JEE Advanced 2026: Women’s Qualification Rate Hits Six-Year High, Crosses 10,000 Mark

Women candidates recorded their highest qualification rate in six years in JEE Advanced 2026, with the number of successful female candidates crossing the 10,000 mark for the first time in the period, according to the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report released by IIT Roorkee, which conducted this year’s examination.

The qualification rate among registered women candidates rose to 23.4 per cent in 2026, up from 21.7 per cent last year. Of the 43,112 women who registered for the exam, 40,562 appeared in both papers and 10,107 qualified. The figure marks the first time in the last six years that the number of qualifying women candidates has exceeded 10,000.

The report said 3,814 female-only seats, including female supernumerary seats, were allotted in 2026. Another 37 female candidates secured seats through the gender-neutral pool, highlighting the continued participation of women in the IIT admission process.

The improvement was also visible among candidates from reserved categories. The qualification rates for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates increased by 9.8 and 8.1 percentage points, respectively, compared with 2025. A total of 15,856 SC candidates and 6,379 ST candidates qualified this year, against 12,499 and 5,008 respectively last year.

Overall, 1,79,694 candidates appeared in both papers of JEE Advanced 2026, conducted on May 17, while 56,880 candidates qualified. The results were announced on June 1. The JIC said qualifying criteria were relaxed to ensure that at least twice the number of candidates as available seats qualified in each category.

However, the general-category qualification rate declined from 43 per cent in 2025 to 39.8 per cent this year, with qualifiers falling from 16,154 to 15,883. EWS qualifiers increased slightly from 6,291 to 6,377, while the OBC-NCL qualification rate fell from 18.2 per cent to 17.5 per cent.

The JEE Advanced 2026 ranks will also be considered for undergraduate admissions at institutions outside the IIT system, including IISc Bengaluru, IIM Lucknow, IIST and RGIPT.