NEET PG cut-off slashed to 7th percentile for general category

NEET PG cut-off slashed to 7th percentile for general category 

IN GUJARAT, 642 SEATS VACANT 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  14.01.2026

Ahmedabad : After prolonged deliberations and mounting pressure from states, the National Board of Examinations (NBE) officially announced a significant reduction in the NEET-PG percentile criteria for admission to postgraduate medical courses, including MD and MS. The decision came after the completion of two rounds of counselling, with a large number of seats remaining vacant across the country.

Candidates from the general and EWS categories in the 7th percentile too will now be considered eligible for PG medical admission, equivalent to 103 marks in NEET-PG. For candidates in the GeneralPwD category, the qualifying percentile reduced to 5 percentile (around 90 marks). Notably, candidates belonging to SC, ST, and OBC categories will now be eligible at 0 percentile, which corresponds to minus 40 marks.

The earlier eligibility criteria —50th percentile (general), 45th percentile (PwD), and 40th percentile (reserved categories) — were applied for the first two rounds of counselling. However, despite this, over 20,000 PG medical seats remain vacant nationwide. In Gujarat alone, around 642 seats are currently vacant due to non-reporting by candidates, unconfirmed admissions, newly approved seats, and non-converted seats. 

Following the revised percentile announcement, authorities confirmed that fresh registration was mandatory for candidates wishing to participate in the upcoming counselling rounds under the lowered eligibility criteria. There have also been demands that candidates who did not secure their preferred courses in the first two rounds be allowed to participate in the fresh round. Registration for local seats in Gujarat is expected to begin on Thursday, with the detailed admission schedule to be announced shortly thereafter.