NTA was approved by Union cabinet in November 2017 as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions in India.

• It is registered as society under Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It mandates is to conduct entrance tests entrusted to it by any department or ministry and put in place a robust system for conducting of examinations.
• NTA will train paper setters to set better question papers and provide better model answers.

NTA was set up to relieve Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other educational regulator bodies from burden of conducting multiple examinations.