Jan 07 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi) Number of JEE aspirants falls by 50,000 Yogita Rao Mumbai:   For the first time in recent years, the number of aspirants for JEE (Main), the all-India engineering entrance exam which is also the first screening for IIT admissions, has dropped. Around 13.03 lakh students registered this year against last year's number of 13.56 lakh. Experts believe this could be an indicator of saturation and waning interest in engineering.The last day for registration was December 27, but the deadline was extended to January 10 for aspirants from Manipur, which recently joined the exam. An official from the Central Board of Sec ondary Education, which conducts the exam, said that the number might go up by a few hundreds but would not make a major difference to the total. About 1.86 lakh aspirants have opted for the online test, up from last year's 1.71 lakh. While IIT-Bombay professor D B Phatak said the number of aspirants has remained constant for some years now, G D Yadav, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology , Matunga, said interest in engineering education was waning because of the poor quality of institutes.“Many graduates don't get good placements and eventually have to do management programmes to get jobs,“ he said.