JEE Main 2026 Session 1: Know Which NITs, IIITs Available on Which Percentiles?

Over 50 Percent of Students from OBC and EWS Categories Appeared in the Exam

The National Testing Agency has released the results for the JEE-Main January session, the country’s biggest engineering entrance exam. In the exam, which was conducted across 10 shifts, 12 students achieved a 100 NTA score, including three from Rajasthan, two from Andhra Pradesh, and one each from Delhi, Bihar, Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Telangana.

This year, Rajasthan has the highest number of students achieving a 100 NTA score. The list of 43 state toppers has also been released. This year, students will access their results using their application number and the password they created during the application process.

Career Counselling Expert, ALLEN Career Institute, said that JEE-Main January session for BE-BTech was conducted between 21st to 28th January in 10 shifts over 5 days. The final answer key was released on 16th February.

According to the press release issued, 13 lakh 55 thousand 293 students had applied for the exam and 13 lakh 4 thousand 653 students had appeared in the exam. The exam was conducted in 13 languages. The exam was conducted in 311 exam cities in the country as well as in 15 cities abroad.

8 lakh 55 thousand 85 boys and 4 lakh 49 thousand 568 girls participated in this exam. In this, 4,52,825 students from the General category, 1,60,958 from the EWS category, 5,17,336 from the OBC category, 1,29,902 from the SC category, and 43,632 from the ST category took the exam. A category-wise list of students scoring 100 percentiles has also been released.

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Which NITs, IIITs Based on Which Percentiles?

JEE-Main 2026 January session results were released as 7 decimal percentiles. Students are clearly curious about the NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs they will be offered based on their NTA scores. The college options listed below may vary by category for General, OBC, EWS, SC, and ST students.

Those with a 99 percentile or higher are likely to secure core branches at top NITs like Trichy, Warangal, Suratkal, Allahabad, Rourkela, Calicut, Jaipur, and Kurukshetra and IIIT Allahabad.

Those with a 99 to 98 percentile are likely to secure core branches at the top 10 NITs, and other branches in top 10-20 NITs and IIITs like Jabalpur, Gwalior, Guwahati, Kota, and Lucknow. These NITs include Bhopal, Surat, Nagpur, Jalandhar, Delhi, Hamirpur, and Durgapur.

Those with a 98 to 96 percentile are likely to secure core branches at the top 20 NITs, as well as other branches, and other NITs, including the Northeast NITs, as well as NITs in Patna, Raipur, Agartala, Srinagar, Silchar, and Uttarakhand, as well as institutions like BITS Misra, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, JNU, and Hyderabad University.

Additionally, students will have the opportunity to receive core branches at the new IIITs in Dodra, Pune, Sonipat, Surat, Nagpur, Bhopal, Tirchi, Raichur, Kanchipuram, Ranchi, Dharwad, Agartala, and Kalyani.

– A 96 to 94 percentile score may increase their chances of getting admission into core branches of the top 25 to 31 NITs, as well as other branches and GFTIs.

What to do?

Expert explained that students have two options for taking the JEE-Main exam this year. Students with a January JEE-Main percentile above 99.5 should focus on preparing for the JEE-Advanced exam.

This percentile secures them the opportunity to receive core branches at a good NIT. Students with a percentile score between 99.5 and 98.5 can take the JEE-Main as per their convenience or should start preparing for the Advanced.

Students with a percentile below 98.5 should focus on preparing for the Advanced along with the JEE-Main April. These recommendations may vary depending on the category.

Formula for Calculating NTA scores

In the results released for the first session of JEE Main, students’ total NTPA scores, along with individual NTPA scores for Physics, Chemistry, and Maths, are released in 7 decimal percentiles.

The JEE Main exam is conducted in different shifts, and the difficulty level of each paper may vary. Therefore, students’ raw scores in each shift are normalized based on their respective shifts and then their NTPA percentiles are released in 7 decimals.

Each student’s raw score is first calculated. Then, the number of students with equal or lower raw scores is calculated. This is multiplied by 100, divided by the total number of students who took the exam, and the percentile is calculated in 7 decimals, which is called that student’s NTPA score.

This percentile formula applies to students’ overall average scores, as well as their scores in Math, Physics, and Chemistry. This formula calculates each student’s total NTA score, as well as the NTA score for each subject. The NTA score for the April session will also be calculated.

If a student takes both the January and April JEE-Main exams, their All India Rank will be determined based on the highest NTA score for both exams.

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Aabshar Hassan Quazi

Aabshar H. Quazi is a seasoned education writer associated with ALLEN Career Institute, where he crafts insightful blogs on competitive exam trends, student journeys, and academic guidance. With a background in journalism, Aabshar has worked as Principal Correspondent for Hindustan Times, honing his skills in storytelling, analysis, and impactful reporting. His writing blends credibility with clarity, making complex topics accessible for students and parents alike.