The national capital Delhi and neigbouring state of Uttar Pradesh play host to maximum number of fake universities. The University Grants Commission has published a list of fake universities in the country.

The UGC notification says that "students and public at large are informed that such 21 self-styled and unrecognized institutions, functioning under the contravention of the UGC Act are declared as fake, and are not entitled to confer any degrees further."

Of 21 listed by the UGC, eight fake universities are in Uttar Pradesh and six have their establishments in Delhi. As per the list Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal have one fake university each.

According to the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, only a university established by the Central/State/Provincial Act or an institution deemed to be university under Section 3 of the Act is called the university.

The fake universities list:

Maithili University, Darbhanga, Bihar; Varanseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Delhi; Commercial University Ltd, Delhi; United Nations University, Delhi; Vocational University, Delhi; ADR- Central Juridical University, Delhi; Indian Institution of Science and Engineering, Delhi; Badagnavi Sarkar World Open Educational Society, Belgaum, Karnataka; St. John's University, Kishanattam, Kerala; Kesarwani Vidyapith, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh; Raja Arabic University, Nagpur, Maharashtra; D D B Sanskrit University, Putur, Trichy, Tamil Nadu; Indian institute of Alternative Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal; Mahila Gram Vidyapith, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh; Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh; National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh; Netaki Subhash Chandra Bose University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh; Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Uttar Pradesh; Maharana Pratap Shiksha Niketan Vidyalaya, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh; Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Noida-Phase II, Uttar Pradesh and Gurukul Vishwavidyalaya, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.