Category-wise Cutoff 2026

In JEE Main, JEE Advanced, and the subsequent JoSAA/CSAB counselling process, "cutoff" does not mean a single number — it means a distinct qualifying threshold or closing rank calculated separately for each reservation category. This is because India's engineering admission system follows a constitutionally mandated reservation framework, reserving a defined percentage of seats for Other Backward Classes – Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL), Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), alongside horizontal reservation for Persons with Disability (PwD) that applies as a percentage within every vertical category rather than as a separate standalone pool.

Because each category draws from its own defined share of seats and its own pool of applicants, the rank or percentile required to qualify — or to be allotted a particular institute and branch — differs substantially by category. A General category candidate competes against the entire unreserved applicant pool for the largest seat share, so General cutoffs are numerically the lowest (most competitive) at the top institutes. Reserved categories, by contrast, have their cutoffs computed within their own smaller pool of eligible candidates and seats, which is why category cutoffs for the same institute and branch can differ by a wide margin — this is a feature of the reservation system's design, not an inconsistency or error in the data.

It's important to distinguish between the JEE Main qualifying cutoff (the percentile threshold that determines whether you're eligible to sit for JEE Advanced or appear in the merit list) and the JoSAA/CSAB opening-closing rank for a specific institute-branch-category combination (the rank range within which candidates were actually allotted seats during counselling). These are two different things measured at two different stages of the process, and mixing them up is a common source of confusion — always check which figure you're looking at (qualifying cutoff vs institute closing rank) before drawing conclusions about your own chances.

At NITs specifically, category-wise cutoffs are further split by home-state (HS) and other-state (OS) quota, since each NIT reserves a majority of seats for candidates domiciled in the state where it is located. This means a single institute-branch-category combination effectively has two closing ranks — one for home-state candidates in that category and a separate, generally more competitive one for other-state candidates in the same category. IITs and most IIITs/GFTIs do not apply this state-based split in the same way, making NIT cutoff tables somewhat more layered to read correctly.

When comparing category-wise cutoff data across institutes, always confirm whether you're looking at combined, home-state, or other-state figures, since conflating them can lead to a significantly wrong impression of your realistic chances. If you're unsure of your home-state eligibility for a specific NIT, this is generally determined by where you completed your Class 11 and 12 schooling, not simply your family's current address — check the specific year's JoSAA business rules for the exact eligibility definition before assuming your status.