JEE Advanced 2026: Comparing Placements of First Gen IITs; Who is Leading?

Among the 23 IITs of the nation, the top five IITs are the first generation of IITs. These IITs have been dominating the preference of the candidates while selecting the institute and course for admission after cracking JEE Advanced. Here is a closer look at the median salary offered to the previous three batches of the top 5 IITs.

Cracking JEE Advanced comes as a big challenge, and it is important to have a seat goal with a focused preparation approach. Candidates must select the IIT they want to target and analyse its previous year's opening and closing ranks. This will give them an idea of the JEE Advanced ranks and marks they need to target. But how to choose an IIT for admission? Selecting an IIT can be influenced by various factors like placement, research facilities, reputation of the IIT, interest in a branch, etc. However, the most important factor that many consider while selecting an IIT is its placement record. 

Over the past years, the first generation of IITs has continued their domination as the most preferred IIT among the JEE aspirants. The first generation of IITs includes: IIT Kharagpur (1951), IIT Bombay (1958), IIT Madras (1959), IIT Kanpur (1959), and IIT Delhi (1961). IIT Bombay and its CSE branch is the most popular course and institute combination among the top-ranked candidates of the JEE Advanced exam. In the last session, 73 of the top 100 rankers in JEE Advanced 2025 chose IIT Bombay.

Median Salary of Placed Graduates Per Annum at First Gen IITs as per NIRF 2025

As per the NIRF ranking 2025, the median salary of the previous three-year placements of the first generation of the IITs is as follows:

Name of the IIT	Median Salary of Placed Graduates Per Annum
	2023-24	2022-23	2021-22
IIT Kharagpur	INR 19,76,000	INR 24,00,000	INR 18,75,000
IIT Bombay	INR 19,61,000	INR 19,63,000	INR 18,80,000
IIT Madras	INR 17,50,000	INR 16,63,440	INR 17,00,000
IIT Kanpur	INR 19,40,000	INR 23,00,000	INR 22,07,000
IIT Delhi	INR 19,08,000	INR 20,00,000	INR 20,50,000

Note that the above data is as per the NIRF ranking 2025 report for UG 4-Year programs only.

From the above data, it is clear that:

• IIT Kanpur had the best median salary record of the candidates placed in 2022-23 and 2021-22. However, IIT Bombay had the best median salary record in 2023-24.
• IIT Delhi also had one of the best median salary records.
• The median salary dipped across all five IITs, with the best median salary record held by IIT Kharagpur.

In short, in terms of median salary, the top IITs are IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur. IIT Bombay and IIT Kharapur have more or less a similar record. However, IIT Madras, which has been ranked as the number of institute in the overall and engineering category, has the lowest median salary record in the past three years among the first gen IITs.

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