Like the Deccan Chargers winning the IPL there has been a minor upset at the IIT JEE this year. After producing the All India topper in 2007 and 2008, Bansal classes was pipped to the post this year by Nitin Jain from Delhi, a student of FIIT JEE. Bansal student Shubham Tulsiani came in at AIR 2 (All India Rank 2).

384,977 students appeared for IIT JEE 2009, which is a jump of 24% over the previous year. This points to the fact that recession or no recession, the IIT brand is recession-proof.

The surge in numbers can be directly linked to the year on year increase in number of seats at IIT. Six new IITs came up in the year 2008 with 120 seats each (IIT Patna, IIT Punjab, IIT Rajasthan, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Hyderabad). IIT Himachal and IIT Indore are kicking off from 2009. Besides, the 9% OBC quota is being implemented at the older IITs.

Seats at all IITs, IT BHU and ISM Dhanbad now add up to 8500, up from the 7000 available in 2008. Of course, most students would prefer a seat in the 7 established IITs, and to get a choice of branch as well as institute you would still need a rank below 2000. This means that students with ranks in the 3000 and 4000 range are actually feeling 'depressed'.

IIT JEE scores are also used for admission to the Indian Institute of Space-Science Technology (IIST), Indian Institutes of Science...

Education and Research (IISERs), Rajeev Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) and Indian Institute of Maritime Studies (formerly DG Shipping).

It would be interesting to see how many students opt for these institutes and at what kind of ranks!

Counselling for admissions will be made to all these candidates between 9th and 16th June,2009. Course allocations to the successful candidates be declared on Wednesday, the 24th June, 2009.