In a moment that will be etched in the educational history of India, 17-year-old Rajit Gupta of Mahaveer Nagar, Kota, has emerged as the All India Rank (AIR) 1 holder in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2025. Conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, the exam is widely considered India’s most challenging undergraduate entrance test for engineering aspirants.
This year’s result, declared today, marks a watershed moment for Kota, a city often described as the ‘Mecca’ of IIT coaching in India. For the first time, one of its own—born, raised, and trained in the city—has claimed the top spot, scoring a formidable 332 out of 360.
A First for Kota: From Coaching Hub to Champion Maker
For decades, Kota has trained and nurtured India’s brightest engineering minds, many of whom have gone on to secure top ranks in JEE Advanced. But never before had a student native to the city secured AIR 1. Rajit’s achievement bridges that longstanding gap between aspiration and ultimate success for the city’s homegrown talent.
“Correcting my mistakes and focusing on understanding concepts rather than memorizing them helped me stay consistent,” Rajit said in a statement after the results were declared. Notably, he had also scored a perfect 100 percentile in both sessions of the JEE Main earlier this year.
A Family Grounded in Education
Rajit hails from an academically inclined family—his father is a mathematics teacher, and his mother, a Hindi lecturer. Both parents played a crucial role in his preparation, offering emotional support and intellectual guidance. The family’s commitment to a disciplined, distraction-free environment allowed Rajit to concentrate fully on his goals.
Friends and mentors describe him as a student of rare composure, who kept distractions to a minimum and focused more on solving problems and conceptual clarity than following trends or shortcuts.
What’s Next: JoSAA Counselling Begins June 3
With the JEE Advanced results now out, the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) will initiate counselling for admissions to IITs, NITs, IIITs, and other centrally funded technical institutions beginning June 3, 2025.
Rajit Gupta, who topped the exam from the IIT Delhi zone, is expected to choose Computer Science at IIT Bombay, a perennial favorite among top rankers. Alongside him, the top 10 rank list is as follows:
- Rajit Gupta
- Saksham Jindal
- Majid Mujahid Husain
- Parth Mandar Vartak
- Ujjwal Kesari
- Akshat Kumar Chaurasia
- Sahil Mukesh Deo
- Devesh Pankaj Bhaiya
- Arnav Singh
- Vadlamudi Lokesh
More than 1.9 lakh students had appeared for JEE Advanced 2025 after clearing JEE Main, making this one of the most competitive academic contests in the world.