JoSAA 2025 Categorisation of Candidates

1

General Category Tag GEN

• This category is for OCI/PIO candidates who obtained their OCI/PIO card before March 4, 2021
• Indian nationals of the general category who do not fall under the GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, or ST category
• Fail to provide a valid GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, or ST certificate
• Not Persons with Disabilities (PwD).

2

General Category Tag GEN-PwD

• This is for OCI/PIO candidates who obtained their OCI/PIO card before March 4, 2021,
• Indian nationals of the general category who do not fall under the GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, or ST category
• Fail to provide a valid GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, or ST certificate) and are Persons with benchmark Disabilities (PwD).
• To receive this tag, candidates must provide a valid PwD certificate (or valid UDID card).

3

General Category Tag GEN-EWS

This is for Indian nationals of the general category who belong to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) are not Persons with Disabilities and are not in the OBC-NCL/SC/ST category.

4

General Category Tag GEN-EWS-PwD

This is for Indian nationals of the general category who belong to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) are Persons with Disabilities and are not in the OBC-NCL/SC/ST category.

5

Other Backward Classes Non-Creamy Layer Category Tag OBC-NCL

• This category is for Indian nationals who belong to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes (OBCNCL) and are not Persons with Disabilities.
• The backward class must be listed in the Central List of OBCs published by the National Commission for Backward Classes, Government of India.

6

Other Backward Classes Non-Creamy Layer Category Tag OBC-NCL-PwD

• This is for Indian nationals who belong to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes and are Persons with benchmark Disabilities.
• Therefore, candidates belonging to the Non-Creamy Layer of Other Backward Classes are split into two mutually exclusive categories and are assigned either the OBC-NCL or OBC-NCL-PwD tag.

7

Scheduled Castes Category Tag SC

• This is for Indian nationals who belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and are not Persons with Disabilities.
• The Scheduled Castes must be listed in the respective State-wise List published by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.

8

Scheduled Castes Category Tag SC-PwD

• This is for Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Castes and are Persons with benchmark Disabilities.
• To receive this tag, candidates must provide valid SC and PwD certificates.

9

Scheduled Tribes Category Tag ST

• This category is for Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Tribes (ST) and are not Persons with Disabilities.
• The Scheduled Tribes must be listed in the respective State-wise List published by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India.

10

Scheduled Tribes Category Tag ST-PwD

• This is for Indian nationals who belong to Scheduled Tribes and are Persons with benchmark Disabilities.
• To receive this tag, candidates must provide valid ST and PwD certificates.

11

For IIT

• Candidates who are not Indian nationals (by birth or naturalized including OCI/PIO card holders who have secured OCI/PIO cards after March 4, 2021) are assigned the Foreign Tag for seat allocation to IITs.
• These candidates are not eligible for reservation benefits (e.g., GEN-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, or PwD), and their seats are redundant.
• There are no separate supernumerary seats or sub-categories for females in the foreign national supernumerary seats according to the Judgment dated February 3, 2023, passed by the Supreme Court of India.

12

For NIT +System

• Candidates who are not Indian Nationals (by birth or naturalized) (including OCI/PIO card holders who have secured OCI/PIO cards after March 4, 2021) are assigned the Foreign tag.
• These candidates are not eligible for seat allocation through JoSAA to NIT+System.

JoSAA Choice Filling 2025

List of documents required for JoSAA counselling 2025