NIT cutoffs 2026: Other State seats closed a median 15% later by Round 5

In JoSAA 2026, almost every NIT program closed later in the last round than in the first. Across 286 B.Tech programs, the OPEN Other State (OS) seat closed later in Round 5 than in Round 1 in 284, stayed the same in 2 and closed earlier in none. The typical program moved 3,334 ranks, or 15.3%, later.

A later closing rank means the seat was easier to get. So a JEE Main rank that just missed a program in Round 1 often got it by Round 5.

How we compared

• Institutes: the 31 NITs and IIEST Shibpur, which our data groups with the NITs. All 32 have programs in this comparison.
• Seat pool: OPEN category, gender-neutral, Other State quota, B.Tech programs only. OPEN seats are ranked by the JEE Main Common Rank List (CRL), so every number here is a CRL.
• Rounds: JoSAA 2026 had five rounds. A program counts only if it had a closing rank in both Round 1 and Round 5. That gives 286 programs.
• Change: Round 5 closing rank minus Round 1 closing rank, and the same as a percentage of the Round 1 rank.

When the ranks moved

The movement came in two bursts. Of the total change across all 286 programs:

• Round 1 to 2: 50.6%. 281 programs closed later.
• Round 2 to 3: 8.7%. 155 programs closed later.
• Round 3 to 4: 3.9%. 146 programs closed later.
• Round 4 to 5: 36.9%. 282 programs closed later.

The middle rounds were quiet: the typical program moved fewer than 30 ranks from Round 2 to 3 and fewer than 10 from Round 3 to 4. The first and last rounds did the work, with typical moves of about 1,500 and 1,300 ranks.

The programs that moved most

By number of ranks:

Institute	Program	Round 1	Round 5	Change
NIT Jalandhar	Bio Technology	35,741	51,741	+16,000 (+44.8%)
NIT Arunachal Pradesh	Biosciences and Bioengineering	49,210	64,048	+14,838 (+30.2%)
NIT Mizoram	Mathematics and Computing	27,320	42,029	+14,709 (+53.8%)
NIT Agartala	Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering	47,378	61,482	+14,104 (+29.8%)
NIT Nagaland	Civil Engineering	52,001	64,955	+12,954 (+24.9%)
NIT Sikkim	Civil Engineering	49,257	61,708	+12,451 (+25.3%)
NIT Manipur	Computer Science and Engineering	31,407	43,239	+11,832 (+37.7%)

By percentage, Aerospace Engineering at NIT Delhi stands out. It closed at 5,912 in Round 1 and 10,838 in Round 2, and ended at 10,870 in Round 5, up 83.9%. Engineering Physics at NIT Rourkela (+35.6%), Bio Medical Engineering at NIT Rourkela (+33.1%) and Bio Technology at NIT Warangal (+31.9%) also moved by about a third.

At the other end, Engineering Physics at NIT Calicut (10,012) and Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at NIT Delhi (7,022) did not move at all. Computer Science at NIT Tiruchirappalli moved only 56 ranks, from 1,317 to 1,373.

By branch and by rank

Branch group	Programs	Median Round 1	Median Round 5	Median change
Computer Science and IT	66	10,980	13,034	+15.0%
Electronics and Communication	56	16,493	18,470	+14.0%
Mechanical and Production	43	28,313	32,242	+15.2%
Civil and Infrastructure	32	40,768	47,449	+18.3%
Chemical and Process	22	32,107	36,668	+15.6%
Electrical	22	21,414	24,483	+13.5%
Metallurgy and Materials	21	37,846	45,018	+14.2%
Biotechnology and Bio sciences	11	35,741	51,177	+25.8%

Biotechnology moved most as a group, and Civil next. Programs that closed later in Round 1 also tended to move more, in ranks and in percentage:

• Round 1 closing rank under 10,000: 46 programs, median move +721 ranks (+13.0%).
• 10,000 to 24,999: 110 programs, +2,364 (+14.1%).
• 25,000 to 49,999: 122 programs, +6,040 (+16.0%).
• 50,000 or later: 8 programs, +9,781 (+18.9%).

Home State seats moved less. Across 272 programs with a Home State OPEN closing rank in both rounds, 258 closed later, 14 did not move, and the median change was 3,119 ranks (+11.0%).

How to use this

• Round 1 is not the final word. For a mid-ranked NIT program, the Round 5 closing rank was typically 15% later. The final-round number is the better guide for next year, and the cutoff explorer shows every round.
• The top programs hardly move. For the most sought-after CSE seats, the Round 1 rank is close to the final one. See every NIT's CSE closing rank.
• CSAB comes after JoSAA. Seats still empty after the last JoSAA round go to the CSAB special rounds, where NIT seats closed later again. Our CSAB vs JoSAA comparison has the numbers.

Here is NIT Delhi Aerospace Engineering round by round: