The Joint Seat Allocation Authority released the Round 5 seat allotment — the final regular round of JoSAA 2026 counselling — on July 16, 2026 at the official portal @josaa.nic.in. This marks the conclusion of the standard five-round JoSAA process covering 67,323 engineering seats across 23 IITs, IISc Bengaluru, 31 NITs, 26 IIITs, IIEST Shibpur, and over 50 government-funded technical institutes. All remaining vacant seats in the NIT Plus System — covering NITs, IIITs, and GFTIs — will now be transferred to the Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) for two special counselling rounds.
Candidates allotted a seat in Round 5 must complete online reporting, pay the seat acceptance fee, and upload documents within the deadline published on the JoSAA portal. IITs do not participate in CSAB special rounds — only seats in the NIT Plus System are included. Candidates who did not receive a seat through any JoSAA round or who want to try for a better NIT or IIIT option should register for CSAB immediately when the window opens.
JoSAA Round 5 is the last chance for IIT seat allotments. After this, only NIT and IIIT seats remain available through CSAB. Students who have been floating through all five rounds and still did not receive their preferred branch should now make a pragmatic decision — either freeze their current seat or plan for CSAB and state-level counselling options.
