Mumbai: The number of women qualifying for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced crossed the 10,000-mark in 2026, recording the highest female qualification rate in six years, according to the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report prepared by IIT Roorkee, which conducted this year’s examination.
Female Success Rate Rises
Of the 43,112 women who registered for JEE Advanced 2026, 40,562 appeared in both papers, while 10,107 candidates qualified. The qualification rate among registered female candidates rose to 23.4 per cent, compared with 21.7 per cent in 2025. Among women who appeared for both papers, the qualification rate stood at 24.9 per cent.
The number of female qualifiers has risen considerably over the past decade. In 2016, 4,570 women had qualified for JEE Advanced. The 2026 figure of 10,107 represents an increase of more than 121 per cent over the period. However, women accounted for 17.76 per cent of all 56,880 JEE Advanced qualifiers, indicating that a gender gap continues to remain in the examination pipeline.
Top female candidate secures AIR 77
The highest-ranked female candidate in JEE Advanced 2026 scored 280 marks and secured All India Rank (AIR) 77. She scored 101 marks in Mathematics, 86 in Physics and 93 in Chemistry.
Female representation also showed a modest increase at the IIT admission stage. Of the 18,861 IIT seats allotted, women secured 3,851 seats, accounting for 20.22 per cent. This included 3,814 admissions through women-only supernumerary seats and 37 through the gender-neutral pool. The corresponding share stood at 20.15 per cent in 2025.
SC Qualification Rate Jumps
The JIC report also recorded a substantial improvement in qualification rates among Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
The SC qualification rate increased from 40.41 per cent in 2025 to 50.16 per cent in 2026, an increase of 9.8 percentage points. The number of SC qualifiers rose to 15,856, compared with 12,499 last year.
Among ST candidates, the qualification rate increased from 33.99 per cent to 42.14 per cent, while the number of qualifiers rose from 5,008 to 6,379.
In contrast, the qualification rate for candidates in the General category fell from 43 per cent to 39.8 per cent. The number of General category qualifiers declined from 16,154 in 2025 to 15,883 this year. The OBC-NCL qualification rate also slipped from 18.2 per cent to 17.5 per cent.
JEE Advanced 2026 was conducted on May 17 in two sessions. A total of 1,87,389 candidates registered, while 1,79,694 appeared in both papers. Of these, 56,880 candidates qualified.
For the examination, candidates were shortlisted category-wise from among the top 2,50,000 candidates in JEE Main 2026. Due to bunching of percentiles, 2,50,174 candidates were ultimately declared eligible, excluding foreign candidates and OCI/PIO candidates.
The latest figures point to a changing demographic profile among those clearing one of India's most competitive engineering entrance examinations, with female candidates crossing the 10,000 mark and SC and ST qualification rates registering significant gains in 2026.
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