IIT Delhi: Complete Guide & JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
IIT Delhi sits right behind IIT Bombay in demand every single year – the second choice for most JEE Advanced toppers, and the first choice for many who prefer its central Delhi location and strong placement record. Here's what defines the institute, and how its 2026 JoSAA cutoffs moved.
About IIT Delhi
Established in the early 1960s and declared an Institute of National Importance shortly after, IIT Delhi is located in the Hauz Khas area of South Delhi, giving it one of the most accessible, centrally located campuses of any IIT. It regularly ranks among the top 2–3 engineering institutes in the country in NIRF rankings, and has built a particularly strong reputation for producing entrepreneurs – a number of well-known Indian startup founders are IIT Delhi alumni.
Academic Strengths
- Computer Science & Engineering: The second most competitive CSE programme among all IITs after IIT Bombay, drawing candidates from the very top of the JEE Advanced rank list.
- Electrical Engineering: Consistently strong demand, closely following CSE.
- Entrepreneurship & management programmes: A well-developed innovation and incubation ecosystem, plus interdisciplinary programmes blending engineering with management.
- Research output: Strong publication and patent record across departments, particularly in computer science and electrical engineering.
JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
Across JoSAA 2026's five rounds – the final round declared 16 July 2026 – IIT Delhi's CSE closing rank has stayed in a tight band, opening in the low-to-mid 20s and closing in the low-100s in the early rounds, extending only modestly by Round 3. As with IIT Bombay, this reflects how little movement the very top branches see once JoSAA is underway – the candidates filling these seats are rarely tempted to slide elsewhere.
JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
JoSAA 2026 ran five rounds, with the final round declared on 16 July 2026. The table below is IIT Delhi's complete final-round (Round 5) result, pulled directly from JoSAA's own OR-CR portal – OPEN category, gender-neutral seats, across every programme on the main Delhi campus. CSE closed at rank 128, with the 5-year CSE dual degree close behind at 212 – both comfortably the tightest admissions on campus.
| Branch (Gender-Neutral, OPEN) | Round 5 (Final) Closing Rank |
|---|---|
| Computer Science & Engineering | 128 |
| Computer Science & Engineering (5 Yr Dual Degree) | 212 |
| Mathematics & Computing (4 Yr) | 338 |
| Mathematics & Computing (5 Yr Dual Degree) | 403 |
| Electrical Engineering | 612 |
| Electrical Engineering (Power & Automation) | 823 |
| Engineering & Computational Mechanics | 1,107 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 2,205 |
| Engineering Physics | 2,435 |
| Chemical Engineering | 2,724 |
| Energy Engineering | 2,965 |
| Production & Industrial Engineering | 3,402 |
| Materials Engineering | 3,706 |
| Chemical Engineering (5 Yr Dual Degree) | 3,968 |
| Civil Engineering | 4,901 |
| Biotechnology & Biochemical Engineering | 4,990 |
| Textile Technology | 6,580 |
| Chemistry | 8,823 |
| Design | 12,730 |
IIT Delhi also runs a separate Abu Dhabi campus, with its own, considerably more relaxed OPEN-category closing ranks: Computer Science & Engineering closed at 1,788, Electrical Engineering at 3,436, Energy Engineering at 4,465, and Chemical Engineering at 6,145. If you're specifically considering the Abu Dhabi campus, use these figures rather than the main-campus table above – they're a genuinely different, separate admission.
These are JoSAA 2026's final, closed results. Confirm the current year's actual figures on JoSAA's own OR-CR portal (josaa.nic.in) once that year's rounds are under way, rather than assuming this table still applies.
How Reserved Categories Compare
JoSAA keeps a separate closing rank for every category – General, EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and PwD – and each one is a position within that category's own applicant pool, not the overall merit list. As a rule, EWS tracks closest to the General figure, OBC-NCL relaxes further, and SC/ST relax the most of all, since fewer candidates compete within each of those pools. For IIT Delhi's CSE seat, that pattern is visible even at the very top of the rank list – EWS and OBC-NCL candidates still need a rank well inside four figures, while the General closing rank sits inside 130.
We're deliberately not publishing precise OBC-NCL, SC, or ST numbers here: two otherwise reasonable sources gave us meaningfully different figures for the exact same IIT Delhi CSE OBC-NCL closing rank, which tells us neither should be trusted as final. That kind of disagreement is common for category-specific figures, even when the General category number is well agreed upon. For the precise, current closing rank in your own category and branch, use JoSAA's OR-CR tool directly on josaa.nic.in rather than any single third-party estimate, including this one.
Placements
IIT Delhi's placement season regularly produces some of the highest package offers among all IITs, with particularly strong recruitment from technology product companies, consulting firms, and quantitative finance roles. Its Delhi location gives recruiters easy access, which supports a consistently strong and diverse recruiter base.