So Round 1 of JoSAA counselling is finally out, and if your phone has been buzzing with WhatsApp forwards about “who got what rank where,” you already know the headline before reading it. CSE at the big three — IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIT Madras — is, once again, the toughest seat to land in the country. The IIT Bombay, Delhi, and Madras Cut Off 2026 numbers confirm it, and honestly, the trend is consistent with previous years, where CSE at the top IITs has remained the most competitive choice.
What might surprise you, though, is just how much breathing room opens up once you look past CSE. Let’s get into the actual numbers.
A Quick Recap Before the Tables
A bit of context for anyone jumping in fresh. JoSAA released its Round 1 opening and closing ranks (OR-CR) in mid-June 2026, right alongside the first round of seat allotment. This year’s counselling spans 138 institutes — 23 IITs, 31 NITs, 26 IIITs, IIEST Shibpur, and a bunch of GFTIs — with over 67,000 seats up for grabs across all the rounds.
A couple of things worth knowing before you go rank-hunting:
- JEE Advanced 2026’s qualifying mark for the general category landed at 92 out of 360 — a small uptick from last year.
- IITs run purely on the All India Rank. No home state quota here, unlike NITs.
- There are six rounds total this year, so treat Round 1 as a starting point, not gospel.
- If you got allotted a seat in Round 1, you’ve got until late June to pay up and pick freeze, float, or slide.
Okay, numbers time.
IIT Bombay Cut Off 2026: CSE Stays Under AIR 70, Again
IIT Bombay keeps pulling in the country’s sharpest ranks year after year, and 2026 hasn’t broken that pattern one bit. Here’s how the open category (general, gender-neutral) Round 1 cutoffs shook out:
| Branch | Round 1 Closing Rank |
|---|---|
| Computer Science and Engineering | 65 |
| Electrical Engineering | ~400 |
| Mechanical Engineering | ~1,852 |
| Chemical Engineering | ~2,750 |
| Civil Engineering | ~4,376 |
Closing at AIR 65 means you needed to be among the top 65 students in the entire country to grab a CSE seat here in Round 1. That’s a tiny window — though if you’ve tracked this branch before, 65 isn’t even an outlier. It closed at 68 in 2024 and 66 in 2025. Basically the same three or four ranks, shuffled slightly, year after year.
Drop one branch down to Electrical, though, and the picture changes fast. Mechanical, Chemical, Civil — all of them open the door to ranks in the thousands. So if your AIR isn’t sitting in double digits, IIT Bombay still isn’t off the table.
IIT Delhi Cut Off 2026: Same Story, Slightly Wider Door
IIT Delhi sits right behind Bombay in the pecking order most years, and the IIT Delhi Cut Off 2026 numbers play out almost identically — CSE way out in front, then a gap before the next branch.
| Branch | Round 1 Closing Rank |
|---|---|
| Computer Science and Engineering | 123 |
| Mathematics and Computing | ~320 |
| Electrical Engineering | ~593 |
CSE closed at 123 — almost double Bombay’s number, which sounds like a lot until you remember we’re still talking about the top 123 rank holders in all of India. Mathematics and Computing have quietly become a real contender too, closing well ahead of core branches like Electrical. For perspective, last year’s overall B.Tech closing rank range at IIT Delhi stretched up to around 5,700 for the general category by the final round. So there’s genuinely more room here than the CSE number alone would suggest.
IIT Madras Cut Off 2026: CSE and AI Neck and Neck
IIT Madras has topped India’s engineering rankings for a while now, and its admissions numbers track the same pattern as the other two. The IIT Madras Cut Off 2026 data shows CSE is still on top, but the AI and Data Analytics programme isn’t far behind anymore.
| Branch | Round 1 Closing Rank |
|---|---|
| Computer Science and Engineering | 149 |
| Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics | ~226 |
A few years back, an AI-focused branch closing within a hundred-odd ranks of CSE would’ve been unthinkable — core branches like Electrical or Mechanical used to be the natural second choice. Not anymore. Electrical and Mechanical at IIT Madras typically land somewhere in the AIR 700–2,500 zone by the final rounds, going by recent patterns, which still makes them solid picks if your rank’s outside the top 200.
CSE Closing Ranks, Side by Side
Putting it all in one place helps make sense of where each institute stands relative to the others this year:
| Institute | CSE Closing Rank (Round 1, 2026) |
|---|---|
| IIT Bombay | 65 |
| IIT Delhi | 123 |
| IIT Madras | 149 |
| IIT Kanpur | ~270 |
| IIT Roorkee | ~535 |
| IIT Guwahati | ~699 |
The gap between Bombay and the rest doesn’t look huge on paper, but in a system where one rank can decide your entire counselling outcome, even 60-80 positions matter a lot. And then there’s the newer crop — IIT Tirupati, Palakkad, Jammu, Dharwad — where CSE closes somewhere in the 4,000 to 6,000 AIR range. That gap tells you everything about how much brand and placement history still drive these decisions.
Why CSE Just Won’t Let Go of the Top Spot
Nothing mysterious about this one, really. Tech and software roles dominate placement season at every IIT, CSE packages routinely beat core branches, and a CSE degree just travels better internationally. Throw the AI boom into the mix, and you get a counselling season where the top few hundred ranks in the country funnel into a handful of branches at a handful of campuses.
Doesn’t mean the rest is bad news, though. Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics, and even Mechanical at the older IITs still come with strong research labs, decent placement records, and the same institute name on your degree — at a fraction of the rank CSE demands.
Three Years of CSE Trends, At a Glance
If you’re wondering whether this year’s numbers are unusually brutal or just business as usual, here are the last three years side by side:
| Institute | 2023 Closing Rank | 2024 Closing Rank | 2025 Closing Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| IIT Bombay CSE | ~67 | 68 | 66 |
| IIT Delhi CSE | ~110 | ~115 | ~120 |
| IIT Madras CSE | ~135 | ~145 | ~155 |
Bombay’s barely moved — it’s been parked in the 60s and 70s for three straight years now. Delhi and Madras have drifted slightly upward, which technically means a little less brutal competition, though “a little less brutal” is relative when you’re still talking about three-digit AIRs.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind While Making Choices
If your rank’s nowhere near these numbers, don’t write off your options just yet.
- Round 1 closing ranks almost always loosen up in later rounds once people withdraw or upgrade. Don’t make your final call based on Round 1 alone.
- Check your category rank separately if you’re under OBC-NCL, SC, ST, or EWS. It’s a completely different scale from overall AIR, and reserved-category cutoffs at all three IITs are noticeably more relaxed.
- Fill out a long preference list. People who fill only five or ten choices regularly end up with nothing, while a list of 25-40 gives you a real shot at landing something good.
- If Round 1 doesn’t go your way, Float keeps you in the running for an upgrade without giving up what you already have.
Bottom Line
The IIT Bombay Delhi Madras Cut Off 2026 figures pretty much confirm what everyone expected — CSE remains the hardest seat to crack anywhere in Indian engineering admissions, and the old three IITs keep skimming off the country’s best ranks. But don’t let one closing rank define your whole counselling experience. Six rounds are still ahead, branches and institutes will keep shifting, and there’s a lot more room for ranks outside the top few hundred than a single headline number suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the IIT Bombay CSE cut-off 2026 for Round 1?
It closed at AIR 65 in the open (general) category during Round 1 of JoSAA counselling 2026.
2. What is the IIT Delhi CSE cut-off 2026?
AIR 123 in Round 1 for the open category. Mathematics and Computing are closed around AIR 320.
3. What is the IIT Madras CSE cut-off 2026?
AIR 149 in Round 1. The Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics programme closed around AIR 226, not far behind.
4. Will the closing ranks change in later JoSAA rounds?
Yes, almost always. As candidates withdraw, upgrade, or don’t confirm their seats, closing ranks tend to move outward — meaning slightly less competitive — in later rounds.
5. Is there a home state quota for IIT admissions?
No. Unlike NITs, IITs go purely by the All India Rank in JEE Advanced. There’s no home state or other state reservation in the picture.
6. What rank do I need to get into any IIT, any branch?
In recent years, candidates with ranks around the top 15,000–18,000 have generally been able to secure a seat in an IIT, depending on branch, category, and counselling round.
I'm an enthusiastic content writer and a B.Tech CSE-AI student at IGDTUW,committed to producing intelligent and motivational content that bridges the connection between technology, design, and education. I aim to create stories that make complex concepts accessible and inspire students to achieve their objectives, as I have a strong interest in problem-solving and digital storytelling. My emphasis is always on impact, creativity, and clarity, whether I'm writing about design, digital advancements, or JEE preparation.
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