Every year 15-20 per cent of M.Tech seats across Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) go vacant, reveals the response to a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by engineering graduate N B Mishra. In 2018, out of the 301 students who got admission across MTech courses in  IIT-Delhi, 74 students dropped out leaving 24.58 per cent of the seats vacant. At the IITs in Mumbai and Madras, the number of seats left vacant were 45.01 per cent and 19.25 per cent, respectively. The seven old IITs alone had 280 vacant seats across MTech courses in 2017, though a fall from the highs of 669 in 2015 and 639 in 2016, showed data provided under the RTI.  The data also highlights the number of students completing the course and being conferred degrees is even lower. IIT-Delhi, unlike others, has provided data of graduating students and admitted students only and the number of dropouts is expected to be a few digits lower for the institute.