The Joint Entrance Examination – Advanced (JEE–Advanced) qualifiers rose by nearly 5% this year, but the Bachelor of Technology (BTech) seats at 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) failed to keep pace, with only about one in three successful candidates eventually securing a seat at the premier institutes, according to the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report. IIT Roorkee, the organising institute for JEE-Advanced 2026, released the report on Saturday.
The CRL is the overall merit list prepared based on candidates’ total marks, irrespective of their category. As many as 56,880 candidates qualified, compared with 54,378 in 2025, an increase of 2,502 or 4.6%. The total IIT seat capacity rose from 18,160 last year to 18,826, a 3.7% increase. The final number of seats allotted increased from 18,188 to 18,861. The proportion of qualifiers securing IIT seats fell marginally to 33.16% from 33.45% last year. For the Common Rank List (CRL), the minimum aggregate rose to 92 marks or 25.56% of the total 360 marks, from 74 marks (20.56%) in 2025. For Other Backward Classes – Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) and General – Economically Weaker Section (GEN-EWS) candidates, it rose to 82 marks from 66. The Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) cut-off increased to 46 from 37.
The increase in the qualifying pool came even as the minimum aggregate qualifying marks were higher than last year.
He added ultimately, the question should not be whether India needs more CSE-allied graduates or more core engineers. “India needs a new generation of engineers for whom disciplinary depth and AI capability reinforce each other. That combination will be essential if we want India not merely to write the software for technologies developed elsewhere, but to conceive, engineer, manufacture and deploy the next generation of technologies ourselves.”
There was also the highest-ever female qualification rate in the recent six-year period. The hierarchy among IITs remains largely unchanged. Concentration is even stronger at higher ranks. Seventeen candidates chose AI and Data Analytics programmes, indicating newer technology-oriented options are attracting some top rankers but have not displaced CSE dominance. Experts cautioned against reading the qualifier-seat gap or concentration of top ranks as simple calls for faster physical expansion or signs of failure by newer campuses. “India certainly needs more high-quality seats. But expansion must be backed by faculty recruitment, laboratories, hostels, classrooms and student support. He added that the larger objective should be creating many more institutions students can choose with confidence rather than expecting IITs alone to meet national aspirations. Rao noted students also make considered choices for programmes and overall experience at places like BITS Pilani. Equally, introducing an AI or data science programme is not enough to change preferences…My emphasis would be on integrating AI across disciplines while retaining that depth, rather than relying on new programme names to attract students. IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty stressed that expansion cannot be viewed simply as adding seats without matching faculty, infrastructure and support systems. He advocated parallel growth via digital outreach networks to extend IIT-quality learning beyond residential campuses.
The number of SC candidates qualifying rose to 15,856 from 12,499 in 2025, taking the qualification rate from 40.4% to about 50.2-50.4%. Among ST candidates, 6,379 qualified against 5,008 last year, taking the rate from 34% to 42.1-42.3%. By contrast, the OBC-NCL qualifying rate declined marginally to 17.4-17.6% from 18.2%. The report recorded 12,385 OBC-NCL qualifiers, 15,883 General category candidates and 6,377 GEN-EWS candidates. The General category qualifying rate fell from 43% to 39.8%, while GEN-EWS was broadly stable at around 21%. Of the 43,112 women registered (down marginally from 43,413 last year), 40,562 appeared in both papers and 10,107 qualified, taking the rate to 23.4%, up from 21.7% in 2025. Women accounted for 3,814 of the 18,861 IIT seats allotted, or about 20.2%, broadly in line with the 20% supernumerary-seat mechanism. A total of 37 women secured seats through the gender-neutral pool, with the remainder admitted through female supernumerary seats. Of the top 5,000 JEE-Advanced rankers, 4,632 were allotted seats in the 23 IITs. IIT Bombay accounted for the largest share, 764, followed by IIT Delhi (587), IIT Kharagpur (482), IIT Madras (477) and IIT Kanpur (454). Together, the five institutes accounted for nearly 60% of the top-5,000 rankers who were allotted IIT seats. The pattern is similar to 2025, when the corresponding figure was about 59.5%. IIT Hyderabad’s share rose from 222 to 257, while IIT Kharagpur saw a sharper decline from 517 to 482 among top-5,000 allotments. Among the top 500 rankers, IIT Bombay received 183, IIT Delhi 115, IIT Madras 78, IIT Kanpur 49 and IIT Kharagpur 40 — together 465, or 93%. Several newer IITs had none from the top 500. Year-on-year, IIT Bombay stayed at 183, Delhi edged up from 114, Madras from 77, Kanpur from 40, while Kharagpur fell from 47; the five leading IITs’ share strengthened slightly from 461 last year. Among the top 100 who secured IIT seats, 68 went to IIT Bombay, 18 to IIT Delhi, 11 to IIT Madras and one to IIT Kanpur. Branch preferences show striking concentration in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE): 365 of the top 500 rankers — 73% — were allotted CSE programmes. IIT Bombay alone accounted for 142 of these. Only two of the top 500 chose Civil Engineering, while none opted for Aerospace Engineering.
“At BITS Pilani, we see many students choosing us over certain disciplines at older IITs and over second and third generation IITs… I would therefore not read the concentration of the highest ranks at older IITs as evidence that newer institutions have failed.
The JIC said the qualifying criteria were “relaxed” to ensure that at least twice the number of candidates as available seats qualified in each category. V Ramgopal Rao, vice chancellor of BITS Pilani and former IIT Delhi director, said qualifying JEE-Advanced is “not an entitlement to a seat” at IITs and that the pool has always been kept larger to accommodate counselling and choices. Too much growth, too soon, without commensurate investments puts pressure on both students and faculty,” he said. On preferences, he attributed older IITs’ pull partly to decades of academic strength and CSE’s appeal to “perceived career opportunities”. “The objective should not be the fastest possible expansion of seats, but the fastest possible expansion that does not dilute the quality of the IIT experience,” he said. On preferences, he pointed to history, alumni networks and peer perceptions, while urging a shift from “branch versus branch” thinking to “domain plus AI” so that core engineers fluent in AI become as critical as pure AI specialists for India’s technological future.
“Newer IITs and new academic programmes will progressively develop their own strengths and reputations.
Student preferences will evolve as their research ecosystems, faculty strengths, alumni networks and industry outcomes mature…” said Chakraborty.
