JEE Main Cutoff 2026: Category-Wise Qualifying Percentile, Rank vs College & NIT Cutoff

JEE Main 2026 Cutoff – Overview

Three Different “Cutoffs” People Talk About (Simple Explanation)

What is a Percentile? (Very Simple)

JEE Main 2026 Cutoff — Category-Wise Qualifying Percentile

Please Verify — Some Websites Show Different Numbers

• The General cutoff (93.4123549) is the same on every website we checked.
• For the other categories, the numbers in the table above are the ones reported by most of the education portals we checked.
• A few websites show different values for EWS, SC and ST. For example, one site lists EWS 81.32, SC 62.85 and ST 49.69, and another lists much lower numbers (SC 52.37, ST 43.08).
• We could not open the NTA result notice PDF directly while writing this article. Please check the final category-wise figures on jeemain.nta.nic.in before you quote them anywhere.

JEE Main Cutoff — Previous Years Comparison (Qualifying Percentile)

What Changed in 2026? (Easy Summary)

• The General cutoff rose slightly from 93.10 (2025) to 93.41 (2026), which is a gain of about 0.3 percentile. It is the highest in the last eight years shown above.
• The cutoff went up for every category compared to 2025. Roughly: EWS +2.0, OBC-NCL +1.5, SC +2.8 and ST +4.1 percentile points (using the table numbers above).
• The rise is biggest for SC and ST categories, which means more candidates from these categories scored well this year.
• Reports say OBC-NCL crossed the 80 percentile mark for the first time, and ST crossed 50.
• A higher cutoff generally means the competition became tougher, because the limit of 2.5 lakh candidates stays the same.

JEE Main Cutoff for NITs — Reference Closing Ranks (CSE, General, Other State Quota)

The qualifying cutoff above is only for JEE Advanced. For NIT admission, what matters is the closing rank in JoSAA counselling. JoSAA 2026 counselling for this year is already over, so these numbers are best used as a guide for future planning. Different websites report different figures, so the table shows ranges.

Home State vs Other State Quota (Why the Same NIT Has Two Cutoffs)

At NITs, 50% of seats are kept for students of the NIT’s own state (Home State, HS) and the rest are for students of other states (Other State, OS). Because of this, the same branch of the same NIT has two different closing ranks. Home State ranks are usually much more relaxed. For example, as per two sources, NIT Trichy CSE closed at about 1,317 to 1,450 for Other State candidates, while the Home State (Tamil Nadu) closing rank was around 4,200 to 4,500. So if you belong to the same state as the NIT, you have a better chance of getting in.

Rank vs College — Rough Guide for General Category (CSE)

Other Conditions for NIT Admission

• Besides your JEE Main rank, JoSAA also checks your Class 12 marks. As reported, you need at least 75% in Class 12 (65% for SC, ST and PwD candidates) for NITs. Please confirm the exact rule, including the alternative top-percentile condition, on josaa.nic.in
• You must register and fill choices in JoSAA counselling — qualifying JEE Main alone does not give a seat
• Category certificates (OBC-NCL, EWS, SC/ST) must be in the correct format and valid for the year

What Makes the JEE Main Cutoff Change Every Year?

• Difficulty of the paper: Percentile is calculated session-wise, but a generally easier paper pushes more candidates to high scores, which can raise the cutoff
• Number of candidates and how well they score: More strong candidates mean a higher cutoff to stay inside the top 2.5 lakh
• Category-wise limit: The 2.5 lakh seats for JEE Advanced are shared among categories, so each category gets its own cutoff
• Quality of preparation: Coaching and test-series access keep improving, so the average score has been rising

How to Check the Official JEE Main Cutoff

• Go to the official NTA JEE Main website — jeemain.nta.nic.in
• Open the latest announcements / public notices section
• Find the notice about the Session 2 result and the category-wise qualifying cutoff for JEE Advanced
• Open the PDF and check the percentile for your category
• For admission cutoffs (opening and closing ranks), visit josaa.nic.in and open the “Opening and Closing Ranks” section

Tips for JEE Main 2027 Aspirants Using This Cutoff Data

• Do not aim for the bare minimum cutoff. The General cutoff has been in the 93 to 94 range for three years, so a safe target is a few percentile points above it
• If your target is a top NIT CSE seat, remember that you need a percentile in the high 99s, because closing ranks are in the low thousands, not at the qualifying cutoff
• Use the previous-year table to set realistic targets for your own category — the reserved-category cutoffs have been moving up every year
• Take full-length mock tests and track your percentile, not just your marks
• Keep your Class 12 marks in mind too, since NIT admission needs a minimum Class 12 score
• Follow only the official NTA and JoSAA websites for dates and rules, since many third-party sites show different numbers

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