In the current IIT admission landscape for 2023, a total of 17,340 candidates secured seats across 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) through the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) counselling process. Notably, 3,422 female candidates were among the successful allotments. Surprisingly, 45 seats were left vacant, marking an unusual occurrence in the past five years where allotted seats consistently exceeded the initially available seats.
Over the last five years, the end-of-process seat allotments have consistently surpassed the initial seat availability. This anomaly is explained by the creation of supernumerary seats during admission rounds, particularly in cases of tie-break situations for popular IIT branches. Professor Bishnupada Mandal, organizing chairperson of JEE Advanced 2023, clarified that the presence of supernumerary seats might make it seem like more seats are allotted than initially available, leading to a misunderstanding about the vacancy.
The higher-than-expected vacancy this year hints at potential shifts in student preferences post-pandemic. Anonymously, an IIT Delhi professor suggested that students might be exploring non-IIT options more than before. Another factor contributing to the difference could be students opting out of JoSAA if they anticipate not securing admission to their desired course or IIT and instead choosing non-IIT institutes.
Professor Mandal proposed an alternative explanation, suggesting that the discrepancy in seats might be due to fewer or no tie-break scenarios, reducing the need for creating supernumerary seats. He expressed the need for a more in-depth analysis of the data to draw definitive conclusions.
In the realm of top IIT choices, IIT Bombay retained its position as the most preferred institute, attracting 245 candidates from the top 1000 JEE Advanced rankers. IIT Delhi followed closely with 208 candidates. Interestingly, new-generation IITs like IIT Hyderabad, IIT BHU, and IIT Indore are witnessing increased interest, with 38, 23, and 2 students from the top 1000 rankers, respectively.