The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) will be held on July 17, making it the first major examination in the state to be conducted offline amid the improvement in the COVID-19 situation, officials said on Wednesday.

A total of 92,695 candidates will appear for the examinations for entry into undergraduate engineering courses across 274 centres, they said.

"This will be the first offline exam to be held this year in the state and poses a challenge, which we are confident about facing, taking full care of the health issues of candidates, and those involved in the exam process," WBJEE Board chairman Malayendu Saha said.

The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on July 11, but was deferred by six days with the hope that the pandemic situation will improve further, he said.

"There will be a minimum of 4-5 feet distance between the seats of two candidates, and one candidate will be seated in a small desk and two in the bigger ones," he said.

The board plans to declare the results by August 14 and complete the counselling process in three phases by September 15, he said.

"In the overall interest of the students, we are taking all these decisions. We will optimise our resources to ensure everything passes off smoothly," Saha said.

The exam is being held on a Saturday, instead of the usual practice of conducting it on Sundays, taking in view the availability of transport amid the ongoing restrictions, he said.

Around 40 per cent of the candidates are from outside the state this year, he said.

The board will also conduct 11 different examinations this year, including the entrance exams of Presidency University for entry into UG and PG courses that will be held on August 7 and 8, he said.