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

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 General, PwD category candidates, the qualifying percentile was dropped to 5 percentile (approximately 90 marks). Interestingly, candidates from SC, ST, and OBC categories will now be eligible at 0 percentile, which means getting, 40 marks.

After the change in the percentile, it was clarified by the officials that candidates, who want to take part in the next counselling rounds under the relaxed criteria, need to register again.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.

Local seats registration in Gujarat will probably start on Thursday and the detailed admission time, table will be unveiled very soon.

In Gujarat only, there are about 642 seats that remain empty as a result of candidates not reporting, admissions not being confirmed, seats newly approved and seats that have not been converted.

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.

The development is expected to significantly influence the next phase of PG medical admissions across Gujarat and other states.