As many as 56,880 candidates, including 10,107 women, have cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) or JEE (Advanced) 2026, with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee announcing the results on Monday. The number of women qualifying is the highest ever for JEE (Advanced), compared to 9,404 last year. The qualification rate was 24.92% among 40,562 female candidates who took the test.
With 23 IITs offering 18,951 BTech seats, only one in three eligible candidates will eventually gain admission through the counseling process offered by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA).
The number of successful candidates rose by 4.6% from 54,378 in 2025 to 56,880 this year, even as the number of aspirants sitting the exam increased with the minimum qualifying marks rising in all categories. As many as 179,694 candidates appeared in 2026 compared to 180,422 in 2025.
This year, 92 was the minimum aggregate marks required to qualify for general category, 82 for Other Backward Classes (non-creamy layer) and economically weaker section, and 46 for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. In 2025, the corresponding cutoffs are 76, 66, and 37.
Shubham Kumar (IIT Delhi District) emerged as the highest ranked candidate in the Combined Rank List (CRL), securing 330 out of 360 marks. CRL is a comprehensive merit list prepared based on total scores, regardless of category.
Arohi Deshpande (IIT Delhi Zone) was the highest ranked candidate with an All India rank of 16, scoring 280 marks.
All eligible candidates are encouraged to participate in the counseling and seat allotment process in JoSAA 2026, irrespective of their Class 12 (or equivalent) marks, IIT Roorkee Director and Joint Admission Board Chairman Kamal Kishore Pant said. “…However, final admission shall remain subject to fulfillment of eligibility requirements relating to percentage and other applicable conditions stipulated in the JEE (Advanced) 2026 Information Booklet,” Pant said in a statement.
Under the eligibility rules for JoSAA counselling, candidates seeking admission in IITs must either secure at least 75% aggregate marks in Class 12 (65% for SC, ST and PWD candidates) or be among the top 20 successful candidates in their respective school boards.
According to IIT Roorkee, 179,694 out of 187,389 registered candidates for JEE (Advanced) 2026 appeared on May 17 in around 221 cities in India. Among the seven IIT regions, IIT Madras region has the highest number of qualified candidates (14,294) and IIT Guwahati region has the lowest (2,883). Of the top 10 CRL candidates, five belong to IIT Delhi, three to IIT Madras, and two to IIT Bombay regions.
The 23 IITs are administratively grouped into seven regions, each coordinated by a particular IIT, to conduct JEE (Advanced) and manage related admissions across the country.
