New Delhi / Roorkee, October 6, 2026 – For the first time in six years, more than 10,000 women candidates have qualified for JEE Advanced 2026. A total of 10,107 female candidates cleared the examination, according to the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report released by IIT Roorkee, the organising institute for this year’s exam.
Of the 43,112 women who registered for JEE Advanced 2026, 40,562 appeared in both Paper 1 and Paper 2, and 10,107 qualified. The qualification rate among registered female candidates rose to 23.4%, up from 21.7% in 2025 – the highest rate recorded in the six-year period covered by the report. Approximately one in four registered women candidates qualified this year, compared with roughly one in five last year.
The number of women qualifiers increased from 9,404 in 2025 to 10,107 in 2026. This growth occurred even though female registrations were marginally lower than the previous year’s 43,413, indicating improved performance among those who appeared. Over a longer horizon, the number of women qualifying has more than doubled from 4,570 in 2016 to 10,107 in 2026.
The top-performing female candidate secured All India Rank 77 with a total score of 280 marks (101 in Mathematics, 86 in Physics and 93 in Chemistry). In terms of seat allotment, 3,814 female-only seats (including supernumerary seats) were allotted, and 37 female candidates secured seats through the gender-neutral pool
The JIC report also noted sharp improvements in qualification rates for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates. Overall, 56,880 candidates qualified out of 1,79,694 who appeared in both papers. Qualifying criteria were relaxed to ensure at least twice the number of candidates qualified relative to available seats in each category.
This milestone reflects growing participation and success of women in one of India’s most competitive engineering entrance examinations and contributes to improved gender representation in the IIT admission pipeline.