India has seen its first-ever decline in undergraduate student enrolments, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) — the Indian government's primary official tracker of higher education statistics — released earlier this month after a significant delay. The number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses, which make up over 75% of all higher education enrolments, fell by roughly 93,000 (0.27%) in 2023–24 compared to the previous year, with the sharpest drops concentrated in West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh; the decline affected male students exclusively at the national level, while female enrolment rose by 1.8%. The trend is particularly significant because it occurred despite growth in the youth population and an increase in the number of higher education institutions, and neither the Ministry of Education nor the AISHE report itself has offered an explanation for the fall.