CSAB Vacant Seats 2026 After JoSAA: Which NITs and IIITs Had Seats Left?

QUICK ANSWER: A total of 15,423 seats were vacant across the NIT+ system when the CSAB 2026 Special Rounds opened on July 28, 2026 — 6,945 in GFTIs, 4,611 in NITs, 3,628 in IIITs and 239 at IIEST Shibpur. Of these, 3,098 were Computer Science and Engineering seats. Round 2, declared on August 12, 2026, was the final round.Full seat matrix, quota splits, college-wise vacancy tables and the final schedule are below.

Key Takeaways at a Glance

• 15,423 seats went unfilled. Enough volume that a near-miss JEE Main rank still had a genuine path into a centrally funded institute.
• GFTIs held the biggest pool. At 6,945 seats, they carried nearly 45% of all vacancies.
• CSE was not exhausted. 3,098 Computer Science seats remained open at the start of the special rounds.
• Top NITs had vacancies too. SVNIT Surat and NIT Calicut each carried over 250 seats into CSAB.
• The cycle is closed. Round 2 was final, physical reporting ended August 18, 2026, and no further round followed.

Why CSAB Matters After JoSAA

The Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) concludes its counselling rounds every year, leaving a significant number of seats vacant across premier engineering institutes in India. For the 2026 academic session, thousands of students who either did not secure a seat, withdrew their admission, or were looking for a better branch turned to the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) Special Rounds to secure a seat. Anyone who missed JoSAA counselling or exited after the JoSAA Round 5 seat allotment found CSAB to be the last centrally run window of the season.

If you are looking for the CSAB Vacant Seats 2026 After JoSAA, this comprehensive guide covers everything from the total seat matrix and branch-wise vacancies to the specific NITs and IIITs that had open spots — plus how the CSAB counselling process ultimately played out. If you are new to the system, start with the difference between JoSAA, CSAB and JAC counselling.

Was the CSAB Seat Matrix Released?

Yes. The Central Seat Allocation Board released the official CSAB Seat Matrix 2026. The tentative vacant seat matrix was made available to the public on July 28, 2026, on the official CSAB portal (csab.nic.in).

The release of this seat matrix effectively kicked off the CSAB Special Round registration and choice-filling process. This document served as the blueprint for candidates participating in the special rounds, as it highlighted the exact number of seats that remained unfilled after the final round of JoSAA 2026 — the natural sequel to the JoSAA 2026 seat matrix published earlier in the season.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: The vacancy numbers were tentative at release. Final numbers shifted slightly as reporting and verification progressed through the rounds.

How Many Seats Were Vacant in CSAB 2026?

A large number of seats remained vacant across the NIT+ system heading into the 2026 special rounds. Across the participating centrally funded engineering institutes, a total of 15,423 seats were vacant and open for the CSAB Special Rounds.

To understand the magnitude of this opportunity, it is useful to break down the total vacancies by the type of institution:

CSAB 2026 Vacant Seat Matrix: Institute-Type Breakdown

Institute type	Total vacant seats (2026)	Share of total	What it means for candidates
GFTIs	6,945	~45%	Largest pool; most realistic for ranks beyond 50,000
NITs	4,611	~30%	Quota-driven; Home State advantage matters most
IIITs	3,628	~24%	Almost entirely All India Quota; IT-centric branches
IIEST Shibpur	239	~1.5%	Often clubbed with NITs in official tables
Total	15,423	100%	Opening position of the CSAB Special Rounds

DATA NOTE: In some official tables, IIEST Shibpur’s 239 seats are clubbed with NITs to form a combined figure of 4,850. The exact count of “participating institutes” has also been reported inconsistently across sources — anywhere from 114 to 119, depending on how SPAs and newer GFTIs are counted. For an authoritative figure, cross-check the institute list in the official PDF on csab.nic.in rather than relying on secondary reporting.

Gender-Wise Split of CSAB 2026 Vacancies

The CSAB seat allocation strictly follows the reservation and gender pool guidelines set by the Government of India. Out of the total 15,423 vacant seats:

Pool	Seats	Eligibility
Gender-Neutral	13,156	Open to all candidates regardless of gender
Female-Only (incl. Supernumerary)	2,267	Exclusively reserved for female candidates

This large pool of over 15,000 seats meant that students who missed the JoSAA cutoffs by a slight margin had a strong chance of securing a seat at a reputed institute. Comparing your position against previous-year CSAB cutoffs was the single most useful preparation step before choice filling.

Which NITs Had Vacant Seats After JoSAA 2026?

The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are the most sought-after colleges in the CSAB rounds. For 2026, there were 4,611 core NIT seats available at the start of the special rounds — a meaningful residue given how competitive the JoSAA NIT seat matrix and NIT closing ranks had looked only weeks earlier.

Quota Breakdown in NITs

Unlike IIITs and GFTIs, which mostly operate on an All India (AI) quota, NIT vacancies heavily depend on State Quotas. For 2026, the NIT vacancies were divided as follows:

Quota	Vacant seats	Who it applies to
Other State (OS)	2,372	Candidates from outside the institute’s home state
Home State (HS)	2,081	Candidates who passed Class 12 from that state
Goa, J&K and Ladakh (combined)	158	Region-specific quotas

Top NITs With the Highest Vacant Seats in 2026

Some of the most prominent NITs with a high number of unfilled seats heading into CSAB included:

Institute	Approx. vacant seats	Notes
NIT Agartala	~305	Highest single-institute NIT vacancy in the 2026 matrix
SVNIT Surat	~294	A top-tier NIT with a large open pool
NIT Calicut	~283	Consistently high-demand institute, still 280+ open
NIT Srinagar	~255	Region-specific quotas contribute to the count
NIT Raipur	~242	Strong core-branch availability
IIEST Shibpur	~239	Clubbed with NITs in several official tables
NIT Kurukshetra	~237	Popular North India option with open seats

For context on where these institutes sit nationally, see the list of top NITs in India, the NIT Warangal branch-wise closing ranks, and the NIT Rourkela cutoff trends.

Why Did Top NITs Have Vacant Seats?

It is a common misconception that vacancies only exist in lower-tier colleges. Even premier institutions like NIT Calicut or SVNIT Surat had over 250 vacant seats. This happens because many top-ranking students secure seats in IITs through JoSAA, or opt for premier private colleges and subsequently surrender their NIT seats at the last minute. Specific category seats — SC, ST or PwD — or niche five-year dual degree programmes also often go unfilled in the primary JoSAA rounds. If you are still weighing the trade-off, read IIT versus NIT on placements.

Which IIITs Had Seats Left After JoSAA?

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) have rapidly gained popularity due to their specialised IT-centric curriculum and strong placement records. In CSAB 2026, the participating IIITs had a combined total of 3,628 vacant seats at the start of the special rounds. Almost all of these seats fell under the All India (AI) Quota, meaning any student from any state could compete for them on an equal footing — unlike JAC Delhi and IIIT-D admissions, which run on a separate regional process.

Top IIITs With the Highest Vacant Seats in 2026

Institute	Approx. vacant seats	Quota
IIIT Senapati, Manipur	~352	All India
IIIT Bhopal	~325	All India
IIIT Vadodara (incl. off-campus)	~285	All India
IIIT Dharwad	~224	All India
IIIT Bhagalpur	~208	All India

Category Breakdown for IIIT Vacancies (All India Quota)

Category	Vacant seats
OPEN (Gender-Neutral + Female-only)	1,803
OBC-NCL	714
SC	421
GEN-EWS	252
ST	236

The IIITs presented a strong opportunity for students specifically wanting tech-oriented branches like Computer Science, IT and Electronics, without going through traditional core engineering subjects. For a sense of how the top of this tier compares, see IIIT Bangalore versus IIIT Hyderabad, and if you are torn between disciplines, read B.Tech IT versus CSE.

Branch-Wise CSAB Vacant Seats 2026

The branch-wise seat availability is often the most scrutinised data point by engineering aspirants. While many assume that high-demand branches like Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) are completely exhausted during JoSAA, the CSAB 2026 opening matrix proved otherwise.

Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Vacancies

At the release of the matrix, there was a notable total of 3,098 vacant CSE seats across the NIT+ system.

Institute type	Vacant CSE seats	Share of CSE vacancies
GFTIs	1,405	~45%
IIITs	1,173	~38%
NITs	503	~16%
IIEST Shibpur	17	~0.5%
Total CSE vacant seats	3,098	100%

READ THE SNAPSHOT CORRECTLYAs with the overall matrix, this snapshot reflects the position at the start of CSAB Special Round registration. The actual number of seats filled versus carried into Round 2 changed as the rounds progressed.

The GFTI CSE Round 2 cutoff data is the clearest evidence of how far closing ranks relaxed once these seats moved into the special rounds.

Other Prominent Branch Groups Worth Targeting

Students filling CSAB choices were encouraged to cast a wide net instead of narrowly searching for “Computer Science” — advice that mirrors any sensible framework for choosing the best engineering branch after JEE counselling:

Branch group	Representative programmes
Technology & Computing	Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cyber Security, Mathematics & Computing
Electronics & Circuit Branches	ECE, EEE, VLSI Design, Instrumentation
Core Engineering	Mechanical, Civil, Chemical, Production, Industrial
Specialised / Interdisciplinary	Smart Manufacturing, Computational Engineering, Engineering Physics, Biotechnology, Materials Engineering

Core branches in top NITs typically see cutoffs drop significantly during CSAB. A student who might not get CSE at a lower NIT could still secure Mechanical or Chemical Engineering at a Top 10 NIT during the special rounds. Before ruling out a non-CSE branch, look at branch popularity trends in JoSAA cutoffs, AI and Data Science colleges by JoSAA cutoff, and what career options exist after B.Tech CSE beyond software development.

GFTIs: The Largest Pool of Vacancies

Government Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs) held the largest share of vacancies in 2026, with 6,945 seats unfilled at the start of the special rounds. A full list of GFTI colleges is worth reviewing before you build a choice list.

Top GFTIs With the Highest Vacant Seats in 2026

Institute	Approx. vacant seats
BIT Mesra, Ranchi	~678
Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur	~493
Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar	~489
SLIET Longowal	~447

Because tuition fees at some GFTIs (like BIT Mesra) run higher than pure government NITs, and location factors into student preferences, many students withdraw, creating large vacancies. For students with lower JEE Main ranks — roughly 50,000 to 1,00,000+ — GFTIs typically offer one of the most realistic paths to a reputed government-affiliated engineering degree. See also the best CSAB colleges at a 1 lakh rank, colleges for an 80-90 percentile and colleges for a 70-80 percentile.

How to Read and Use the Vacant Seat Matrix

Simply downloading the PDF from csab.nic.in was not enough; candidates needed to know how to properly interpret the data. The three checks below are the core of any workable CSAB choice filling strategy.

Check the Quota

Always look at the quota column. For an NIT, check the “HS” (Home State) row if you passed 12th board from that state, and “OS” (Other State) for all other states.

Verify Category and Gender Pool

A college might show 10 vacant seats for CSE, but 8 of those could be for ST (Female) and 2 for OBC (PwD). If you are a General (Open) category male student, those seats effectively mean zero for you. Always check the intersection of your Category, Gender pool and Quota.

Do Not Blindly Fill Choices

As CSAB advises, a college should not be selected solely because it appears in the vacancy matrix. If allotted a seat in CSAB, you must be fully prepared to join and pay the fees — failing to do so results in financial penalties and seat forfeiture. The CSAB refund policy spells out exactly what is recoverable and what is not.

INFOGRAPHIC: THE 3-FILTER TEST BEFORE ADDING ANY CHOICEFilter 1 — Quota: Is this seat in your HS, OS or AI pool?Filter 2 — Category and gender: Does the vacancy actually sit in your category and gender pool?Filter 3 — Commitment: If allotted, will you join and pay? If not, do not list it.

8. CSAB 2026 Schedule and Final Outcome

Here is how the CSAB 2026 Special Rounds actually played out, from the Round 1 seat allotment through to the Round 2 counselling close:

Stage	Date(s), 2026
Display of vacant seats	July 28
Registration and choice filling	July 28 – August 3
First mock seat allotment	July 31
Round 1 seat allotment result	August 6
Round 1 online reporting and verification	August 6 – 10
Round 2 seat allotment result (final round)	August 12
Round 2 online reporting	August 12 – 14
Query resolution deadline	August 17
Physical reporting at institutes	August 13 – 18

What the Final Round Meant for Candidates

Round 2 was the final round of CSAB Special counselling for 2026 — there was no further round after it, and options like Float, Slide, Surrender or Withdraw were unavailable once Round 2 began. All Round 2 allotments were treated as a Freeze. Candidates who did not complete reporting and document verification by the deadlines risked losing their allotted seats, which is why the reporting centre and document checklist and the medical certificate requirement mattered as much as the rank itself. As of now, the CSAB 2026 Special Round admission cycle is complete, and institutes have moved on to the start of the academic session.

Strategic Choice Filling Tips for Future CSAB Rounds

If you are planning for the next cycle, the CSAB special counselling guide and the broader JoSAA counselling guide are the right starting points. Four principles carry over every year.

A. Expand Your Horizons

Do not limit choices to just CSE or IT. Candidates with a lower rank can consider newer branches like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science or Smart Manufacturing in IIITs, which often carry higher vacancies and lower cutoffs. A realistic view of the best engineering branch for your goals beats chasing a label.

B. Leverage Category Ranks Wisely

CSAB operates somewhat differently from JoSAA. While JoSAA uses category ranks for allotment, CSAB primarily uses the Common Rank List (CRL) for seat allocation while still respecting category reservations. Compare your CRL against last year’s CSAB CRL cutoffs, not JoSAA Round 5 cutoffs. A JEE college predictor tool helps you sanity-check the range before you commit.

C. Financial Readiness

Participating in CSAB requires a participation fee, so it is best to list only the options you are genuinely willing to join.

D. The GFTI Safety Net

If a government college tag is the priority, well-established GFTIs like BIT Mesra, PEC Chandigarh or SLIET Longowal are worth including toward the bottom of the choice list. These institutes have strong alumni networks and, for many candidates, offer better value than lower-tier private engineering colleges. Keep top colleges beyond the IITs and NITs and the best B.Tech colleges in Delhi NCR on your shortlist as parallel options.

E. Keep State Counselling Running in Parallel

CSAB is not the only route. State-level processes such as UPTAC counselling, JAC Delhi B.Tech admissions, DTU admissions, MHT-CET seat allotment and WBJEE vacant-seat rounds run on overlapping timelines and have saved many candidates who came up short in the central pool.

Conclusion: A Second Real Shot at an NIT, IIIT or GFTI

The CSAB Vacant Seats 2026 matrix, released after JoSAA, opened the door for thousands of JEE Main candidates. With over 15,423 seats available at the outset — including 3,098 seats in Computer Science and Engineering — the CSAB Special Rounds gave many students a real shot at an NIT, IIIT or GFTI seat.

From top-tier NITs like SVNIT Surat and NIT Calicut carrying over 250 vacant seats each, to fast-growing IIITs like IIIT Bhopal and IIIT Senapati (Manipur) offering hundreds of spots, the matrix was rich with opportunity. With Round 2 having concluded as the final round and physical reporting completed by August 18, 2026, the CSAB Special counselling cycle for this admission year is now over — students who secured and confirmed a seat can now look ahead to the start of their academic session with a college starter kit, a checklist of what to do before joining college, and a first-semester survival guide.

Candidates who did not convert a seat this cycle still have routes forward: weigh a drop year and gap-year strategy, map out one year versus six months versus a drop year for JEE 2027, or explore career alternatives beyond B.Tech.

PLANNING YOUR NEXT ATTEMPT?A better rank removes the need for special rounds altogether. Explore IIT-JEE coaching at Vidyamandir Classes, compare online JEE coaching programmes, check the JEE college predictor, browse the list of IITs, or read more admission analyses on the VMC StudyHub.

Frequently Asked Questions: CSAB Vacant Seats 2026

Q1. How many seats were vacant in CSAB 2026 after JoSAA?

A total of 15,423 seats were vacant and open when the CSAB Special Rounds began in 2026. GFTIs held the largest share at 6,945 seats, followed by NITs with 4,611, IIITs with 3,628, and IIEST Shibpur with 239 seats across all participating institutes.

Q2. Which NITs had the most vacant seats after JoSAA 2026?

NIT Agartala led with roughly 305 vacant seats, followed by SVNIT Surat at about 294 and NIT Calicut at around 283. NIT Srinagar, NIT Raipur, IIEST Shibpur and NIT Kurukshetra each carried between 235 and 255 seats into the special rounds.

Q3. Were CSE seats actually available in CSAB 2026?

Yes. Contrary to the common assumption that Computer Science is exhausted during JoSAA, the opening matrix showed 3,098 vacant CSE seats. GFTIs contributed 1,405 of them, IIITs 1,173, NITs 503 and IIEST Shibpur 17 seats at the start of registration.

Q4. Which IIITs had the highest number of seats left?

IIIT Senapati in Manipur topped the list with roughly 352 vacant seats, followed by IIIT Bhopal at about 325 and IIIT Vadodara, including its off-campus programme, at around 285. IIIT Dharwad and IIIT Bhagalpur offered approximately 224 and 208 seats respectively.

Q5. Is CSAB 2026 counselling still open?

No. Round 2 was the final round of CSAB Special counselling for 2026, with results declared on August 12 and physical reporting closing on August 18. The admission cycle is complete and participating institutes have moved on to the academic session.

Q6. Why do top NITs still have vacant seats after JoSAA?

Vacancies are not limited to lower-tier colleges. High-ranking candidates who secure IIT seats or choose premier private institutes surrender their NIT allotments late in the process. Specific category seats such as SC, ST or PwD and niche five-year dual degree programmes also frequently go unfilled.

Q7. Does CSAB use category rank or Common Rank List?

CSAB primarily uses the Common Rank List for seat allocation while still respecting category reservations, which differs from the JoSAA approach based on category ranks. Because of this, aspirants should benchmark their CRL against previous CSAB closing ranks rather than JoSAA cutoffs.

Q8. What JEE Main rank is realistic for a GFTI seat?

Candidates holding ranks roughly between 50,000 and above 1,00,000 typically find GFTIs the most realistic route to a reputed government-affiliated engineering degree. GFTIs consistently carry the largest vacancy pool, which is why their closing ranks relax noticeably during the special rounds.

Q9. What happens if you skip reporting after a CSAB allotment?

Candidates who fail to complete online reporting and document verification within the published deadlines risk losing the allotted seat entirely. Because all Round 2 allotments were treated as Freeze, there was no float or slide fallback, and financial penalties applied to abandoned seats.

Q10. How is CSAB different from JoSAA counselling?

JoSAA allocates seats across IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs over its main rounds. CSAB runs afterwards, covering only the NIT-plus system to fill leftover seats. It uses a separate registration, a separate participation fee, and its own closing ranks that are generally more relaxed.

EDITOR’S NOTEAll vacancy figures reflect the tentative matrix published on csab.nic.in at the opening of the CSAB 2026 Special Rounds and shifted as reporting progressed. Institute counts and clubbing conventions vary across secondary sources; always verify against the official CSAB PDF before acting on any number.