Representative image. SnapMeUp, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
The percentile cut-off decides which NEET PG and NEET SS candidates can join counselling at all, and it has been lowered before a later counselling round to fill empty seats. A rank-only system would remove that step, which the report says should keep admissions on schedule. Junior doctors say it leaves open whether any minimum score would remain.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for postgraduate medical courses (NEET PG) may move to a rank system with no percentile scores in the results. The change has been proposed by the National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulator for medical education in India.
The NEET PG rank system would apply to admission for MD (Doctor of Medicine), MS (Master of Surgery) and other postgraduate courses. The plan was set out in a report that a 12-member expert committee submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, the Times of India reported. The Indian Express also reported the committee’s findings. It would cover counselling for both NEET PG and NEET SS, the entrance test for super-speciality courses, but the regulation behind it has not been finalised.
According to the report, as quoted by both papers, the commission is working on new regulations under which candidates would only be given ranks. Percentile marks would no longer be declared in the results. The NMC gave the idea in-principle approval at a meeting on 23 September, and its secretary wrote to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) about it on 1 October 2026, the Times of India reported.
What the NEET PG rank system proposal says
Under the present NEET PG percentile method, a candidate must reach a qualifying percentile to be eligible for postgraduate counselling. When seats are still empty after the early rounds, that percentile is lowered. The Indian Express reported that this decision is taken by a competent authority together with stakeholders, depending on how many seats are lying vacant.
Under the proposed NEET PG rank system that step would go. Candidates would be called in order of rank, without waiting for a fresh permission to lower the bar. Suggestions from the regulators and minutes of meetings cited in the report say this would cut delays between rounds and help finish counselling within its set timetable, the Indian Express reported.
The report does not stop at ranks. It says the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), which allots central-quota medical seats, wants to digitise the whole counselling process with as little human handling as possible. A complete online database of undergraduate and postgraduate medical seats has already been built, according to the Indian Express. Until 2025 the MCC relied on colleges to report their seats, which the NMC then checked by hand. That sometimes led to duplicate seats, or seats being added only in the second or third round.
The NMC has said it will update seat numbers well before counselling begins, and the MCC plans an audit mechanism from 2027 onwards to find problems in counselling. This year candidates who upgraded their seat in a later round also no longer had to travel to the first college to hand over and then collect back their documents and fees.
Percentile cut-off and proposed rank-only results compared
The table below sets the present NEET PG percentile method beside the proposal as the two reports describe it. It is NewsPlainly’s summary, and the proposal is not in force.
| Point | Present percentile system | Proposed rank system |
|---|---|---|
| What results show | Percentile declared; eligibility set as a percentile cut-off | Rank only; no percentile declared |
| Who is eligible | Those above the qualifying percentile for their category | Candidates called by rank; the reports read do not say what minimum score, if any, would apply |
| Filling empty seats in later rounds | Percentile lowered by a competent authority with stakeholders | No separate permission needed to go further down the list |
| Courses covered | NEET PG and NEET SS counselling | NEET PG and NEET SS counselling |
| Status | In force | In-principle approval on 23 September 2026; regulation not finalised |
Why the NEET PG percentile cut-off went to court
The committee exists because of a case in the Supreme Court. Petitioners led by Harisharan Devgan challenged a notice of 13 January 2026 from the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), which conducts NEET PG. It cut the qualifying percentile for the third round of NEET PG 2025-26 counselling, LiveLaw reported.
| Category | Cut-off before | Cut-off after 13 January 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| General and EWS (economically weaker sections) | 50th percentile (276 marks) | 7th percentile (103 marks) |
| General PwBD | 45th percentile (255 marks) | 5th percentile (90 marks) |
| SC (Scheduled Castes), ST (Scheduled Tribes) and OBC (Other Backward Classes), including PwBD | 40th percentile (235 marks) | 0th percentile (minus 40 marks) |
For General candidates the bar fell by 173 marks, or 62.7%, by NewsPlainly’s calculation from those figures (276 minus 103). In the SC, ST and OBC categories it fell to the 0th percentile, a score of minus 40.
The petitioners argue that letting candidates with zero or negative marks qualify is arbitrary, breaks Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and puts patient safety at risk. The Centre told the court in an affidavit that NEET PG is not meant to certify basic competence, which the MBBS (basic medical) degree already does, but to rank candidates for a limited number of seats, according to LiveLaw. Final competence is tested in the MD and MS exit exams at the end of the three-year course, it said.
A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe heard the case on 4 August 2026. The Centre told it that a 12-member committee chaired by the DGHS had been set up, with members from the NMC, the National Testing Agency and the National Board of Examinations, Bar and Bench reported. The court gave it eight weeks to collect suggestions and report. Senior advocate Maninder Singh is assisting the court as amicus curiae, and the report was prepared after considering his suggestions, the Times of India said.
Junior doctors question whether ranks fix low cut-offs
The report itself says the minimum standard for postgraduate medical education should not be diluted so far that candidates with grossly inadequate or negative scores become eligible, according to the Times of India. It also suggested no difference in pay between residents in clinical and non-clinical branches, and incentives for doctors who work in rural areas.
The Indian Medical Association’s junior doctors’ wing is not convinced that switching to ranks answers that concern. Dr Dhruv Chauhan, spokesperson for the Indian Medical Association’s Junior Doctors’ Network, told the Indian Express that a rank-based list would still let candidates with very low marks get seats, as low as minus 40 in the past. He said the NMC had not stated it would keep the cut-off at zero marks or above. “Just because seats remain vacant, the standards should not be diluted,” he told the paper. He wants the NMC to cancel seats that have stayed empty for several years.
The proposal is one of several recent NMC changes. NewsPlainly explained another, the withdrawal of the commission’s 2023 minimum standards rules for medical colleges, in what the 2023 rule withdrawal means for 846 colleges.
What the Supreme Court and NMC still have to decide
The report is now before the court. Justice Narasimha said in August that the bench would actively discuss the issues once the report came, LiveLaw reported. The reports read did not give the next hearing date. The NMC still has to finalise and notify the regulation before any change applies to a NEET PG or NEET SS round, and neither report gave a date for that.
Until then the present NEET PG percentile rules stand, and the court has not yet ruled on the January 2026 cut-off reduction. Any change for candidates would come through formal notices from the NMC, NBEMS and the MCC, not through the committee’s report itself.
Frequently asked questions
Has NEET PG percentile been scrapped?
No. The rank-only system is a proposal. The NMC gave it in-principle approval on 23 September 2026, but the regulation has not been finalised, so the present percentile rules still apply.
What will NEET PG results show under the proposed rank system?
Only each candidate's rank. The expert committee's report says percentile marks would not be declared, according to the Times of India and the Indian Express.
Does the proposal apply to NEET SS?
Yes. The report describes a rank-based system for both NEET PG and NEET SS (super-speciality) counselling.
What was the NEET PG 2025-26 cut-off after it was reduced?
The 13 January 2026 NBEMS notice cut it to the 7th percentile (103 marks out of 800) for General and EWS candidates and the 0th percentile (minus 40 marks) for SC, ST and OBC candidates, LiveLaw reported.