UCEED Seat Matrix 2026: 245 B.Des Seats, Institute Wise Distribution and Category Wise Seats

UCEED 2026 seat intake covers a total of 245 B.Des seats across seven premier design institutions in India — six IITs and IIITDM Jabalpur. IIT Bombay conducts UCEED on behalf of all participating institutes, and all 245 seats are filled through a centralised Joint Admission Process (JAP) based on UCEED 2026 scores.

• UCEED 2026 has a total of 245 B.Des seats across 7 participating institutes.
• IIITDM Jabalpur has the highest seat intake at 66 seats, followed by IIT Guwahati with 56 seats.
• OBC-NCL students have access to 66 seats (27% reservation) — the largest reserved category block in UCEED 2026.
• The seat matrix follows central institution reservation norms: 27% OBC-NCL, 15% SC, 7.5% ST, 10% EWS, and 5% PwD horizontal reservation within each category.
• 13 of the 245 seats are sub-reserved for PwD students, distributed as horizontal reservation across all five categories.
• Foreign nationals and eligible OCI card holders (card issued on or after March 4, 2021) may be allotted supernumerary seats capped at 10% per programme per institute, subject to matching the Open category closing rank.
• UCEED 2026 counselling concluded after five rounds, with Round V allotment released on July 9, 2026. The post-Round V vacancy snapshot showing unfilled seats across all institutes is expected to be published shortly on the official portal.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake: Overview

UCEED (Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design) is a national-level entrance exam conducted by IIT Bombay for admission to the Bachelor of Design (B.Des) programme. UCEED 2026 seat intake stands at 245 seats distributed across six IITs and IIITDM Jabalpur.

All 245 seats are for the four-year B.Des programme. There is no state quota or All India Quota (AIQ) split in UCEED — all seats are in the All India Pool, filled through the centralised Joint Admission Process (JAP) run by IIT Bombay. This distinguishes UCEED from medical and engineering exams where state and central quotas operate as separate pools.

UCEED 2026 ran five centralised rounds of seat allotment between April and July 2026. Round V was the final round — allotment was released on July 9, 2026, and the fee acceptance deadline (FREEZE option) was July 13, 2026. No withdrawal is permitted after Round V. With the fee acceptance window now closed, the main Joint Admission Process is complete. The official post-Round V vacancy snapshot — showing any seats that remain unfilled across all institutes — is expected to be published on the UCEED portal shortly.

UCEED 2026 Institute-Wise Seat Intake

The 245 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026 are spread across seven institutes in six states. Seat counts per institute range from 16 seats at IIT Indore to 66 seats at IIITDM Jabalpur. The table below reflects the official UCEED 2026 seat matrix published on the UCEED portal, with category-wise figures per institute.

Note: PwD seats are horizontal reservations carved from within each vertical category. Where shown, "incl. 1 PwD" means one seat in that cell is sub-reserved for PwD students. The 13 total PwD sub-seats are included in the category and institute totals above — they are not additional seats. For the complete sub-category breakdown (Open-PwD, EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD, ST-PwD per institute), refer to the official seat matrix at uceed.iitb.ac.in.

Madhya Pradesh accounts for 82 of the 245 seats — the highest for any state — owing to both IIT Indore (16 seats) and IIITDM Jabalpur (66 seats) being located there. Assam (IIT Guwahati, 56 seats) and Maharashtra (IIT Bombay, 37 seats) are the next-largest represented states.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Maharashtra

IIT Bombay’s IDC School of Design offers 37 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026. The category split is 15 Open, 10 OBC-NCL, 5 SC, 4 EWS, and 3 ST. Two PwD sub-seats are included within the Open and OBC-NCL categories respectively. IIT Bombay’s IDC is historically the most competitive UCEED destination — its 37-seat intake relative to nationwide applicant demand produces the tightest closing ranks of any participating institute.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Assam

IIT Guwahati’s Department of Design offers 56 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026 — the second-highest intake across all participating institutes. With 23 Open-category seats (the highest Open allocation after IIITDM Jabalpur), IIT Guwahati is among the most accessible IITs in UCEED. Three PwD sub-seats are distributed across the Open, EWS, and OBC-NCL categories.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Madhya Pradesh

Two institutes in Madhya Pradesh participate in UCEED 2026. IIITDM Jabalpur contributes 66 seats — the highest among all institutes — while IIT Indore’s School of Innovation contributes 16 seats. Together, they account for 82 B.Des seats. IIITDM Jabalpur is also the only institute permitted to run an institutional spot round for any seats unfilled after all five JAP rounds.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Telangana

IIT Hyderabad’s Department of Design offers 30 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026. The breakdown is 12 Open, 8 OBC-NCL, 5 SC, 3 EWS, and 2 ST. Two PwD sub-seats are included — one in OBC-NCL and one in ST.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Uttarakhand

IIT Roorkee’s Department of Design offers 20 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026. One PwD sub-seat is in the SC category. IIT Roorkee is among the newer UCEED participants, expanding access to IIT-branded design education in northern India.

UCEED 2026 Seat Intake in Delhi

IIT Delhi’s Department of Design offers 20 B.Des seats for UCEED 2026. One PwD sub-seat is in the EWS category. Despite its smaller intake of 20 seats, IIT Delhi’s brand and location in the national capital make it among the most sought-after UCEED destinations, with closing ranks that typically rival IIT Bombay.

How Many Seats Are in UCEED 2026?

UCEED 2026 offers 245 B.Des seats in total. This is a limited seat pool compared to engineering or medical entrance exams, making UCEED one of the most selective design entrance exams in India. Every seat is for the four-year Bachelor of Design (B.Des) programme — UCEED does not cover postgraduate design programmes.

The seat count has grown as more IITs joined the Joint Admission Process. UCEED 2026 has seven participating institutes — a significant expansion from the three institutes that made up the original cohort when the exam was introduced in 2015. IIT Indore and IIT Roorkee are among the more recent additions, each contributing 16 and 20 seats respectively to the overall pool and lowering cutoff pressure across the board.

IIITDM Jabalpur and IIT Guwahati together account for nearly half (49.8%) of all UCEED 2026 seats. Students open to these two institutes gain access to the largest share of the total pool — a factor that significantly improves allotment probability, especially at mid-range UCEED ranks.

UCEED 2026 Seat Matrix: Category-Wise Distribution

UCEED 2026 seat distribution follows the reservation policy mandated by the Government of India for central educational institutions. Of the 245 total seats, 148 seats (60.4%) are reserved for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and EWS students. The remaining 97 seats (39.6%) are in the Open (General / Unreserved) category.

PwD (Persons with Disability) seats are horizontal reservations — 5% of seats in each vertical category are sub-reserved for PwD students. The 13 PwD sub-seats are included in the category totals above; they do not add to the 245 figure. A PwD student in the OBC-NCL category competes within the OBC-NCL-PwD sub-pool (5 seats across all institutes in total).

Key eligibility conditions for category seats in UCEED 2026:

• OBC-NCL: Applicable only for the Non-Creamy Layer. Students from OBC families whose parental annual income exceeds the notified creamy layer threshold are treated as Open category and cannot claim OBC-NCL reservation.
• EWS: Requires a valid Income and Asset Certificate issued by a competent authority for financial year 2025-26. Students already covered under SC, ST, or OBC reservation are not eligible for EWS.
• SC / ST: Caste or tribe certificates must be from the designated competent authority of the student’s domicile state or union territory.
• PwD: A minimum of 40% disability as certified by the designated medical authority is required to claim the PwD horizontal reservation.

UCEED 2026 Seats for NRI / OCI / Foreign Nationals

UCEED 2026 allows foreign nationals and certain categories of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) to participate in the Joint Admission Process. Eligible applicants are considered for supernumerary seats capped at 10% of total seats per programme per institute.

These supernumerary seats are not pre-fixed in the published seat matrix. They are allocated dynamically — a foreign national or eligible OCI applicant is allotted a seat only after Indian national admission in each round, and only if their UCEED 2026 rank equals or betters the closing rank of the Open (General) category at that programme.

The supernumerary foreign national quota does not displace the 245 seats available to Indian nationals. No separate NRI quota number is published in the UCEED 2026 seat matrix — these seats are supernumerary and allocated institute-programme-wise after Indian national rounds close.

How the UCEED Seat Matrix Affects Cutoff

The UCEED seat matrix directly shapes the competitiveness of closing ranks at each institute and category. With only 245 total B.Des seats across all institutes, UCEED is one of the most selective design entrance exams in India. Understanding seat distribution by institute helps you interpret why certain programmes have tighter cutoffs than others.

The underlying principle: fewer seats relative to demand at a given institute means higher UCEED scores are needed to secure admission there. Here is how this plays out across UCEED 2026 institutes:

• IIT Bombay (37 seats) has historically carried the most competitive UCEED closing rank. High applicant preference and a small seat pool combine to produce cutoffs that typically represent the top percentile of qualified students.
• IIT Delhi (20 seats) is a close second in competitiveness. Its national capital location and brand value drive strong demand for fewer seats than most other institutes.
• IIITDM Jabalpur (66 seats) typically shows the most accessible closing ranks — its larger seat pool distributes demand more broadly, easing per-seat competition relative to the IITs.
• Within any institute, the Open category cutoff is the tightest because all eligible students compete in it. Reserved categories (OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS) have smaller competing pools, which generally results in lower qualifying scores.
• Each new IIT that joins the UCEED JAP lowers overall cutoff pressure for the exam — IIT Indore and IIT Roorkee joining in recent cycles added 36 more seats, giving students at mid-range ranks more viable options.

Since all five UCEED 2026 counselling rounds are now complete, closing ranks for every institute, programme, and category combination are available on the official UCEED portal. These Round V closing ranks — the final cutoffs for UCEED 2026 — serve as the benchmark for planning preparation targets for UCEED 2027.

List of Courses and Seats Under UCEED 2026

UCEED 2026 is an entrance exam exclusively for undergraduate design education. All 245 seats available through UCEED 2026 are for the Bachelor of Design (B.Des) programme — a 4-year undergraduate degree. UCEED does not offer seats in any postgraduate or other programme.

While every institute awards a B.Des degree, the programme character differs meaningfully by institute:

• IIT Bombay’s IDC School of Design is India’s oldest and most internationally recognised design school. It offers structured depth in industrial and communication design, with students choosing from multiple specialisation tracks after joining.
• IIITDM Jabalpur’s B.Des integrates design with engineering and manufacturing — suited for students drawn to product development at the intersection of form, function, and fabrication. Its 66-seat intake also makes it the most accessible UCEED programme.
• Most IITs follow a broad-based structure in the first two years, with students specialising through elective courses and studio projects in years three and four.

Students seeking M.Des admission must appear for CEED (Common Entrance Exam for Design) — a separate national-level exam also conducted by IIT Bombay, with its own eligibility criteria and syllabus. UCEED scores are not valid for CEED-based M.Des admissions.

Disclaimer: The seat matrix data provided here is based on official UCEED 2026 sources and publicly available information as of July 17, 2026. Actual seat counts, including post-Round V vacancy figures, may vary. Always verify with the official UCEED portal at uceed.iitb.ac.in before making academic decisions.