GATE 2026 PSU Cutoff: 2025 vs 2026 Trends and Key Changes

GATE 2026 PSU cutoffs have risen by 15–26 score points (out of 1000) compared to GATE 2025 across most major recruiters, with General category thresholds now ranging from 715 to 784 for top PSUs like GAIL, Power Grid, and NTPC.

Every year, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) set minimum GATE Score thresholds to shortlist engineers for their recruitment process. With GATE 2026 conducted by IIT Guwahati, updated cutoff figures have emerged across categories and branches. This article places GATE 2025 and GATE 2026 PSU cutoffs side by side and explains exactly what drove the shifts this cycle.

• GATE 2026 was conducted in February 2026 by IIT Guwahati across 29 test papers.
• Over 25 major PSUs use GATE 2026 scores for recruitment, including NTPC, BHEL, GAIL, ONGC, IOCL, and Power Grid.
• General category PSU cutoffs in 2026 ranged from 715 to 784 (GATE Score out of 1000), up from 698–763 in 2025.
• OBC, SC, and ST category cutoffs rose proportionally by 10–20 score points across most major PSUs.
• PSU recruitment through GATE 2026 is ongoing; a few organisations are yet to publish final shortlist cutoffs.

---

GATE 2026 PSU Cutoff Overview

PSU cutoffs are the minimum GATE Score (out of 1000) a student must secure to be shortlisted for the next stage of recruitment — typically a group discussion, personal interview, or medical examination. Each PSU announces its own cutoff based on the number of vacancies, the score distribution of applicants, and internal reservation norms. These cutoffs are significantly higher than the GATE qualifying cutoff (which only determines who receives a scorecard).

GATE 2026, organised by IIT Guwahati, covered 29 papers with a moderate overall difficulty level. A higher number of students scored in the 700–800 band compared to 2025, which compressed the effective shortlist window for top PSUs. The table below summarises the General category shift for eight major recruiters.

---

GATE 2025 vs 2026 PSU Cutoff Comparison

The year-on-year comparison shows cutoffs rising consistently across all categories. The increase is steepest for General category and EWS applicants. SC and ST students saw smaller absolute rises but similar percentage shifts. The table below breaks down four top PSUs across all categories for a clear apples-to-apples view.

---

Branch-wise GATE 2026 PSU Cutoff Trends

Not all branches moved equally. Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering saw the sharpest cutoff rises owing to strong PSU demand and a competitive applicant pool. Mining and Instrumentation Engineering experienced only marginal increases due to comparatively smaller applicant volumes in those papers.

---

Category-wise GATE 2026 PSU Cutoffs

PSU cutoffs follow government reservation norms. SC and ST students benefit from the largest absolute score relaxations while OBC-NCL students receive a moderate reduction. EWS students typically see cutoffs 20–25 points below the General threshold. The average cutoff ranges across major PSUs by category are listed below.

Average ranges derived from official PSU 2025 shortlist notifications and available 2026 data; individual PSU cutoffs may vary by branch and vacancy count.

---

Key Changes That Affected GATE 2026 PSU Cutoffs

Five concrete factors explain the upward shift in GATE 2026 PSU cutoffs relative to the previous year.

• Higher GATE 2026 registrations: Total GATE 2026 registrations exceeded the 2025 count, increasing competition across all papers and pushing shortlist thresholds upward as more students competed for the same number of seats.
• Fewer vacancies in certain PSUs: BHEL and Coal India announced smaller hiring batches for 2026, which raised effective cutoffs even where score distributions were similar to 2025.
• Moderate paper difficulty inflated the mid-score cluster: GATE 2026 maintained moderate overall difficulty under IIT Guwahati. A more accessible paper produced a denser population in the 700–800 score band, reducing the vacancy-to-applicant ratio at the cutoff boundary.
• New PSU segments joined the GATE 2026 cycle: Organisations in renewable energy and infrastructure began using GATE 2026 scores for recruitment, adding pressure on high-score bands particularly in EE and ME.
• Normalization formula refinement: IIT Guwahati introduced a refined normalization approach for multi-session GATE 2026 papers. The adjusted scores marginally shifted the effective score bands PSUs used when setting shortlist cutoffs.

---