IIT JAM Economics
A three-hour test that fills the MSc Economics seats at IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee.
Last checked 30 September 2026. Covers: 2027 cycle.
Official read on the organiser's or institute's own page. Reported found on third-party sites and still to be checked. Expected not announced yet.
Key facts
| Organising institute | IIT Kharagpur |
|---|---|
| Mode | Computer-based test, two sessions in a day |
| Economics session | Afternoon, 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Questions and marks | 60 questions, 100 marks |
| Section A | 30 MCQs, 50 marks (10 of 1 mark, 20 of 2 marks) |
| Section B | 10 MSQs of 2 marks each, 20 marks |
| Section C | 20 numerical answer questions, 30 marks (10 of 1 mark, 10 of 2 marks) |
| Negative marking | MCQs only: 1/3 of the marks for a wrong 1-mark question, 2/3 for a wrong 2-mark question. None in Sections B and C. |
| Economics seats through JAM, 2026 brochure | 52 in total: IIT Delhi 15, IIT Kanpur 24, IIT Roorkee 13 ReportedIIT JAM 2027, Careers360 |
Dates
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration opens | 11 September 2026 |
| Last date to apply | 19 October 2026 Extended from 12 October. |
| Exam | 14 February 2027 |
| Result | 18 March 2027 |
All exams side by side: exam dates table.
Pattern and marking
Section A is where the marks and the risk sit: 30 multiple-choice questions, 50 marks, with a deduction of a third of the question's marks for a wrong answer. Section B asks you to pick every correct option, and Section C wants a number typed in. Neither has negative marking, so there is never a reason to leave those blank.
The penalty is set so that a blind guess among four options has an expected value of exactly zero: a quarter chance of +1 against a three-quarter chance of −1/3. Once you can remove one option, a guess is worth +0.11 marks on a 1-mark question, and once you remove two it is worth +0.33. The same holds at double the stakes for 2-mark questions.
Sections B and C reward people who can finish a calculation and trust it. Those 50 marks carry no penalty for trying, so attempt all of them.
Who accepts it
- 15 seats through JAM in the 2026 brochure. The department fills a further 15 through its own test, and lists a programme intake of 30.ReportedIIT Delhi MSc Economics
- 24 seats in the 2026 brochure.ReportedIIT JAM 2027, Careers360
- 13 seats in the 2026 brochure as reported. The department's own programme document lists 30 proposed seats, so check the current figure.ReportedIIT JAM 2027, Careers360
Full list with seats: colleges accepting IIT JAM Economics.
What score to aim for
JAM admits by rank, not by a fixed mark, so the useful question is what rank each IIT closed at, in which round, for which category. Published figures disagree: one source puts IIT Delhi's 2025 General closing rank in the high two hundreds, another in the low thirties for the final rounds. No figure is printed until it can be read off the institute's own seat allocation file.
What is safe to say is how the paper rewards effort. Because Sections B and C carry no penalty, a candidate who attempts all 30 of those questions and gets the obvious ones right starts from a base that no amount of Section A caution can reach.
Questions
When is IIT JAM 2027?
14 February 2027, in two sessions. Economics is in the afternoon session, from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
Is there negative marking in JAM Economics?
Only on the multiple-choice questions in Section A: one third of the marks for a wrong 1-mark question and two thirds for a wrong 2-mark question. MSQ and numerical answer questions have none.
Which IITs offer MSc Economics through JAM?
IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee, according to the 2026 brochure as reported.
Can I write JAM and CUET-PG in the same year?
Yes. They are separate exams with separate applications and separate dates.
Sources
Every IIT JAM Economics question from past papers has its own page with a worked solution: browse them by paper and topic.
Attempt a IIT JAM Economics paper
Sit a real previous-year paper under the exam's timing and negative marking, then see where the marks went.
Attempt a IIT JAM Economics paper