Cut-off percentile for NEET-PG 3rd counselling round ‘0’ for reserved applicants

The NBEMS announced in a notice dated January 13 that it had reduced the NEET-PG 2025 cut-off for the third round of counselling.

Updated on: Jan 14, 2026, 08:29:33 IST

By Sanjay Maurya

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The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) on Tuesday reduced the qualifying percentile to zero for candidates in reserved categories, enabling even those who scored as low as minus 40 marks out of 800 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Postgraduate), or NEET-PG 2025, to participate in the third round of the ongoing counselling process for postgraduate medical admissions. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from sections of the medical fraternity, who argue it reflects a worrying decline in academic standards in medical education.

The NBEMS, which conducts examinations for admission to postgraduate and super-speciality medical courses, announced in a notice dated January 13 that it had reduced the NEET-PG 2025 cut-off for the third round of counselling. The qualifying percentile for the general category was lowered from the 50th to the 7th percentile and for disabled people from the 45th to the 5th percentile. For candidates belonging to SC, ST, and OBC, it was reduced to zero.

This means all candidates from reserved categories who appeared for the NEET-PG 2025 are now eligible for admission to MD and MS seats that remain vacant after the first two rounds of counselling, as the minimum qualifying mark requirement has been removed. NBEMS said the decision was taken on the Union health ministry’s directions.

The NEET-PG 2025 examination was conducted on August 3, 2025, and results were declared on August 19. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducted the first round of counselling during October–November 2025, followed by the second round in late November and early December. The MCC is expected to announce the schedule for the third round shortly. The MCC recently revised the seat matrix by adding 540 seats following candidate resignations in the first two rounds. In addition, 135 new PG medical seats were introduced, bringing the total number of seats to 32,215.

Health activist Dr Dhruv Chauhan said the decision to lower the cut-off to zero “will benefit the private medical colleges more than the deserving doctors who spend years working hard...Seats will be sold for crores again.” In 2023, the health ministry had reduced the qualifying percentile to zero across all categories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanjay Maurya
Sanjay Maurya is a Principal Correspondent with Hindustan Times, where he covers education, with a focus on school and higher education, competitive examinations, education policy and governance. Working as part of the National Bureau, he is based in New Delhi and reports on the Ministry of Education and covers various statutory bodies like UGC, AICTE and NCTE and autonomous bodies like CBSE and NCERT. His reporting also tracks the implementation of key government reforms and policies from school education to higher education including in IITs, NITs, IIMs, central and state universities, and their impact on students and educational institutions. His reporting on the irregularities and rushed implementation of CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for evaluation of Class 12 board exams 2026, triggered administrative action, leading to the transfer of the board's two senior-most officials and the constitution of a committee to probe alleged irregularities in procurement process of the system. He joined Hindustan Times in December 2024. Prior to that, he had a three-year stint at Careers360, where he reported on school and higher education, entrance examinations, admissions, rankings and various education policies involving universities and professional education bodies. Over the years, Maurya has reported extensively on major developments in India's education sector, including the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, reforms in the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the NEET-UG 2024 controversy, changes in school education, higher education regulation, and the evolution of entrance examinations such as NEET, JEE and CUET. He regularly produces data-driven and explanatory stories based on government documents, parliamentary proceedings, court records and official data. His focus remains on helping readers understand how education policies and institutional decisions affect millions of students, teachers and educational institutions across the country.Read More

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