JoSAA Counselling 2026: The long-awaited centralized admission process for India's premier engineering institutions officially kicks off today. The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) is opening its online registration and choice-filling portal for candidates who have qualified in the JEE Main 2026 and JEE Advanced 2026 examinations. Aspirants seeking admission into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), and other Government Funded Technical Institutions (GFTIs) must log on to the official website at josaa.nic.in to participate.
Candidates need to exercise extreme caution during this period, as the registration and choice-filling link will be activated only once for the entire duration of the counselling process. This means that choices cannot be modified or added in subsequent rounds once the locking deadline passes. The entire system is structured digitally, and candidates will have until June 11, 2026, at 5:00 PM to finalise their institutional preferences before the system auto-locks their selections.
Complete Counselling Schedule and Mock Allocations
To give candidates an accurate idea of where they stand based on their ranks, JoSAA will conduct two rounds of mock seat allocations during the registration window. This gives students a crucial opportunity to modify their choice list if they are not getting their preferred streams.
The key dates for the registration and choice-filling phases are structured as follows:
Date | Event / Milestone |
June 2, 2026 (5:00 PM) | Commencement of Online Registration & Choice Filling |
June 8, 2026 | Display of Mock Seat Allocation-1 |
June 10, 2026 | Display of Mock Seat Allocation-2 |
June 11, 2026 (5:00 PM) | Deadline for JoSAA Registration & Choice Locking |
National Institutional Ranking (NIRF) of Top Institutes
When filling out preferences, candidates often rely heavily on official rankings to determine their priorities. The Ministry of Education's NIRF ranks provide a realistic benchmark for comparing top-tier engineering options.
The table below outlines the comparison rankings for the top Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs):
Name of the Institute | NIRF 2025 Rank | NIRF 2024 Rank |
IIT Madras | 1 | 1 |
IIT Delhi | 2 | 2 |
IIT Bombay | 3 | 3 |
IIT Kanpur | 4 | 4 |
NIT Trichy (NITT) | 9 | 9 |
IIT BHU Varanasi | 10 | 10 |
NIT Rourkela (NITRKL) | 13 | 19 |
NIT Karnataka (NITK) | 17 | 17 |
JoSAA Registration Fees & Seat Acceptance Charges
While there is no fee charged for initially registering or filling out choices on the JoSAA portal, candidates must pay a mandatory amount upon being allocated a seat. This fee includes a ₹5,000 JoSAA processing charge.
Critical Warning: If a candidate is allocated a seat in any round and fails to pay the Seat Acceptance Fee (SAF) within the specified timeline, their allocation will be canceled automatically. They will also be permanently disqualified from participating in any subsequent seat allocation rounds.
The category-wise fee structure required for accepting an allocated seat is defined below:
SC, ST, GEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD: Rs 15,000
All Other Candidates (General, OBC, EWS): Rs 30,000
JoSAA Counselling 2026: How to Apply for Round 1?
The link for candidates to submit their applications for round 1 of counselling will be available on the official website. Follow the steps provided below to submit their applications
Step 1: Visit the official JoSAA Portal; josaa.nic.in
Step 2: Click on the JoSAA Round 1 application
Step 3: Click on the link and enter all required details
Step 4: Fill out the application form
Step 5: Review the choices entered
Step 6: Save and click on submit
