The seat matrix is the document that decides how many seats you are actually competing for. It lists, university by university, how many seats exist in each programme and how they divide by category and by quota.
It matters because the number people carry around in their heads — "about three thousand NLU seats" — describes a pool you are not competing in. You are competing for the seats in your category, in your quota, at the universities you would actually attend. That number is much smaller, much more knowable, and it is in the matrix.
Why the headline total is unreliable
This site publishes roughly three thousand as an approximation and labels it as one. That is deliberate: no single official aggregate figure has been found, and third-party aggregates range from about 2,500 to 4,100.
A spread that wide is not a rounding disagreement. It reflects different answers to questions the aggregators do not state: whether NLU Delhi is counted (it does not admit through CLAT), whether PG seats are included, whether supernumerary seats and foreign-national seats are in, and which year's intake is being used.
So treat any confident total with suspicion, and read the source.
For CLAT 2027 the source is not one document. The Consortium's instructions say that the intake, reservation policies, courses and fee structures of the NLUs are in the information brochures on its website and on each university's own site, and advise candidates to read them before filling in the form. Those brochures are linked, university by university, from the participating universities page. No consolidated all-NLU seat total has been published.
The instructions add a caution that applies to every number below: "Participating National Law Universities reserve the right to change the total number of seats and break-up of seats as per their policy before the final allotment."
How the matrix is structured
Each university's block divides along two axes.
By quota. An all-India pool, open to every candidate, and — at many universities — a pool reserved for candidates domiciled in that state. Some universities also carry supernumerary seats for particular groups.
By category. Seats are divided between General, SC, ST, OBC and EWS, with PwD and other reservations often applied horizontally across those categories, at percentages set by the rules that apply to that university.
One university's block, taken from its own CLAT 2027 brochure, shows the shape. NLSIU Bengaluru states a total intake of 310 seats in the BA LLB (Hons) programme for the academic year 2027-28:
| Category | Share | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Caste | 15% | 45 |
| Scheduled Tribe | 7.5% | 22 |
| Other Backward Classes (NCL) | 27% | 81 |
| Economically Weaker Section | 10% | 30 |
| General | — | 122 |
| Additional seats for Karnataka Students | — | 10 |
| **Total** | **310** |
Across those run three horizontal reservations: 15 seats (5%) for persons with disabilities, 90 seats (30%) for women, and 75 seats (25%) for Karnataka Students. A horizontal reservation does not add seats. It cuts across the categories above, which is why the same seat can count towards more than one line.
The consequence is that a single university has not one closing rank but a grid of them. NLSIU in CLAT 2026 closed at 120 for General all-India and at 336 for General Karnataka-domicile — the same university, the same year, the same round, and a difference of 216 ranks.
The full cutoff table filters by both axes, which is the only way to see your own line rather than the headline one.
Domicile: the part most candidates under-use
If you are domiciled in a state with an NLU, you are ordinarily considered in both the all-India pool and that state's pool, and allotted against whichever gives you a seat.
The effect is large. In CLAT 2026, the General domicile closing ranks on file were:
| University | All-India | State domicile |
|---|---|---|
| NLSIU Bengaluru | 120 | 336 (Karnataka) |
| NALSAR Hyderabad | 168 | 565 (Telangana) |
| WBNUJS Kolkata | 343 | 746 (West Bengal) |
A candidate eligible for one of those quotas is in a materially different position from the one the all-India number suggests, and a surprising number never check.
Domicile is established by its own certificate, with its own rules about residence and sometimes about schooling, and those rules belong to the university rather than to the Consortium. If a state quota is part of your plan, find out now what that university requires — the category certificate guide covers the documents.
Reservation
Reservation is not uniform across the NLUs, and the Consortium says so. The application form states that different universities provide admission under different reservation categories, pre-selects the ones your profile makes you eligible for, and asks you to pick any additional category NLU by NLU after reading that university's brochure. It carries two warnings worth repeating: claiming a category you cannot prove with documents may disqualify your candidature, and applying under a category does not guarantee a seat in it.
The percentages are therefore each university's own. NLSIU's are in the table above. Others follow their state's rules, particularly in the state pool, which is why the same category can close at different ranks at two universities in the same round. The instructions also note that the reservation policy is subject to change as decided by the government concerned.
This page does not tabulate the percentages for every NLU. Read the intake and reservation section of the brochure for each university on your list.
The practical point: a reserved-category candidate should be reading their own category's closing ranks and nothing else. The General figures that circulate in conversation describe a different competition.
What more seats does and does not do
A university that adds seats usually sees its closing rank move outward, but not in proportion. The cutoff is set by how many candidates ranked above you want that university, which is demand, not supply.
Which is also why a new NLU opening does not relieve pressure at the established ones in the way people expect. The demand that sets NLSIU's closing rank is not looking for an alternative.
What to actually do with the matrix
Find your own line. Your category, your quota, at each university on your list, read from that university's brochure. That is six or eight numbers, not three thousand.
Check domicile eligibility properly, including the certificate requirements, before you assume it does not apply to you.
Build the preference list against those numbers, and build it wide. A short preference list is an easy way to end up unallotted.
Do not treat a closing rank as a threshold. It is a record of one round in one year, and it moves.
The part you control
Seats, quotas and reservation are fixed before you sit down. The score is not.
The free Diagnostic Test is a full-length timed paper with a section-wise and timing breakdown afterwards. A seat matrix only means something next to a number of your own.