State universities are public universities run by the State Government of each of thestates and territories of India, and are usually established by a local legislative assembly act. TheUniversity Grants Commission (UGC), draws its power from theUniversity Grants Commission Act, 1956.^[1] In addition, 15 Professional Councils are established, controlling different aspects of accreditation and coordination.^[2] The UGC publishes and regularly updates the lists of state universities.^[3] As of 16 November 2022^[update], the UGC lists 459 active state universities.^{[4][note 1]} The oldest establishment date listed by the UGC is 1857, shared by theUniversity of Calcutta, theUniversity of Madras and theUniversity of Mumbai.

Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act of 1956 also grants the UGC the right to "allocate and disburse, out of the Fund of the Commission, grants to Universities..."^[1] As such, the UGC categorizes state universities as either "declared fit to receive Central/UGC assistance under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act–1956", or not, and notes this status at the lists published. Updates to these declarations are done in meetings of the UGC and published in the minutes.^[6] The latest list, published by the UGC on 26 September 2022^[update], lists 267 universities as fit to receive Central/UGC assistance.^[7]

Other types of universities controlled by the UGC include:

• Central universities, or Union universities are established by Act of Parliament and are under the purview of theDepartment of Higher Education in theUnion Human Resource Development Ministry.^[8]
• Deemed university, or "Deemed-to-be-University", is a status of autonomy granted by the Department of Higher Education on the advice of the UGC, under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956.^[9][10]
• Private universities are approved by the UGC. They can grant degrees but they are not allowed to have off-campus affiliated colleges.^[11][12]

Apart from the above universities, other institutions are granted the permission to autonomously award degrees. These institutes do not affiliate colleges and are not officially called "universities" but "autonomous organizations" or "autonomous institutes". They fall under the administrative control of the Department of Higher Education.^[13] These organizations include theIndian Institutes of Technology, theNational Institutes of Technology, theIndian Institutes of Science Education and Research, theIndian Institutes of Management (though these award diplomas, not degrees)^[14] and other autonomous institutes.

Of theState of India there are state universities in all states exceptMizoram andNagaland. The state with the most state universities in India isWest Bengal with 38 universities. Of theunion territories, there are state universities inChandigarh,Delhi,Jammu and Kashmir,Ladakh andPuducherry.

This sectionis missing information about missing universities. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(July 2019)

In the list below, the term "Section 12 (B)?" refers to being "declared fit to receive Central/UGC assistance under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act–1956". The year of establishment is the year stated by the UGC.^[4] Cases where this year is different than the year stated by the university are noted. Differences in title are also noted, except minortypographical errors and "University of X"/"X University" differences.

There are 28 state universities inAndhra Pradesh.

There is one state university inArunachal Pradesh namelyArunachal Pradesh University (APU) established in 2022 at Pasighat,East Siang District.

There are 24 state universities inAssam.

There are 21 state universities inBihar.

There is one state university inChandigarh.

There are 16 state universities inChhattisgarh.

There are eleven state universities inDelhi.

There is one state university inGoa.

There are 30 state universities inGujarat.

There are 21 state universities inHaryana.

There are seven state universities inHimachal Pradesh.

There are nine state universities inJammu and Kashmir.

There are 14 state universities inJharkhand.

There are 43 state universities inKarnataka.

There are 15 state universities inKerala.

There are 1 state universities inLadakh.

There are 27 state universities inMadhya Pradesh.

There are 30 state universities inMaharashtra.

There are three state university inManipur.

There are two state university inMeghalaya.

There are 26 state universities inOdisha.

There is one state universities inPuducherry, thePuducherry Technological University.

There are 14 state universities inPunjab.

There are 30 state universities inRajasthan.

There are two state universities inSikkim

There are 22 state universities inTamil Nadu.

There are 19 state universities inTelangana.

There are 2 state universities inTripura.

There are 42 state universities inUttar Pradesh.^{[note 1]}

There are 11 state universities inUttarakhand.

There are 38 state universities inWest Bengal.