed, so if you have applied, your six cities are already on the form. The important dates page lists the paid data-correction window as TBA.

Port Blair exam-city questions go to the IISc zone office, listed as IISc, Bengaluru-560 012: helpdesk.gate@iisc.ac.in, 080-22932644, 080-22932392 or 080-22933333. Application and portal problems go to IIT Madras, the organising institute: helpdesk@gate.iitm.ac.in or 044-22578200. Write from your registered email ID and quote your enrolment ID.

If your application was flagged with a scrutiny defect, the dates page now shows the no-fee rectification closing on 30 November 2026; the earlier 31 October and 3 November deadlines were extended. The city allotment notification is due on 4 January 2027, the admit card date is TBA, and results are due on 19 March 2027. Every date is marked liable to change.

Writing both DA and CS? The two-paper page says the second paper may be at a different centre, though in the same city.

For anyone outside South Andaman, the exam starts with a boat or a helicopter. Plan it as soon as the allotment notification arrives on 4 January rather than waiting for the admit card.

The South Andaman travel page says the Directorate of Shipping Services runs inter-island ferries from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair to the populated islands. Sailing schedules are published in The Daily Telegrams and Dweep Samachar, announced on All India Radio and Doordarshan, and posted online, with tickets at the STARS counters at Phoenix Bay Jetty. The same page lists daily helicopter services from Port Blair to places including Neil, Havelock, Diglipur and Hut Bay.

From the Nicobars it is a longer trip. The Nicobar district's travel page puts Car Nicobar about 250 km from Port Blair, with a ship normally twice a week (tickets from the Director, Shipping Services, 03192-245555) and Pawan Hans helicopters booked through the Director, Civil Aviation (03192-230480).

With sailings that far apart, aim to reach Port Blair a day or two before your paper, find the centre, and keep the printed admit card, the original photo ID from your application and anything else the admit card asks for in one bag. If GATE allots you a mainland city instead, the district's figures put Chennai about 1,190 km and Kolkata about 1,255 km away by sea, and the travel page gives 50 to 60 hours for the voyage in fair weather, so check flights before anything else.

None of the institutes covered on GATEiit is on the islands, so every option means moving to the mainland. Each page explains that institute's GATE routes for DA and CSE:

• IISc Bengaluru, which also runs our exam zone
• IIIT Bangalore, Bengaluru
• IIT Hyderabad, near Hyderabad
• IIT Madras, Chennai, the organising institute for GATE 2027
• IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal

The zone you write in has no bearing on admission, so writing in Port Blair does not limit where you can apply. The full list is at /institutes.

GATEiit is a free website. It has no centre, office or classroom in Port Blair or anywhere else, and everything below works online.

Go to your paper page first: 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, the closest thing to a study group if few people around you are writing GATE. Solve past papers on /pyq, practise topics on /practice, and follow the GATE DA 2027 guide or the GATE CSE 2027 guide. More guides are at /guides.

The GATE 2027 page has the full timeline, and /gate-2027/cities links every city page.