JoSAA 2026 Total Seats – Complete Seat Matrix

JoSAA 2026 is the largest centralised engineering admission system in the world, covering 138 premier institutions with 67,323 total seats — a record high. The system includes 23 IITs plus IISc Bangalore (joining for the first time), 31 NITs, IIEST Shibpur, 26 IIITs, and 56 GFTIs. Understanding the seat distribution helps candidates set realistic expectations and plan their choice filling strategy.

Key insight: With roughly 12 lakh JEE Main 2026 candidates and 67,323 JoSAA seats, a little over 5% of JEE Main candidates can get a JoSAA seat. The top ~67,000 CRL ranks typically have access to some form of JoSAA seat. Beyond that, CSAB, state counsellings, and private institutes become the primary options.

Rough rank-to-seat mapping for JoSAA 2026: Ranks 1–19,000 (CRL) can access IIT/IISc seats. Ranks 1–25,000 can access NIT seats at competitive branches. Ranks up to 50,000 can access some NIT branch (Civil, Mining, etc.) in less competitive categories. Ranks up to 90,000+ can access GFTI seats. The actual distribution varies by category — SC/ST candidates have higher rank numbers for the same quality seats.

CSAB 2026 added 2 more special rounds after JoSAA (registration ran July 28–Aug 3, 2026; the SR1 result was declared Aug 6 and the SR2 result was declared Aug 12, completing both special rounds), making additional seats available. Total JoSAA + CSAB accessible seats for CRL rank 1–1,00,000 is approximately 60,000–70,000 seats. Candidates above rank 1,00,000 should primarily focus on state counsellings, JAC Delhi, and private institutes.