The National Testing Agency (NTA) has opened registration for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2026, a crucial gateway for admission to India’s premier engineering institutes. The exam’s first session will run from January 21 to 30 , with the second session from April 2 to 9 . Students can register on the official website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. To accommodate more candidates, the NTA has expanded the number of test cities from 284 to 323 for this year’s examination cycles.
Alongside the registration announcement, details emerged regarding cut-offs for top engineering programs at IIT Delhi. A closing rank indicates the lowest rank at which a student secured admission to a particular program in the open category, reflecting its competitiveness. According to JoSAA 2025 cut-offs, IIT Delhi’s Electrical Engineering (EE) program saw its closing rank rise by 20 points to 605 for open category gender-neutral candidates, compared to last year’s 625. The BTech Computer Science Engineering (CSE) closing rank for open category gender-neutral candidates was 126. Both CSE and EE remained top-opted courses at IIT Delhi, underscoring their high demand among applicants.
IIT Delhi Seat Distribution
IIT Delhi allocated 79 seats for the 4-year BTech CSE program, with 20 seats reserved for female candidates. The 5-year BTech CSE program offered 29 seats in total, reserving 8 for female candidates. For the Electrical Engineering program, 88 seats were available under the gender-neutral category, and 22 seats were for female candidates.
Student Course Preferences
The IIT Kanpur’s Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) Report 2025 indicated that Computer Science Engineering (CSE) was the most opted course, chosen by 27,697 students. Electrical Engineering (EE) followed as the second choice, with 23,503 candidates. BTech in Design was the least opted program, attracting 3,173 candidates.
IIT Bombay CSE Ranks
IIT Bombay’s Computer Science Engineering (CSE) closing rank dropped by two points, settling at 66. The institute offered 159 seats under the gender-neutral category and 39 supernumerary seats exclusively for female candidates.
IIT Delhi BTech Closing Ranks (Open Category)
| Courses | Gender Neutral Closing Rank | Female Only Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineering | 4302 | 9193 |
| Electrical Engineering | 605 | 2627 |
| Electrical Engineering (Power and Automation) | 823 | 2886 |
| Computer Science Engineering | 126 | 498 |
| Chemical Engineering | 2548 | 5968 |
| Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering | 4999 | 8927 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 1862 | 5178 |
| Mathematics and Computing | 323 | 1234 |
| BTech Design | 12217 | 23166 |
| Textile Technology | 5733 | 11158 |
| Engineering Physics | 2565 | 6755 |
| Production and Industrial Engineering | 3223 | 7617 |
| Chemical Engineering (5-year) | 3454 | 7561 |
| Mathematics and Computing (5-year) | 355 | 2258 |
Students planning to appear for JEE Main 2026 must complete their registration through the official NTA website, jeemain.nta.nic.in. Adhering to the specified timelines and understanding past year’s cut-off trends for desired institutes and courses are key steps in the admission process.