Over 32,000 vacant seats force NEET-PG cut-off revision: zero percentile for reserved categories

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has officially revised the qualifying cut-off scores for NEET-PG 2025 after lowering the minimum qualifying percentiles, following a large number of vacant postgraduate medical seats across the country.

In a notice dated January 13, 2026, NBEMS said the decision was taken on the directions of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to facilitate counselling for the third round of NEET-PG 2025–26 admissions. The result of NEET-PG 2025 was declared on August 19, 2025.

As per the revised criteria, the qualifying percentile for General and EWS category candidates has been reduced from the 50th percentile to the 7th percentile, bringing the cut-off score down from 276 to 103 out of 800. For General PwBD candidates, the percentile has been lowered from the 45th to the 5th percentile, with the cut-off score revised from 255 to 90.

For SC, ST and OBC candidates, including PwBD candidates of these categories, the qualifying percentile has been reduced from the 40th percentile to the 0th percentile. This corresponds to a revised cut-off score of minus 40. Officials have clarified that eligibility now depends strictly on category-wise criteria, and the revised cut-off does not imply uniform qualification for all candidates with negative scores.

The revised cut-offs will apply only for counselling of the academic session 2025–26.

Officials said the decision was taken in view of the continuing shortage of admissions, particularly in Gujarat, where more than 650 State Quota seats and over 32,000 All India Quota seats reportedly remained vacant after two rounds. Authorities fear that a significant number of seats may still remain unfilled even after further rounds of counselling.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also raised concerns with the central government regarding vacant seats and the growing workload on resident doctors, urging policy intervention. However, the latest decision has drawn criticism from sections of the medical fraternity, who fear that repeatedly lowering the cut-off could compromise standards in medical education.

Critics have also pointed out that merit lists under the All India Quota were not exhausted after two counselling rounds, suggesting that eligible candidates were still available but not allotted seats.