With 83.56 percentile in JEE Mains, your rank may be around 150,000 . As an OBC-NCL candidate from Maharashtra , your chances of getting a seat in NITs/IIITs through JoSAA counseling will primarily depend on the branch and the specific institute.

Best Strategy for NIT/IIIT Admission:

1. Lower Branches in NITs:

   • You can target NITs with less competitive branches such as:
     
     
     • Civil Engineering
     • Metallurgical Engineering
     • Production Engineering
     • Biotechnology
     • Mining Engineering
       
       

2. Some NITs with higher cutoffs for popular branches like CSE or ECE may still offer these less competitive branches to higher-ranked students.
   
   

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3. Newer or Less Popular NITs:

   • Newer NITs like NIT Sikkim, NIT Meghalaya, NIT Nagaland, NIT Mizoram may have higher cutoffs, increasing your chances of admission.
     
     
   • NIT Goa and NIT Srinagar may also have more relaxed cutoffs in lower-demand branches.
     
     

4. IIITs (Newer/Lower Demand):

   • New IIITs (like IIIT Ranchi, IIIT Bhagalpur, IIIT Kalyani) may offer seats in branches like Electronics, Mechanical, or Information Technology .
     
     

5. Flexible Branches:

   • Be open to core branches like Mechanical, Civil, Electrical , or Chemical Engineering in less competitive NITs/IIITs. Once in, you can try for a branch upgrade based on performance in the first year.

You may have a good chance of securing a seat in lower-demand branches at newer NITs or IIITs . Fill your choices broadly, targeting branches like Civil, Mechanical, Metallurgical , or Biotechnology across newer institutes. Ensure to participate in multiple counseling rounds for the best outcome.

I would recommend you to use JEE college predictor tool by Careers360 to get the list of possible colleges you can get with your rank.

Here is the link to the tool:

https://engineering.careers360.com/jee-main-college-predictor?utm_source=qna&utm_medium=jee_cp

Click on the above link, fill the required details and you will get the list of possible colleges at your rank.

I hope this answer helps you. If you have more queries then feel free to share your questions with us we will be happy to assist you.

Thank you and wishing you all the best for your bright future.