  We present photometry in the J and K near-infrared bands for two regions
centered on the young open clusters NGC 1893 and Berkeley 86. We study 700
stars down to K = 17 in the field of NGC 1893, and about 2000 stars in the
field of Berkeley 86 down to K$\sim$ 16.5, for which near-infrared photometry
was insofar not available. Coupling J-K data with UBV photometry taken from
literature, we produce reddening corrected colour-magnitude diagrams.
  We find that our data are consistent with previous determinations: the
clusters are roughly coeval with an age between 4 and 6 million years. The mean
reddening (measured as E(J-K)) values turn out to be 0.35 and 0.50 for NGC 1893
and Berkeley 86, respectively.Using colour-colour plots we discuss the presence
of candidate pre-main sequence stars showing infrared excess. Candidates are
found in both cluster regions, confirming the young age of these clusters.
