JEE Main 2026 Cutoff: Category-Wise Qualifying Percentile and JoSAA Closing Ranks

NTA declared the JEE Main 2026 qualifying cutoff on 20 April 2026, alongside the Session 2 result. A total of 2,50,182 candidates qualified for JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility. That is out of 15,38,468 unique candidates who appeared across both sessions.

What is the JEE Main 2026 cutoff, in one line?

The JEE Main 2026 qualifying cutoff is 93.4123549 percentile for General category. It is lower for every reserved category. This is the minimum NTA percentile needed to sit for JEE Advanced 2026. It is not the cutoff for admission to a specific NIT or IIIT, which depends on your JoSAA rank instead.

The qualifying cutoff decides who is eligible to sit for JEE Advanced. It is not a rank. It is not the score you need for a specific college.

What is the exact JEE Main 2026 qualifying percentile by category?

NTA publishes only the UR-PwD percentile separately. It has not published separate percentiles for OBC-PwD, EWS-PwD, SC-PwD and ST-PwD. These categories get only a qualified-candidate count, not a percentile line, in the sources checked for this page.

Why is the cutoff a percentile and not a mark or a rank?

JEE Main runs across multiple shifts, on different days, with different question sets. NTA cannot compare raw marks across shifts fairly, since one shift's paper can be harder than another's. It converts each candidate's raw score into a percentile within their own shift, calculated to seven decimal places, before every shift is merged into one all-India merit list.

Your category decides which cutoff line applies to you. This follows the same central reservation structure used across most centrally funded institutes.

How much does the cutoff drop from General to the lowest reserved category?

The General category cutoff is 93.4123549 percentile. It drops to 52.0174712 percentile for ST candidates, a gap of about 41 percentile points. OBC-NCL and EWS sit closer to General, at 80.9232583 and 82.4164528 percentile.

Does a lower category cutoff mean fewer questions to attempt?

No. Every candidate, in every category, attempts the same JEE Main paper. The category only changes the percentile line used to decide JEE Advanced eligibility. Separately, it also decides your reservation percentage during JoSAA seat allocation: 10% EWS, 27% OBC-NCL, 15% SC and 7.5% ST. A 5% horizontal PwD reservation applies within each of these.

JEE Main does not have a separate cutoff for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Unlike most single-sitting exams, it gives you two sessions, and only your better session counts.

Does the Session 1 or Session 2 cutoff apply to me?

Neither session has its own cutoff. NTA takes your best NTA score across Session 1 (January 2026) and Session 2 (April 2026). It checks that best score against the single qualifying percentile shown above. A candidate who appeared in both sessions is judged on whichever attempt scored higher.

How many candidates appeared in each session?

Session 1 had 13,04,653 candidates appear, out of 13,55,293 registered. Session 2 had 10,34,330 appear, out of 11,10,904 registered. Counting unique candidates across both sessions, 15,38,468 appeared in JEE Main 2026.

A percentile tells you your position relative to everyone in your shift. It does not tell you your raw marks out of 300. The two move differently year to year.

Why does a similar rank need a different score in different years?

The number of candidates and the paper's difficulty both change every year. A 93.41 percentile in 2026 needed a specific raw score in that year's shifts. The same percentile in 2023 needed a different score, because 2023 had a smaller and differently distributed candidate pool. Compare percentiles across years, not raw marks.

What does a 93.41 percentile actually mean?

It means you scored higher than roughly 93.41% of candidates in your shift. It does not mean you answered 93% of questions correctly. JEE Main's negative marking is strict. A 93-plus percentile is often reached with well under half the total marks.

The qualifying cutoff above decides JEE Advanced eligibility only. Your actual NIT, IIIT or GFTI seat is decided separately, through JoSAA. That depends on your JEE Main rank against the JoSAA closing rank for your chosen institute, branch and category.

What closing rank did top NITs need for Computer Science in 2026?

JoSAA 2026 ran five rounds. The Round 5 allotment, the last round, was announced on 16 July 2026. After that, NIT+ candidates paid the partial admission fee until 25 July 2026, and physical reporting was scheduled for 13 to 18 August 2026. Leftover seats moved to CSAB's special rounds.

The table below gives the 2026 Round 5 closing rank for B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering at five top NITs. The figures come from JoSAA's official 2026 opening and closing rank page. They are for the Open category, Other State quota, gender-neutral seats.

How has the Computer Science closing rank moved at top NITs in 2026?

Four of the five NITs closed at a higher rank number in 2026 than in 2025. This means their Computer Science seats went to candidates with slightly lower ranks than last year. NIT Tiruchirappalli went the other way and closed at a lower rank number.

For the earlier years, here are the final-round closing ranks:

Figures for 2023 to 2025 are the final-round closing rank. The 2026 figure is the Round 5 closing rank, which is the last JoSAA round. All figures are for Computer Science and Engineering, Open category, Other State quota, gender-neutral seats.

How many seats does JoSAA allocate every year?

JoSAA 2026 allocated 67,323 seats across IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs combined. That is about 4,470 more than the previous cycle. Of this, roughly 48,372 seats sit in NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. A JEE Main rank alone gets you into these, without needing JEE Advanced.

Comparing the qualifying percentile across years shows how competitive each cycle was. The number of candidates and the paper both changed year to year, so read the trend, not a single number.

How has the General category cutoff moved over the last five years?

The General category cutoff has stayed close to 93 percentile for three straight years, from 2024 to 2026. Before that, it jumped from 88.41 in 2022 to 90.78 in 2023. EWS's 2022 percentile was not separately published in the sources checked for this page.