Hyderabad: The results of JEE (Advanced) 2026, released on June 1, revealed a striking zone-wise distribution of India's top engineering aspirants.

Emerging as the strongest performer in the Top 500 ranks, the IIT Madras zone secured 174 of those positions-the highest among the seven IIT zones, as reported by the official press release.

The IIT Delhi zone is home to national topper Shubham Kumar, who delivered a powerful performance with 114 candidates in the Top 500. Furthermore, five of the Top 10 candidates hailed from Delhi-CRL 1, 2, 3, 7, and 10-which highlighted the zone's reputation as a high-performance hub within the JEE ecosystem.

Close behind, the IIT Bombay zone secured 120 places in the Top 500. Among these, two candidates were counted among the Top 10. Notably, the zone's topper, B. Jayakrishna Srinivas (CRL 6), led a strong performance, which also featured 23 candidates in the Top 100 and 47 in the Top 200.

The IIT Roorkee zone demonstrated consistent mid-range performance by placing 46 candidates in the Top 500. Although the zone did not break into the Top 10 this year, its topper, Nikunj Agrawal (CRL 11), nearly reached that highest bracket. Roorkee's distribution-9 in the Top 100 and 20 in the Top 200-reflected a balanced output of high-quality performers.

Trailing Roorkee, the IIT Kanpur zone featured 16 candidates in the Top 500. Three of those appeared in the Top 100. Leading the cohort, Riddhesh Anant Bendale (CRL 18) anchored Kanpur's performance.

Meanwhile, the IIT Bhubaneswar zone contributed 23 candidates to the Top 500. Furthermore, the zone placed one candidate in the Top 100 and five in the Top 200. This trend reflects a steady rise in the zone's academic competitiveness.