IIT Seats in India 2026: 18,826, as JEE Main 2027 Opens

The wins: a Boeing grant, an Intel Cup podium, and 313 new graduates

TL;DR: IIT Gandhinagar had the best week: its incubated startup Oreejoy Medtech won the Boeing BUILD National Finals and a ₹10 lakh grant, and the institute released the story of two third-years who won second prize at the Intel Cup in Shanghai in September. IIT Bhilai gave out 313 degrees, with women taking the top medals. An IIT Madras BS student's startup reportedly raised $1.1 million.

Boeing BUILD is Boeing's university innovation programme, and its fifth edition "received around 2,200 applications from across India, with 28 teams shortlisted for the National Finals and seven ultimately selected for the grant" (IIT Gandhinagar via EurekAlert). One of the seven is Oreejoy Medtech, incubated at IIT Gandhinagar, whose founder and technical director is Prof Uttama Lahiri of the electrical engineering department. Its product, INSTROLE, is a wearable insole that measures how a person walks, for use with Parkinson's and stroke patients. The company says its approach cuts the cost of gait analysis by about 80% against clinical systems that cost ₹25 lakh to ₹65 lakh, and that about 300 people have taken part in its studies. Be clear about what this is: a faculty-founded startup, not a student team, and a grant, not a sale.

The student win is the Intel Cup, and it is older than this week: the institute's own write-up is dated 24 September, and it went out through EurekAlert on 21 October. "Ms Miloni Thakkar, a third-year student of Computer Science and Engineering, and Ms Mitwa Goswami, a third-year student of Electrical Engineering, won the Second Prize at the Intel Cup, the international Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest 2026, held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University" (IIT Gandhinagar via EurekAlert, IIT Gandhinagar). Their system, TrustGate, reads network traffic and physical sensor data together to spot cyberattacks on industrial control systems such as water treatment plants, and runs on a single Intel board. Their mentor is Dr Sameer Kulkarni. The release is honest about the stage: "TrustGate remains a research prototype validated on a laboratory testbed rather than a live industrial deployment."

IIT Bhilai's sixth convocation on 24 October "awarded degrees to 313 students": 170 BTech, 8 BTech (Honours), 79 MTech, 37 MSc and 19 PhD (Indian Express, Times of India). Kriti Arora took the Institute Gold Medal for the highest BTech CGPA and Nidhi Singh the Director's Gold Medal for outstanding female student; the headline writers at Indian Express called it women sweeping the top honours. Former DRDO secretary Vijay Kumar Saraswat was chief guest. For an IIT that is ten years old, the other number in the report is the one to watch: 191 ongoing research projects with an outlay of ₹187 crore.

The money story is at IIT Madras, with a caveat. Kuldeep Rathore, a student of the IIT Madras BS degree in data science, "has reportedly raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from Antler, Titan Capital and All In Capital" for SamanNow, a 60-minute delivery startup for smaller cities (Education Times, India Today). Both outlets say "reportedly" and neither gives the round's date, so we carry it the same way. Rathore did not clear JEE Advanced and came across the online BS programme in September 2023; his earlier startup, Zodok, was acquired. Also in the table: IIT Palakkad's patent for a robot that can walk on four legs or fold into a drone, and an IIT (ISM) Dhanbad scholar's fellowship to Osaka, which is reported by one regional outlet so far.

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IIT Bombay, five weeks on: 21 faculty ask who called the police, and the institute says it did not

TL;DR: After police detained the parents and protesting students on 18 October, 21 faculty members wrote to the director calling the action unprecedented. The institute replied that it did not call the police, who were there under standard procedure for a visit by MP Varsha Gaikwad. An associate dean stepped down citing personal reasons, the parents wrote to the Chief Minister, and a dispute over seized belongings was unresolved on Saturday.

The sharpest intervention came from inside. "As many as 21 IIT-Bombay faculty members have written to the institute's director, condemning what they called 'unprecedented' police action against students peacefully protesting on campus on Sunday and seeking an explanation" (Times of India). Their sharpest question: "We have learnt that students detained at the police station tried to contact the dean of student affairs, Quick Response Team and chief security officer for help, but their requests were not entertained and that no institute functionary came to the police station. What accounts for it?"

The institute answered by email. "IIT Bombay has said it did not call the police to its campus on Oct 18", the day the protesting students were detained (Times of India). Its account is that police were present under standard procedure because Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and MLA Aslam Shaikh were visiting, that this coincided with the parents' arrival, and that "shortly before the MP and the parents arrived, the protesting students behaved aggressively towards police personnel and obstructed them from carrying out their duties". Hindustan Times reported the same reply and added that professors said it "did not address the circumstances leading to the students' detention and the handling of their belongings".

Three other things happened. The associate dean of student affairs "stepped down from the post last week, citing personal reasons" and continues to teach; the same report says a 10-member panel appointed by the board of governors "submitted on Oct 15 its report", which has not been made public (Times of India). The student's parents wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, said no government or institute official had met them in 16 days at Azad Maidan, and asked for an officer of DCP rank to lead the investigation (Hindustan Times, The Hindu). Their lawyer said the accused professor's statement was recorded on 1 October, 14 days after the death; sources in the police and the institute told Hindustan Times that, contrary to the family's claim, he had not left the country.

On 23 October the father asked for a separate FIR over the leak of CCTV footage and private phone conversations (Times of India).

Outside the gate, the case kept widening. More than 175 alumni appealed to political parties to "keep politics away from IIT-B", citing nearly 12,000 students (Hindustan Times, Free Press Journal); a student group called IIT B for Bharat warned that the uncertainty "may affect placements" (Careers360). Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah asking that the investigation be handed to the CBI (Hindustan Times). And on Saturday the return of belongings seized on 18 October, room keys, laptops and medicines among them, "reached a stalemate": the institute wants them collected individually before a panel under its lost-and-found procedure, the students want them returned as a group (Times of India). The students also want an Ambedkar statue removed from the site returned; the institute told faculty it had agreed to that "as a gesture of respect" (Hindustan Times).

What to watch: whether the board of governors publishes the panel report, and whether the police case against the professor moves. The abetment case, the faculty letter and the parents' demand for a senior investigating officer are now three separate tracks, and only the first one has a legal clock.

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IIT Madras's week: "pico" data centres, a Nature paper, a biotech finishing school and a school module

TL;DR: At an AI conclave on 22 October, director V Kamakoti announced a feasibility study for small "pico" data centres, launched a platform that scores AI tools on more than 50 metrics, and released a white paper on AI and jobs. The same week IIT Madras opened UDYOG, a finishing school for biotech graduates starting 18 January, co-wrote NCERT's new AI module for Classes 9 to 12 with IIT Jodhpur, and got a mention in Mann Ki Baat.

"The IIT-Madras on Thursday announced that it would take up a feasibility study for small data centres to be used for inference across a wide spectrum of subjects, including agriculture, space, manufacturing, health or law" (The Hindu). Kamakoti's line for it: "We should not be using a pistol to kill a mosquito." To Times of India he put the argument plainly: "We will need large language models to train AI models. But small data centres or pico-clouds are enough to use the models."

He also launched a software platform "for the evaluation of AI tools using over 50 metrics and 100 sub-metrics in multiple languages", released a white paper on how AI changes jobs, and announced 500 case-study videos with The Better India (The Hindu, ANI via EdexLive). Prof B Ravindran's framing of the jobs question is the useful one: "A job is composed of different kind of skills and AI is not uniformly good at replacing every one of them."

On Sunday the Prime Minister used Mann Ki Baat to describe the institute's brain centre, which he had inaugurated on 11 October (IIT Madras): "high-resolution, digital 3D images of the human brain, are being created, with the goal of mapping and studying 100 human brains in minute detail. This is the first mission of its kind in the world, and it utilizes the 'Param Shakti' supercomputer" (PMO transcript). He added that the data from the 100 brains "will be made available as an open-source resource".

Two programmes with dates. UDYOG, launched on 21 October through the IIT Madras-TICEL Biofoundry, is a finishing school for biotechnology and biomanufacturing: three months online, four weeks hands-on at the biofoundry, then pilot-scale work or internships (New Indian Express). "The first batch will commence on January 18, 2027 and early bird registration will close on December 15, 2026", and it is open to pre-final and final-year BTech, MTech and MSc students in biotech and allied fields "across all colleges and institutes in India" (The Hindu, Careers360). And NCERT's new 20-hour module on computational thinking and AI for Classes 9 to 12 "has developed the activity-based module in consultation with IIT Madras and IIT Jodhpur", with units on deepfakes, misinformation, data privacy and checking what AI generates (PTI via Deccan Chronicle).

Why it matters: the pico data centre idea is a bet that most Indian AI use will be inference, not training, and that inference can run on hardware a district hospital or a panchayat could afford. The evaluation platform is the part to test; if it is public and the metrics are published, it becomes the first Indian scorecard for AI tools. The research story is in the next section.

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The research week: a molecule that spins, a bond in seaborgium, and a blood test from one drop

TL;DR: IIT Madras has a paper in Nature: a single helicene molecule between gold electrodes rotates when current flows, and the current rises up to 100 times. IIT Roorkee shared in the first measurement of a chemical bond in a superheavy element. IIT Bombay licensed a one-drop anaemia and sickle-cell test to a startup, and put a number on the strain locked under the Uttarakhand Himalaya.

Machines that watch

• A molecule that turns, and conducts more (IIT Madras, Nature). Anil Kumar Singh, an assistant professor of physics, is a corresponding author on a paper published in Nature on 22 October. The team held a single helicene molecule, which is shaped like a tiny screw, between two gold electrodes, and found that "electrical current increased by up to 100 times when the molecule shifted from stepwise movement to continuous rotation" (Careers360). In all 122 cases where the direction could be read, the molecule turned the same way, and reversing the voltage reversed it (Times of India). Singh's caveat is the right one: "This is a fundamental proof-of-principle demonstration, rather than a technology ready for practical use." It was done at 4.2 kelvin.
• The first bond measured in a superheavy element (IIT Roorkee, Nature). Prof Moumita Maiti of the physics department was one of 24 scientists from eight institutions who measured the bond between seaborgium, element 106, and carbon monoxide at GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt (Times of India, Nature). The bond came out at 188 kilojoules per mole, against 192 for tungsten, the element above it, which overturns the trend from chromium to molybdenum to tungsten; the difference is put down to relativistic effects on the electrons of very heavy atoms. The scale of the experiment: "researchers identified a total of 75 seaborgium atoms. Only three of them formed the hexacarbonyl compound" (ETV Bharat). The paper came out on 7 October; the Indian coverage and the institute's statement were this week.
• How much strain the Uttarakhand Himalaya is holding (IIT Bombay, Earth and Planetary Science Letters). Dibyashakti Panda, Mridul Yadav, Eric O Lindsey and G Srinivasa Rao combined GNSS stations with Japan's ALOS-2 radar and found the Main Himalayan Thrust under Uttarakhand strongly locked: "the accumulated strain energy is equivalent to one Mw 8.1 megathrust earthquake every 100 years along this ∼300 km section of the megathrust" (ThePrint, EPSL). The slip deficit is about 18 mm a year over a locked width of about 115 km. The paper went online in early October; the coverage is this week. The authors say this is not a prediction of a quake every century; it is a budget of energy that has to go somewhere.
• Graphene as a sensor for quantum light (IIT Bombay, Physical Review B). Kartik Prabhu and Prof Gopal Dixit propose, in theory, that when "squeezed" quantum light is shone on graphene, normally forbidden harmonics appear and their polarisation carries information about the light's quantum fluctuations (Research Matters, Phys. Rev. B). The paper is from September; the write-up is this week.

Things you can hold

• A blood test from the length of a smear (IIT Bombay). Prof Mahesh Tirumkudulu's team in chemical engineering, with first author Dr Mahrukh Mir, showed that how far a drop of blood spreads on a glass slide encodes its viscosity, and that both diseases change it: anaemia lowers red-cell concentration and haemoglobin, sickle cell disease makes red cells rigid (PTI via ThePrint). In a 516-person study "the method correctly identified 95.1% of people with severe anaemia, defined as haemoglobin below 8 grams per decilitre (g/dL), and 86% of those without the condition"; a 394-person field test in tribal areas of Maharashtra and central India separated sickle cell trait from disease (NDTV Profit). The kit is a pipette, slides, a cheap chemical and a ruler. The patented smearing device is licensed to Rheoheme, an IIT Bombay startup, and the team is working with NIRTH Jabalpur and AIIMS Nagpur towards regulatory approval. The paper itself appeared in Lab on a Chip in March; the announcement is this week.
• A gel that cools a solar cell by 9.5 °C (IIT Mandi with Amity University, Solar Energy). A reusable gel of tin-coated carbon nanotubes in PVA "reduced the solar cell's operating temperature by 9.5 C and increased its power conversion efficiency from 12.5% to 13.2% under simulated sunlight"; after 40 days and a soak in water it was back to 13.3% (pv magazine, Solar Energy). The paper has been online since late September. No cost estimate yet, and the coverage does not name the lead author.
• A faster proton conductor for fuel cells (IIT Kharagpur with IACS Kolkata, Jadavpur University and the University of Ostrava, Journal of Energy Storage). An acid-doped nickel metal-organic framework showed proton conductivity an order of magnitude above the undoped version, an activation energy of 0.16 electron volts and "only a negligible 6% drop in conductivity" after four days of heat and humidity (Research Matters, J. Energy Storage). The paper has been online since late September; the write-up is this week.
• A coating that eats smog, on glass at least (IIT Madras, for the Delhi government). A titanium dioxide photocatalyst being tested for Delhi "has broken down 30% to 70% of gaseous pollutants in laboratory trials, with glass surfaces performing best so far", physicist Somnath Chanda Roy told India Today. The limit is built in: it acts on gases, not on particulate matter, which is most of Delhi's winter problem. A preliminary report went to the government in August.

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Careers Watch: a bank, an oil major and two AI rounds

TL;DR: Anup Bagchi (IIT Kanpur, chemical engineering 1990) takes charge as HDFC Bank's MD and CEO on 27 October. Sunil Kumar (ISM Dhanbad 1991) was named ONGC chairman. Ajeet Singh (IIT Kanpur) raised a $48 million seed for Different, the biggest AI cheque in India this week, and two IIT Madras 2019 graduates raised $9 million for Discovered Materials. Final placements at the older IITs start on 1 December, with more pre-placement offers for AI roles.

Read the table as a hiring signal. Three IIT alumni now sit, or are about to sit, at the top of a bank, a state oil company and one of the world's largest cybersecurity companies; the full story of the third is in Nikesh Arora: From IIT BHU to Palo Alto Networks CEO, which publishes alongside this roundup. Bagchi "will take charge as HDFC Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on October 27, 2026, for a three-year term ending October 26, 2029" (Sunday Guardian). Sunil Kumar is "the first executive in the company's history to rise directly from the rank of Executive Director to the top post" (The Jharkhand Story). None of the three got there through a startup.

The rounds are both AI, both American-led, both with IIT founders working from the United States. Different, Ajeet Singh's third company after Nutanix and ThoughtSpot, "emerged from stealth and raised $48 Mn, the biggest cheque for an AI startup this week" in Inc42's count, out of $184 million across 17 Indian deals. Discovered Materials, co-founded by Akash Ramdas (IIT Madras metallurgy, 2015 to 2019, then a Stanford PhD) and Advaith Sridhar (IIT Madras's best outgoing student of 2019), says its AI agents "can explore thousands of potential materials in a single day" against the 20 a day Ramdas managed in his doctorate (Moneycontrol, Mint). The Indian coverage of that round ran on 19 and 20 October, citing TechCrunch; the round itself may be a few days older.

For final years, the date is 1 December. "According to a report by The Economic Times, the final placement season at the seven older IITs is scheduled to begin on 1 December", with companies "offering more pre-placement offers (PPOs) even as some remain cautious about expanding overall fresher hiring" (BW People). IIT Guwahati's placement head John Jose sees "greater interest in applied AI and AI-assisted technology roles, even as traditional software and services hiring faces pressure"; IIT Kanpur's placement chair Manjesh K Singh says AI skills are now written into job descriptions in finance and core engineering too. For PhDs and postdocs: IIT Hyderabad is hiring faculty in 16 departments until 12 November (India Today).

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Exams and admissions: GATE 2027 in February, JAM closed, and a first MD at an IIT

GATE 2027. IIT Madras, the organising institute, lists the exam on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027, with results on 19 March and exam-city allotment on 4 January (GATE 2027). If your application came back with a defect, the rectification window, first set to close on 21 October, now runs to 31 October (GATE 2027, Jagran Josh). Our guides to the new Robotics and Automation paper and the DigiLocker requirement still apply.

JAM 2027. IIT Kharagpur extended the registration deadline a third time, from 12 to 19 to 22 and finally 24 October, and the site lists 24 October as the extended last date (EdexLive, JAM 2027). The exam is on 14 February 2027 in seven subjects, results on 18 March, and 89 postgraduate programmes across the 23 IITs admit through it. Indian Express has the session split: Chemistry, Geology and Mathematics in the morning, Biotechnology, Economics, Mathematical Statistics and Physics in the afternoon.

An MD at IIT Kharagpur, if the NMC agrees. "If approved, IIT Kharagpur will become the first IIT to offer a postgraduate medical programme, said director Suman Chakraborty" (The Telegraph). The institute applied this year for a 20-seat MD programme in six specialities including general medicine, radiology and pathology, an NMC team has inspected, 20 doctors have been appointed to teach, and selection would be through NEET. The MBBS plan remains on hold. This is one outlet's report; we will carry the NMC decision when it comes.

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The trend: the IITs are teaching people who will never sit JEE

Count the audiences the IITs addressed this week who are not IIT students. Class 9 to 12 pupils, through NCERT's AI module written with IIT Madras and IIT Jodhpur (Deccan Chronicle). Nearly 300 Delhi schoolgirls, through IIT Delhi's programme with Lithuania and UNESCO (EdexLive). Fifteen final-year MBBS students, through IIT Hyderabad's 10-day course on AI in medicine (Telangana Today). Biotech students at any college, through UDYOG (New Indian Express, Careers360). Thirty trainees in a paper factory in Ayodhya, through IIT Roorkee's diploma with Pakka (The Pioneer). Future doctors, if the NMC clears IIT Kharagpur's MD (The Telegraph).

Put that next to the seat number in the deep dive. The BTech intake grew by 2,228 seats in four years, which is real but slow. The reach grew faster, through modules, short courses, diplomas and finishing schools that carry an IIT name without an IIT seat. Whether that dilutes the brand or spreads it is the argument the institutes will be having for the rest of the decade. For now the pattern is clear: the IITs are becoming the standards body for Indian technical education, not just its top rung.

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What students are saying: placement nerves, five weeks before Day 1

On the campus subreddits the week was about one thing. The most-discussed post on r/iitkgp, titled "Placement 2026 Cooked?", lists Flipkart, JPMC, Amazon, Nomura, Microsoft and DE Shaw as companies the poster had "heard" were not coming this year and asks whether the placement committee is "even trying" (r/iitkgp, 98 points, 44 comments). That is a rumour about companies, not a confirmed list. One of the most-upvoted replies, from a self-described former placement-committee member, is the part worth reading: "Placement anxiety is real. For many people, that first salary matters to their entire family. You deserve clear communication from CDC and accountability for the work being done." Another reply says the same panic "happens every year" and that last year Flipkart turned up a week or two before Illumination.

The same mood shows up elsewhere: a final-year at IIT Delhi posted on r/iitbhu asking other campuses for their online-assessment data because "things on our campus feel a bit off this year. fewer companies than expected and everything is moving slowly" (r/iitbhu, 16 points), and an IIT Roorkee student expects "placement Stats would be worse than ever" (r/IITR). Set that against the one dated fact in Careers Watch: Day 1 at the seven older IITs is 1 December, and recruiters told the Economic Times they are offering more pre-placement offers for AI roles while staying cautious on fresher hiring overall (BW People). Both can be true. The companies that come may come later and hire fewer.

Across the 23 IITs this week

Stories that did not earn a full section but round out the 23-IIT picture. A quiet week is reported as one, after reading each institute's own news page and the week's press.

Older IITs (Bombay to Kharagpur)

• IIT Bombay: Five weeks after a student's death: 21 faculty write to the director, the institute says it did not call the police, an associate dean steps down, and a one-drop anaemia test is licensed to a campus startup (all above). An IIT Bombay-led study also put a number on the strain under the Uttarakhand Himalaya (research).
• IIT Delhi: Nearly 300 Delhi schoolgirls finished an AI foundations and ethics programme run with Lithuanian NGO Women Go Tech, the Lithuanian embassy and UNESCO; the closing event on campus was reported on 20 October (EdexLive). An IIT Delhi alumnus became Honasa's product and technology chief (Careers Watch).
• IIT Madras: A Nature paper, a frugal-AI week, a biotech finishing school, a Mann Ki Baat mention and a co-credit on NCERT's school AI module (all above).
• IIT Kanpur: Two alumni take big chairs: Anup Bagchi at HDFC Bank from 27 October and Ajeet Singh's $48 million seed (Careers Watch). The institute is knowledge partner for the Youth Entrepreneurs Challenge 2027, whose idea submissions closed on 22 October (Times of India). Antaragni runs 29 October to 1 November (our guide).
• IIT Kharagpur: Awaiting the National Medical Commission's decision on a 20-seat MD programme for 2027, which would make it the first IIT with a postgraduate medical degree; director Suman Chakraborty says an NMC team has already inspected (The Telegraph). JAM 2027 registration, which it runs, closed on 24 October after a third extension (EdexLive). Also a fuel-cell material with IACS Kolkata (research) and a solar-powered vending cart for street vendors (IND Today).

Second-generation IITs

• IIT Roorkee: Prof Moumita Maiti was one of 24 scientists on the first bond-strength measurement in a superheavy element (research). A three-way MoU with Pakka Skills and Parson Machinery opens a two-year PG Diploma in Pulp and Paper Technology, taught inside Pakka's factory in Ayodhya, with a first batch of 30 from mid-November (The Pioneer).
• IIT Guwahati: Prof Sudhakar Nadkarni, who set up its Department of Design in 1997 and earlier founded IIT Bombay's Industrial Design Centre, died in Mumbai on 19 October aged 88 (Northeast Now). Hackyard Build, a 24-hour AI hackathon run by an Assam company, was scheduled to bring about 300 builders to campus on 24 and 25 October (EastMojo). Its placement head says recruiters want applied-AI roles (Careers Watch).
• IIT (BHU) Varanasi: C-DOT opened its sixth Centre of Excellence on campus for 5G-Advanced, 6G, AI, quantum and cybersecurity research; the MoU was signed and the centre inaugurated the same day (StratNews Global). Its School of Physical AI and Autonomous Systems, announced in July, is still planned to take its first BTech batch through JEE Advanced in 2027 (EdexLive).
• IIT Hyderabad: Its one-credit elective "Goodness: Character, Responsibility and Human Flourishing" got national coverage this week; more than 140 students have opted in (Telangana Today). Photonics 2026 runs on campus from 9 to 13 December with Nobel laureate Donna Strickland among the speakers (Siasat). It also ran a 10-day AI-in-medicine course for 15 final-year MBBS students (Telangana Today) and is hiring faculty in 16 departments until 12 November (India Today).
• IIT Indore: LAUNCHPAD, its new incubation centre at Sinhasa IT Park, picked five startups from 104 applications for its first cohort: GoUrbano, Remote Physios, PragyanikAI, Few Good Humans and Rages India Revolution (Free Press Journal, Times of India).
• IIT Bhubaneswar: As Odisha's nodal institute for Design for Bharat 2027, it is taking entries from 18-to-29-year-olds until 31 October; state winners show at IIT Bhubaneswar and finalists at Bharat Mandapam (Prameya).
• IIT Gandhinagar: The week's wins: Oreejoy's Boeing BUILD grant and two third-years' second prize at the Intel Cup (above). Separately, a 25-year-old student was injured in a fall from a building in the academic area about a week before 22 October; the institute says she is recovering with her parents on campus, police say the cause is undetermined and no complaint has been filed (Times of India, Careers360).
• IIT Ropar: Hosted the International Symposium on Semiconductor Materials and Devices from 23 to 25 October, and its 8th Unity Run on 25 October (IIT Ropar). Director Rajeev Ahuja told India Today that financial self-sufficiency is the priority and that the institute counts more than 600 startups (India Today).
• IIT Jodhpur: Co-developed, with IIT Madras and NCERT, the new 20-hour computational thinking and AI module for Classes 9 to 12, which NCERT released this week (PTI via Deccan Chronicle).
• IIT Mandi: Dr Puran Singh's GUESSS India report, covering 25,783 students, made the papers this week: 43% want to start a business and about one in five already has (Indian Express). A dual PhD with Missouri S&T closes on 30 October (EdexLive), and a solar-cell cooling gel with Amity (research).
• IIT Patna: Quiet week. The institute site (iitp.ac.in) and the week's news had nothing new.
• IIT (ISM) Dhanbad: Alumnus Sunil Kumar (ISM 1991, petroleum engineering) was named ONGC chairman by an order dated 21 October; he takes charge on or after 7 December (The Jharkhand Story, Business Standard). Its Durga Puja pandal was themed on critical minerals and semiconductors (New Indian Express).

Newest IITs

• IIT Bhilai: Its sixth convocation on 24 October gave out 313 degrees; the medallists are in the wins table (Indian Express, Times of India).
• IIT Dharwad: Posted its MoU with the University of Agder, Norway, signed on 16 October during a delegation visit, covering research, exchange and student mobility (IIT Dharwad). Spring PhD applications are open.
• IIT Jammu: Hosted the AAROHAN north-region teacher-training workshop under the Malaviya Mission on 25 and 26 October (IIT Jammu). No press story this week in Google News or the Jammu papers.
• IIT Palakkad: Flagged off a 48-member Kerala delegation to BHU under Yuva Sangam phase VII, and will host 45 students from Uttar Pradesh in return (IIT Palakkad, The Hindu). Prof Santhakumar Mohan and scholar Prashant Raturi were granted an Indian patent for a robot that walks on four legs and folds into a five-rotor drone (IIT Palakkad).
• IIT Goa: Quiet week. Its site (iitgoa.ac.in), Google News and the Goa papers show nothing in the window. A Sustainability Conclave is listed for 14 November.
• IIT Tirupati: Quiet week on its own news page, which has not been updated since July (iittp.ac.in). Its innovation hub IITTNiF signed a geospatial-AI research pact with Canada's Deepspatial on 16 October, reported on 18 October (Lokmat Times).

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Coming next

• 27 Oct: Anup Bagchi takes charge at HDFC Bank (Sunday Guardian).
• 28 Oct: UGC-NET December 2026 regular applications close; late fee to 31 Oct (NTA).
• 29 Oct to 1 Nov: Antaragni at IIT Kanpur (Antaragni, our guide).
• 30 Oct: IIT Mandi and Missouri S&T dual PhD applications close (EdexLive).
• 31 Oct: GATE 2027 defect rectification closes (GATE 2027); Design for Bharat 2027 open challenge closes, IIT Bhubaneswar is Odisha's nodal institute (Prameya); Techfest zonal rounds in Kochi, Chandigarh and Kanpur (Techfest).
• 4 Nov: CAT 2026 admit cards; the test is on 29 Nov (iimcat.ac.in).
• 12 Nov: IIT Hyderabad faculty applications close (India Today).
• 22 Nov: JEE Main 2027 Session 1 registration closes (NTA).
• 1 Dec: Final placements open at the seven older IITs (BW People).
• 7 Dec: Sunil Kumar can take charge at ONGC from this date (The Jharkhand Story).
• 9 to 13 Dec: Photonics 2026 at IIT Hyderabad (Siasat).
• 15 Dec: Early-bird registration closes for UDYOG, IIT Madras's biotech finishing school; first batch 18 Jan (Careers360). Techfest and Mood Indigo follow at IIT Bombay.
• 20 to 28 Jan 2027: JEE Main Session 1 (NTA). 6 to 21 Feb: GATE 2027 (GATE 2027). 14 Feb: JAM 2027 (JAM).

FAQ

How many seats are there in the IITs in 2026?

18,826, according to the JEE Advanced seat matrix as analysed by Indian Express on 23 October 2026. That is up 13.4% from 16,598 in 2022. Within it, 3,776 seats are female-only supernumerary seats, about a fifth of the total.

When does JEE Main 2027 registration close?

Session 1 registration runs from 24 October to 22 November 2026, 11:50 pm, on jeemain.nta.nic.in. A late window with a ₹500 extra fee runs 23 to 26 November, and corrections are allowed 27 to 29 November, per the NTA notice dated 24 October 2026.

What are the JEE Main 2027 exam dates?

Session 1 is on 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28 January 2027, in two shifts. Admit cards come on 13 January and exam cities are announced on 30 December 2026. Session 2 is in April 2027; NDTV reports 2 to 7 April with applications from 5 January to 3 February.

When is GATE 2027?

GATE 2027, organised by IIT Madras, is on 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 February 2027, with results on 19 March 2027. Application defects can be corrected until 31 October 2026.

Who won the Boeing BUILD National Finals 2026 from the IITs?

Oreejoy Medtech, a startup incubated at IIT Gandhinagar and founded by Prof Uttama Lahiri, won a ₹10 lakh grant as one of seven teams selected from about 2,200 applications. Its product INSTROLE is a wearable insole for gait analysis.

What did IIT Bombay say about the police action on 18 October 2026?

In an email to faculty, IIT Bombay said it did not call the police on 18 October and that police were on campus under standard procedure for a visit by MP Varsha Gaikwad and MLA Aslam Shaikh. Twenty-one faculty members had written to the director calling the action unprecedented.

When do IIT placements start in 2026?

Final placements at the seven older IITs begin on 1 December 2026, according to an Economic Times report carried by BW People. Recruiters are offering more pre-placement offers for AI roles while staying cautious on overall fresher hiring.

Your IIT had a week? Campus hoodies for every IIT: Gandhinagar, Madras, Kanpur, Bombay, Roorkee, Bhilai, and the rest of the 23.

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Support: Tele MANAS, the national mental health helpline, is free and available 24/7 on 14416.

By Arun Raghav S · Co-founder, IITian Vibes · Facts retrieved 25 October 2026 from the linked official pages and documents. Corrections to hello@iitianvibes.com.