If you want to study mechanical engineering, I would recommend NIT Surat without a doubt. NIT Surat specializes in mechanical engineering. Let me share some details I got to know about while researching.

• It is the most organized and well-established department here.
• You could tell the difference between the faculties of the mechanical department and the others.
• The majority of the faculty are PhDs from prestigious IITs and well experienced in their particular fields.
• Furthermore, there are numerous mechanical clubs that are well established.
• So, in addition to excellent classroom teaching, you would gain hands-on experience on practical projects.

So, if you are truly interested in mechanical engineering, I would recommend that you should not hesitate to apply to NIT Surat.

NIT Calicut and NIT Rourkela both are reputed institutes. They offer quality education to students across the country. But in terms of NIRF running, NIT Rourkela stands ahead of NIT Calicut. In the 2020 ranking, NIT Rourkela was placed at 16 for B.Tech while NIT Calicut was ranked 23 by NIRF. 

NIT Rourkela offers various courses in UG and PG. All the departments of the institute both old and new, have good placement records. In the past students also received foreign internships from countries like Canada, Germany, etc. In the placement drive of 2021, the average CTC offered to the students was 9.36 LPA.

Besides a good academic environment, NIT Rourkela has a vibrant club culture. There are over 50 clubs on campus. 

If you are financially stable, then you should prefer BTS Goa. NIT C has gotten worse in the following years. 

In NIT C, the students of some branches are getting back and the percentage of those back students are almost 50%. The environment of NIT C is hard to sustain and after being a Govt. Deemed University the faculty and students do whatever they feel like. Like one of the professors was given a warning after he was found guilty because of sexual harassment. 

NIT is known nationwide for the quality of students. It's not the Institute that makes a good student, it's rather the students that make an Institute good. The same is the case with NITs. If you want to join NIT, choose NIT Surathkal.

So, BITS is also a better option as compared to NIT Calicut which is as prestigious as IITs. One of the locations of BITS is Goa, which is indeed a dream destination for engineers. You will enjoy studying there. 

NIT Calicut has the cons mentioned above but not all the faculties are the same. Some of them are highly educated and decent.

In the Engineering category, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut is ranked 28th by NIRF in 2019 whereas, in The World University Rankings 2020, the institute has been ranked at the band of 401-500 for the Engineering and Technology category. ICT Mumbai has been ranked 7th among all the Indian universities by The World University Rankings 2020.

Department:

NIT Calicut:

The institute offers graduate, postgraduate, and doctorate programs in chemical engineering. The admission to BTech and MTech in Chemical Engineering is through JEE Mains and GATE.

• In addition to the curricular activities, the department conducts continuing education programs for academic faculty and engineering professionals, job-oriented short-term training programs, and faculty development programs.

• The department is facilitated with laboratories designed for undergraduate, graduate, and research students.

• The research group and specialization include Microfluidics, Biosorption, WasteWater Treatment, Biofuels, Polymer Technology, and many more.

ICT Mumbai:

Consecutively for 3 years, the department is ranked 1 in the country by The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and AICTE survey. For admission to BTech and MTech, the institute accepts JEE mains and GATE scores.

• The major thrust of research areas includes Green Technology, Development of Novel Reactors, Reactions and Separation Processes, Adsorptive and Chromatographic Separations, Advanced Separation Techniques, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Industrial Crystallization and Filtration, etc.

• The department is highly equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities.

Placement:

NIT Calicut:

• The placement cell at the institute offers dream opportunities to the students across renowned and reputed organizations and companies.

• The placement rate for BTech Chemical Engineering in the academic year 2019-2020 was 83.33%.

• The highest CTC offered was INR 30 LPA and the average CTC of INR 8.01 LPA was offered.

ICT Mumbai:

• The institute holds a placement percentage of 90%.

• The highest package offered was INR 18 LPA while the average package was INR 5 LPA.

• Top recruiters include TATA motors, Honeywell, Jacobs, Nerolac, BPCL, etc.

Facilities:

NIT Calicut:

On-campus, the institute offers numerous facilities and provisions for its students. This includes healthcare facilities, sports ground, and courts, hostels with necessary facilities, transport provisions, well-stocked library.

ICT Mumbai:

A wide range of facilities is provided by the institute that includes a library, sports complex, laboratories, hostels, wi-fi campus, gym.

Both the institutes have gained a good reputation owing to their high standards of education and qualified faculty. Moreover, scholarships are also offered by the institutes as financial assistance to the students.

A friend of mine used to be a student of NIT Bhopal and I can give you some insights based on his experiences.

• Faculty: In terms of faculty, the less you expect from them the better. You will be entirely left to fend for yourselves. Even if the labs are more or less okay, you will have to approach a faculty for making use of the facilities and learn on your own.
• Attendance: It is not mandatory for the students to maintain a certain percentage of attendance. Having an attendance of 40-50% would be enough. A lot of the students who were in my friend’s batch completed the program through PDF files.
• Labs: If you are not smart enough to learn on your own then the labs will not be of much help to you. The scenario is changing now however and the students are being forced to go to the labs. 
• Projects: If you are passionate about development then it will probably get a huge blow as researches oriented programs are only accepted at NIT Bhopal. The institute wants to publish more and more of its research papers in its name for career development. If you do not submit your research paper at the end of your project, your grades will be negatively affected.
• Placements: Speaking about the placements, it’s good for CSE. All the cons of the institute do not take a toll on the impressive placement record of NIT Bhopal.
• Coding culture: The competitive programming at NIT Bhopal will bring you in contact with some of the best coders of the institute. The atmosphere also promotes healthy competition.

Apart from all these pros and cons, you will get ample time to prepare for competitive exams like CAT, UPSC, GMAT, GRE, etc.

One of my friends is studying in the NIT Calicut Electronics department so I can give you insight into what opportunities lie in the Electronics branch.

• If your college is at the same level as NITs, then pursuing Electronics from NIT Calicut would not be the right choice.
• Doing the PG program from NIT Calicut will not be a good idea.
• Even for Electronics Engineering UG students, it is difficult to get decent-paying jobs unless they join IT.
• For PG students getting decent CTC, placement is also difficult.
• Several students prepare for GATE and other exams to get good job opportunities.

Therefore, if you want to make your career in Electronics then choose good IITs. As Electronics is a vast field, you can try to focus on the specialization that will be useful in your career.

Mechanical/Electrical Engineering is superior to Production Engineering because Mechanical engineers can apply for jobs in the field of Production, whereas Production engineers cannot apply for core Mechanical jobs.

So, instead of selecting Production, I will recommend Mechanical /Electrical at NIT Durgapur in this case. 

Here is a brief outline of NIT Durgapur. 

Choose between Mechanical and Electrical based on your interests.

After doing some research on the internet, I finally came to a conclusion that NIT Calicut is considered among the top 5 NITs and IIIT Allahabad is the best IIITs, that is IIITH and IIITB. Let me mention some facts that you should know about.

• If you are interested in pursuing IT-related branches, then IIIT Allahabad will be a good choice. They even offer an advanced curriculum.
• At NIT Calicut you will get non-circuit branches also like Civil, Mechanical Engineering, etc.
• NIT Calicut and IIIT Allahabad are Tier 3 and Tier 4 institutes respectively.

According to the reviews online, I got to know that both are equally good institutes. You can opt to study in any of the institutes, as they are both prestigious and reputed institutes.

One of my friends had studied at NIT Calicut and here are some facts he shared about the college. These might answer your question.

• The students of M.Tech at NIT Calicut are provided with double sharing rooms in the mega hostels and MBA hostels. 
• The hostel rooms are allotted on the basis of first come first serve. 
• The hostel is well equipped with all the basic amenities.
• You will not be provided with an internet connection and have to arrange it yourselves.
• The mega hostel is not very far from the campus however the MBA hostel is quite far from the main campus. 
• However, the institute has arranged transportation facilities for the students for travelling from hostel to campus every 30 minutes.

It would be recommended to talk to the current student of this college, as they can give you a better picture of the current scenario.