Hello Shreya,

State universities are the universities that are owned by state. They are mainly for the students of that particular state, and have special state quota for the people of that particular state. Although other state people can also join these universities. These take admission through an entrance test held for admission to that univeristy only, with centres in that particular state only.

A central university is one, which is a national university. There is no state quota for students admitting to this university. However there is some caste and gender quota. These universities function at national level. The funds and other facilities are provided by government of India, and not any particular state.

In general the national universities are preffered over state universities, proably due to there better recognization.

Hope this helps