Kirori Mal College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi. Established in 1954, it is located in the heart of North Campus of the university in Delhi, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the sciences, humanities and commerce. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council accredited it with a CGPA of 3.54 (A++) in 2023, which is the third highest among all Delhi University colleges.
According to NIRF records, it had spent more than 300 Crores in 2021 for infrastructure development and salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff.
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History
The college began as Nirmala College and was located on Delhi Road. Faced with problems relating to the staff in the period following the partition, the management of the college changed hands and the trust founded by Seth Kirori Mal took over. It shifted to its present campus on 1 February 1954. The foundation stones of the college were laid down by the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad in the summer of 1955. The campus infrastructure was designed by the famous architect duo Anand Apte and CSH Jhabvala.
The first principal of the college was Ch. Hardwari Lal (1954–57). Kirori Mal College began its first full-fledged functioning from the academic session 1956–57. He was followed by Sarup Singh (1957–65) who later became the Professor-and-Head, Department of English, University of Delhi and then the Vice-Chancellor, DU, followed by becoming the Lt. Governor, Delhi and then the Governor of Gujarat.
Kirori Mal College was one of the few institutions of the University of Delhi selected for sports training during the Commonwealth Games in 2010 which led to new facilities being created in the form of a new building and a gymnasium to facilitate sports and other activities.
Rankings
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council accredited it with a CGPA of 3.54 (A++) in 2016, which is the third highest among all Delhi University colleges. The college was ranked 18th among colleges in India by the NIRF, Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2019 and 19th in 2020. Kirori Mal College was ranked 4th among colleges in India according to the latest NIRF rankings by Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2025.
Notable alumni
Kirori Mal College has a large alumni base. Notable members include:
Actors, directors and singers
KK - Playback Singer
Amitabh Bachchan - actor
Abhishek Banerjee - actor
Habib Faisal - Screenwriter and Director
Satish Kaushik - actor, director
Ravi Baswani - film actor
Siddharth - actor
Prashant Narayanan - actor
Sanam Puri - singer
Shakti Kapoor - actor and comedian
Vijay Raaz - film actor
Divyenndu - actor
Sushant Singh - film and television actor
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub - actor
Nakul Singh Sawhney - Documentary filmmaker
Ali Abbas Zafar - director
Vijay Krishna Acharya - screenwriter and director
Kabir Khan - director
Sargun Mehta - television actress
Sonam Sherpa musician Parikrama
Geetika Vidya Ohlyan - Actress
Madan Gopal Singh sufi singer composer Chaar Yaar
Sumangala Damodaran writer singer
Politicians
Naveen Patnaik; former Chief Minister of Odisha, second longest serving Chief Minister of any Indian state and the chief of Biju Janata Dal. He is a writer and has published 3 books.
Madan Lal Khurana; former Chief Minister of Delhi.
Rangarajan Kumaramangalam; politician.
Girija Prasad Koirala; former Prime Minister of Nepal.
Parvesh Verma; Cabinet Minister, Government of Delhi.
Others
K Moses Chalai, Secretary of Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Finance of India
Utpal Kumar Singh, 17th Secretary General of Lok Sabha
Padma Bandopadhyay - first woman Air Marshal of Indian Air Force
Habib Faisal - Hindi screenwriter and director
Aditya Ghosh - Businessman who worked in aviation and hospitality
Gaurav Bidhuri - boxer who won medal at World Championship
Yogesh Kathuniya - Paralympic Athlete - Discus throw
Vaibhav Singh Yadav - World Boxing Council(WBC) Asia & Asian Boxing Federation(ABF) Titles Champion
Mohan Singh Kohli - Indian mountaineer
Masoud Khalili - Afghan diplomat
M. S. Krishnan -Chair of Business Information Technology at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business
Abhay Kumar - poet, artist and diplomat
Sanjivan Lal - film maker
Harbans Mukhia - Indian historian
Saeed Naqvi - journalist
Parikrama - band
Raghuvendra Singh Rathore
Raj Shekhar -Indian lyricist
Notable faculty
Hiren Gohain
Krishna Kumar
Sarup Singh (ex-VC, University of Delhi and former Governor of Kerala and Gujarat )
Frank Thakurdas Iconic Theatre Figure
Keval Arora Eminent Theatre Person