IIT Kanpur: Complete Guide & JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
IIT Kanpur holds a special place in India's computing history and remains one of the five most sought-after IITs every counselling season. Here's what defines the institute, and how its 2026 JoSAA cutoffs moved round by round.
About IIT Kanpur
Established in 1959 as one of the original IITs, IIT Kanpur is credited with housing India's first computer at an academic institution and played a foundational role in the early development of computer science education in the country. Its Kalyanpur campus in Uttar Pradesh is known for a strong aerospace and aeromodelling culture alongside its core engineering strengths, and the institute has, in various years, served as the organising IIT for JEE Advanced.
Academic Strengths
- Computer Science & Engineering: One of the five most competitive CSE programmes among all IITs, historically tied to the institute's pioneering role in Indian computing.
- Aerospace Engineering: A long-standing area of strength, supported by a strong aeromodelling and space-technology student culture.
- Electrical Engineering: Consistently strong demand behind CSE.
- Research collaborations: Strong ties with national space and defence research organisations.
JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
Across JoSAA 2026's five rounds – the final round declared 16 July 2026 – IIT Kanpur's CSE closing rank has typically opened in the 140s–220 range and closed between roughly 270 and 285 by the middle rounds, placing it firmly among the "old IIT" cluster (Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Roorkee, Guwahati) whose CSE seats generally close within the top 500 of the General category, a noticeably tighter band than the newer IITs.
JoSAA 2026 Cutoff, Round Wise
JoSAA 2026 ran five rounds, with the final round declared on 16 July 2026. The table below is IIT Kanpur'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 offer. CSE closed at 283, comfortably the tightest seat on campus, with Intelligent Systems and Electrical Engineering the next closest.
| Branch (Gender-Neutral, OPEN) | Round 5 (Final) Closing Rank |
|---|---|
| Computer Science & Engineering | 283 |
| Intelligent Systems | 1,134 |
| Electrical Engineering | 1,171 |
| Mathematics & Scientific Computing | 1,270 |
| Statistics & Data Science | 1,409 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 3,178 |
| Economics | 3,650 |
| Aerospace Engineering | 4,015 |
| Chemical Engineering | 4,436 |
| Physics | 5,723 |
| Materials Science & Engineering | 6,533 |
| Civil Engineering | 7,177 |
| Biological Sciences & Bioengineering | 7,837 |
| Earth Sciences | 10,774 |
| Chemistry | 11,668 |
This is JoSAA 2026's final, closed result. 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. That pattern holds across every branch at IIT Kanpur, CSE included.
We're not publishing specific OBC-NCL, SC, or ST numbers for IIT Kanpur here – the third-party sources available for category-specific figures disagree with each other widely enough, even for well-documented institutes, that citing one as fact would be misleading. For the precise, current closing rank in your own category and branch, use JoSAA's OR-CR tool directly on josaa.nic.in.
Placements
IIT Kanpur draws consistently strong recruitment from software, core engineering, and research roles, supported by its long-standing reputation and deep alumni network across the technology and aerospace sectors.