JEE Main Reservation Criteria

The National Testing Agency (NTA) will release the reservation criteria for JEE Main 2026 on its official website jeemain.nta.ac.in. The information related to reservation is important for students as it affects the application fee, cutoff marks and admission process. In this article, we have given complete information about reservation applicable in JEE Main 2026.

JEE Main Reservation Percentages

Candidates from different categories can avail themselves of specific reservation benefits in JEE Main 2025. Below is the detailed reservation breakdown:

Category	Reservation Percentage
General Economically Weaker Sections (GEN-EWS)	10%
Scheduled Castes (SC)	15%
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	7.5%
Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes (OBC-NCL)	27%
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	5%

Reservation for Central Government Institutes

The table below highlights the JEE Main Reservation Criteria 2025 for institutes under the central government:

Categories	Reservation Percentage
General Economically Weaker Sections (GEN-EWS)	10%
Scheduled Castes (SC)	15%
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	7.5%
Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes (OBC-NCL)	27%
Persons with Disabilities	5% in each category

JEE Main 2026: OBC-NCL Reservation Criteria

Students falling in OBC-NCL category are required to check their name in the list released by NCBC (National Commission for Backward Classes). If your name is not in the list, select General category while applying.

JEE Main 2026: PwD Reservation Criteria

Students who have a disability of 40% or more are eligible for PwD reservation. Eligible disabilities include:

Blindness or low vision
Deafness or hearing loss
Physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, leprosy, dwarfism, etc.
Autism, mental disability or learning difficulty
Multiple disabilities

JEE Main 2026: Women Reservation

To increase women participation in engineering, many colleges reserve 5% seats for women. For this, girl students have to apply under the women quota system.

JEE Main 2026: EWS Reservation Criteria

10% reservation has been implemented for the EWS category. The eligibility criteria should be as follows:

Parents should have a flat of 1000 sq ft or more
5 acres or more agricultural land
Plot of 100 sq yard or more in specified municipality
Plot of 200 sq yard or more in non-municipality area

JEE Main 2026: State University Reservation

Students also get benefits based on state quota:

Home State Quota: If the student has passed 12th from the same state, then he/she is given preference.
Other State Quota: Students from other states are put in a separate category.

How to Claim Reservation in JEE Main 2026?

Fill the application form – choose the correct category
No certificate upload required – at the time of application
Submit documents at counselling – like caste certificate, disability certificate etc

JEE Main 2026: Required Documents

Category Certificate (SC/ST/OBC/EWS)
Disability Certificate (PwD)
Certificate issued by the competent authority

JEE Main 2026: Reservation in NITs

50% seats for home state students
50% seats for other state students
Special reservation for students from some union territories (like NIT Goa, NIT Puducherry)

FAQs

Need answers? Find them here...

Candidates belonging to the General Economically Weaker Section (GEN-EWS) category are eligible for 10% reservation in JEE Main 2026 as per central government norms.

Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates are eligible for 15% reservation in admissions through JEE Main 2026.

Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates are entitled to 7.5% reservation under the JEE Main 2026 reservation policy.

Candidates belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes (OBC-NCL) are eligible for 27% reservation in JEE Main 2026. Ensure your name is listed in the NCBC official list to claim this benefit.

A 5% horizontal reservation is available for PwD candidates in each category (GEN, OBC, SC, ST, etc.). Applicants must have at least 40% disability and possess a valid disability certificate to be eligible.