GATE 2027 in Vellore: IIT Madras Zone, Chittoor and the Kolar Trap

The official exam-city page lists "Vellore" once, under Tamil Nadu (spelt "Tamilnadu"), in the IIT Madras zone. It gives the city, not the centre. The centre address arrives with the admit card.

Older readers will remember a much larger Vellore district. According to the Ranipet district site, the Tamil Nadu government formed Ranipet and Tirupattur districts out of Vellore district in 2019. Vellore district now has two revenue divisions and six taluks, with Vellore town as its headquarters.

Neither Ranipet nor Tirupattur is an exam city. If you live in Ranipet or Tirupattur district, the GATE list gives you Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri as the Tamil Nadu names around you.

One spelling warning, because the two look alike on a long dropdown: Tirupattur (Tamil Nadu) is not on the list; Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) is. Tirupati happens to be in the same zone, so picking it is allowed, but pick it on purpose.

The list is tentative. GATE may add or remove a city, and may allot one outside your six. GATE 2027 is held only in India.

The Vellore district site describes the town as well connected by rail and bus to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. For GATE that reach is a trap as much as an advantage, because the official rule is that all six of your choices must come from the same zone.

Nearby exam city	State	Zone	Can share a form with Vellore?
Chittoor	Andhra Pradesh	IIT Madras	Yes
Tirupati	Andhra Pradesh	IIT Madras	Yes
Kolar	Karnataka	IISc	No
Bengaluru North / South	Karnataka	IISc	No

Andhra Pradesh is split. Chittoor, Tirupati and Nellore are IIT Madras zone, while Anantapur and Kurnool are IISc. Every Karnataka entry, including Chikkballapur, is IISc.

So if you work in Bengaluru and plan to write there, you need an all-IISc list, and Vellore comes off it. The Bengaluru page builds that list. If you are coming home for the exam weekend, stay with IIT Madras-zone cities.

Every name below is IIT Madras zone. Order them by how quickly you can reach each one on an exam morning, and by where you have family to stay the night before.

1. Vellore
2. Chittoor
3. Tiruvannamalai
4. Kanchipuram
5. Tirupati
6. Krishnagiri, or Chennai North or Chennai South if you will be in Chennai

Salem, Puducherry and Cuddalore are further same-zone options. The Chennai and Tirupati pages show the same area from their end.

If you study at a college in Chennai and will be in a hostel there in February, consider putting Chennai North and Chennai South first and Vellore lower. The rule only cares about the zone, not the order.

From the official important-dates page:

What	When
No-fee fix for scrutiny defects closes	30 November 2026 (Monday)
Paid data correction on request	TBA
City allotment notification	4 January 2027
Admit card	TBA
Exams	6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027
Result	19 March 2027

The scrutiny-defect deadline has been pushed twice, from 31 October and then 3 November. If your application shows a defect, use the remaining days. All dates are liable to change, the page says.

The allotment tells you the city. The admit card names the centre and the reporting time. A centre "in Vellore" can still be a fair ride from where you live, so trace the route as soon as the admit card is out. If you are allotted Tirupati, Kanchipuram or Chennai, go the evening before a forenoon paper.

If you register for both DA and CS, an allowed two-paper pair, the official page says the two centres may differ but will be in the same city. Carry the printed admit card, the original photo ID used in your application, and anything else the admit card lists.

Exam-city questions go to IIT Madras, which is your zone office and also this year's organising institute: helpdesk@gate.iitm.ac.in, 044-22578200. Quote your enrolment ID and write from your registered email.

None of the institutes with a GATEiit page is in Vellore. The closest ones:

• IIT Madras, in Chennai
• IIITDM Kancheepuram, in Chennai
• Anna University, in Chennai
• IIT Tirupati, in Tirupati

Further out, NIT Tiruchirappalli and IISc Bengaluru are worth a look too. Each institute page explains its GATE routes for DA and CSE candidates, and /institutes has the rest.

The city you write in has no bearing on where you can apply, so choose it only for the travel.

GATEiit is a free online site. It has no centre, office or classes in Vellore or anywhere else.

Pick your paper first: GATE DA for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, or GATE CSE for Computer Science and Information Technology. Each page carries the syllabus and the link to that paper's WhatsApp group.

From there, solve previous papers on /pyq and topic sets on /practice. Follow the GATE DA 2027 guide or the GATE CSE 2027 guide for a week-by-week plan, and use /guides for single topics. With about three months to go, a full mock every weekend, timed to your session, matters more than new material.

For the bigger picture, see GATE 2027 and the exam-city overview.