ACAP, ILS & SPOT Rounds Explained (with Pune & Mumbai Colleges)

By the MasterMan editorial team • Admissions • Updated August 2026 • 10 min read • Editorial policy

Every year thousands of Maharashtra engineering aspirants panic when the CAP rounds end without a good seat — not realising there is a whole second chance waiting: ACAP, ILS and SPOT rounds. Good branches at top colleges often stay vacant here because most students simply don’t understand these terms. This guide clears the confusion once and for all.

The one-line answer: ILS and ACAP describe types of seats; a SPOT round is the process colleges use to fill those seats. That’s why you’ll often see them written together as “ACAP (SPOT) Round”.

First, what is CAP?

CAP (Centralised Admission Process) is the main, government-run counselling handled centrally by the State CET Cell / DTE on the official portal. Seats are allotted across several CAP rounds (Round I, II, III and, in some years, a further round) purely on the basis of your merit (MHT-CET / JEE percentile) and your option-form preferences. After the final CAP round, whatever seats remain empty move into the ACAP / ILS “SPOT” stage.

Where these rounds sit in the timeline

CAP Round I → II → III (→ IV) — centralised merit-and-preference allotment on the CET portal.
ACAP & ILS rounds (conducted via SPOT rounds by each college) — to fill everything still vacant.
Multiple SPOT rounds may run until seats are full or the cut-off date passes.

What is ACAP (Against CAP)?

ACAP = “Against CAP” seats. These are seats that did enter CAP but stayed vacant after the last CAP round — because allotted students cancelled, didn’t report, or upgraded elsewhere. These leftover seats are transferred back to the college to fill directly.

Found at both government and private colleges (any college that took part in CAP).
Filled at government-fixed fees — no donation.
ACAP seats are usually filled by candidates of the same category for which the seat was earmarked during CAP.
This is how COEP-level seats sometimes reopen after CAP — a genuine second shot at top colleges.

What is ILS (Institute Level Seats)?

ILS = Institute Level Seats (also written “IL”). Every private/unaided college keeps roughly 20% of its intake outside CAP — these seats never enter the central process and are always meant to be filled by the college itself.

Available at private/unaided colleges (not the purely government-quota seats).
Also at government-fixed fees — no donation. ILS is not a “management donation” scam; it is regulated by the CET Cell.
Filled on the college’s own inter-se merit list (MHT-CET percentile for Maharashtra candidates; a separate JEE list for All-India candidates).

What is a SPOT round?

The SPOT round is the process/mechanism a college uses to actually allot its ILS and ACAP vacant seats. It is called “spot” because allotment happens quickly, against a live vacancy list, often with candidates reporting in person:

The college publishes a branch-wise vacancy list and an institute merit number for everyone who applied.
Candidates are called in merit order and offered whatever seats are vacant at that moment.
On accepting, you submit documents and pay the fee on the spot to confirm.
If nothing suitable is left, you submit a non-acceptance letter and move on.
Multiple SPOT rounds can be held until seats fill up.

ACAP vs ILS — the difference at a glance

Aspect	ACAP (Against CAP) seats	ILS (Institute Level) seats
What they are	CAP seats left vacant after the last CAP round	~20% of intake that never entered CAP
Which colleges	Government + private (any CAP college)	Private / unaided colleges
Category	Usually same category the seat was earmarked for in CAP	College merit list (as per CET Cell rules)
How filled	By the college, via SPOT round	By the college, via SPOT round
Fees	Government-fixed, no donation	Government-fixed, no donation

Worked example: how 100 seats become 9 SPOT seats

Numbers make this crystal clear. Imagine a private engineering college with a branch intake of 100 seats. Here is exactly how those seats travel through CAP → ACAP / ILS → SPOT:

College branch intake100 seats

split into two pools

Goes into CAP80 CAP seats~80% — merit + preferences on the CET portal

Never enters CAP20 ILS seats~20% Institute-Level, filled by the college

CAP Round I → II → III → IV

Vacant after CAP-IV → ACAP4 seatscancellations, no-shows & upgrades

College fills from its merit list

ILS still vacant5 seatsseats the college couldn’t fill yet

both vacant pools merge

SPOT round4 + 5 = 9 SPOT seatsoffered on the spot, in institute-merit order

So the SPOT-round total = vacant ACAP seats + vacant ILS seats = 4 + 5 = 9 seats. Every empty seat from both pools after CAP is pooled together and thrown open in the SPOT round — which is exactly why good branches sometimes reopen at the last moment.

One important catch about ACAP & fees: in an ACAP seat you are allotted against your own category (i.e. you still get your category seat), but you may not automatically get the category fee concession / scholarship benefit you would have received through a normal CAP allotment. In many cases students end up paying the full tuition fees for an ACAP seat. Always confirm the exact fee, freeship and scholarship rules for that specific seat with the college and the CET Cell before you accept.

Popular Pune colleges that run SPOT (ACAP/IL) rounds

These well-known Pune colleges commonly conduct institute-level / ACAP SPOT rounds for First Year B.Tech. after CAP — watch their official websites for the vacancy list and schedule:

COEP Technological University (COEP Tech) — runs ACAP (SPOT) rounds for genuine top-branch vacancies.
PICT — Pune Institute of Computer Technology.
VIT Pune — Vishwakarma Institute of Technology.
PCCOE — Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering.
MIT Academy of Engineering / MIT-WPU.
Cummins College of Engineering for Women.
AISSMS COE and Sinhgad Institutes (SCOE / SIT).
D. Y. Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi.

Popular Mumbai colleges that run SPOT (ACAP/IL) rounds

VJTI — Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (for any ACAP vacancies).
SPIT — Sardar Patel Institute of Technology.
DJ Sanghvi College of Engineering.
K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering (KJSCE / Somaiya Vidyavihar University).
Thadomal Shahani Engineering College (TSEC).
Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering (Fr. CRCE), Bandra.
Vidyalankar Institute of Technology (VIT), Wadala.
Thakur College of Engineering & Technology (TCET), Kandivali.

Important: Whether a particular college holds a SPOT round — and in which branches — changes every year and depends entirely on vacancies. Treat the lists above as “colleges to watch”, and always confirm on the official college website and the CET Cell portal.

How to apply for ACAP / ILS SPOT rounds

Track the CAP portal & college websites right after the last CAP round for SPOT notifications.
Fill each college’s application (Google Form / CET Cell portal, as notified) before its deadline — you can apply to several colleges.
Check the vacancy list & your institute merit number when published.
Report on time (in person if required) with all original documents + fees ready.
Accept the best available seat — remember choice shrinks with each round.

Don’t guess — plan with data. Use our free counselling tool to see which colleges realistically match your percentile, read ILS Round vs SPOT Round for a deeper compare, and the full Maharashtra engineering admission process to time every CAP, ACAP, ILS and SPOT move.

Round names, seat percentages, eligibility and procedures are set fresh by the CET Cell / DTE Maharashtra each admission year, and college lists here are examples only. Always confirm the exact rules and live vacancy lists in the official information brochure on the FE CAP portal and on each college’s official website for your year.