As of January 29, 2026 (current date), the JEE Main 2026 Session 1 (January exam, held from January 21 to January 29, 2026) is ongoing or recently concluded for most days. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has released partial/ cumulative attendance statistics for appeared candidates up to certain dates (up to Jan 24 & 28 in some reports), but a detailed category-wise (GEN, EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD) breakdown of appeared students has not been officially published yet on the NTA website (jeemain.nta.nic.in or nta.ac.in).
NTA typically releases full gender/category-wise statistics only after the completion of both sessions (January + April) and/or with the final results/rank lists (expected in late April/May 2026 for the full year). For now, only aggregate appeared numbers and some day-wise/partial data are available from official NTA notices and reliable education portals (Shiksha, Careers360, etc.).
Current Available Statistics (Session 1 - January 2026)
- Total Registered (Session 1): Approximately 14.5 lakh (highest in recent years, unofficial estimates from multiple sources; official final count pending).
- Total Appeared (Cumulative up to Jan 21-24 & 28, 2026): 13,00,368 candidates (across all shifts/days reported so far).
- Attendance rate: 96.26%.
- Scheduled: Around 13,50,969.
- Earlier partial (up to Jan 21-24): 10,36,211 appeared (96.26% attendance).
- Up to Jan 21-23: 7,70,441 appeared (96.15% attendance).
Category-wise appeared numbers are not yet released officially for 2026. Past years (e.g., 2025 Session 1) showed patterns like:
- General: Highest share (~40-45%).
- OBC-NCL: Often the largest single category (~35-40%).
- But exact 2026 breakdown will come later.
Expected/Approximate Category Distribution (Based on Trends & Quota Insights)
NTA shortlists top 2.5 lakh (2,50,000) candidates for JEE Advanced 2026, with category quotas:
- OPEN (GEN): 40.5% (1,01,250)
- GEN-EWS: 10% (25,000)
- OBC-NCL: 27% (67,500)
- SC: 15% (37,500)
- ST: 7.5% (18,750)
- PwD: Horizontal across categories.
This implies the appeared pool is distributed roughly similarly (with OBC and General dominating registrations/appearances historically). For precise 2026 appeared category-wise:
- Check the official NTA JEE Main website (jeemain.nta.nic.in) for updates post-exam (likely in press releases or result notifications).
- Full stats (including category/gender) usually appear in NTA's final scorecard/result press release or information bulletin addendums.