This year, 17,340 candidates have been allotted seats in the 23 Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) after six rounds of the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling process, including 3,422 female candidates. The total number of available seats in IITs was 17,385, leaving 45 seats vacant, which is the first in the past five years. As per the data of the last five years, the number of seats allotted at the end of JoSAA has always been more than the number of available seats at the beginning of the counselling process. Last year, as many as 16,598 seats were available but the allotted seats were 16,635. In 2021, 16,232 seats were available at the beginning of the admission process as against 16,296 total seat allotment after the sixth round of admission. Explaining this, Prof Bishnupada Mandal, organising chairperson of JEE Advanced 2023, said, “The number of allotted seats are generally more than the number of originally available seats. This is because supernumerary seats are created during admissions rounds, in situations of tie for certain seats. This does not mean there is no vacancy.” Supernumerary seats are created in case of a tie for admission in certain popular branches of IITs for which a greater number of candidates are applying. Due to this in some IITs, allotted seats are shown more than originally available seats. Whereas in some IITs, vacancy can be witnessed in particular branches. “But such vacancy in particular branches of IITs is never evident, due to overall allotment which is generally higher than the available seats. But an explicit difference in available and allotted seats this year indicates if students are finding non-IIT options to be more attractive, post-pandemic,” said an IIT Delhi professor, requesting to remain anonymous. Another professor from IIT Bombay said, “Students also choose to opt out of JoSAA in case they know they are not likely to get admission to their desired course or IIT. And therefore opt to go for non-IIT institutes.” However, Prof Mandal reasoned that this difference in seats could be because of no or fewer tie-break scenarios. “This could be because there were fewer or no reasons to create supernumerary seats,” Prof Mandal said, adding that he would have to further look into the data. In 2023 too, IIT Bombay continues to remain the most preferred IIT for toppers with 245 of 1000 rankers of JEE Advanced followed by IIT Delhi with 208 candidates from the top 1000 rankers. New generation IITs including IIT Hyderabad, IIT BHU and IIT Indore are also seen attracting a considerable number of top 1000 rankers from the JEE Advanced. While 38 candidates were allotted seats in IIT Hyderabad, IIT BHU and IIT Indore admitted 23 and 2 students from the top 1000 rankers, respectively.
