NEET-PG 2025: Cut-off marks slashed to fill vacant MBBS seats; 0 percentile for Reserved categories; 7th percentile for General
The decision was primarily driven by the need to fill approximately 18,000 postgraduate medical seats that remained vacant after the second round of counseling
In a move to fill thousands of vacant postgraduate medical seats (MD and MS), the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has lowered the qualifying percentile for NEET-PG 2025.
The decision follows a directive from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) aimed at expanding eligibility for the third round.
The revision brings a significant drop in qualifying standards, with the cut-off for some categories reaching zero. According to the official notice, the reduction to the 0th percentile for SC/ST/OBC candidates means that even those with a negative score of -40 (due to negative marking) are now eligible to participate in the counseling.
The drop in the required percentile is unprecedented across all categories. The Ministry has essentially moved from a "competitive merit" threshold to a "near-zero" threshold to ensure all postgraduate seats are filled. In the general and EWS categories, the percentile has been dropped from the 50th percentile to the 7th percentile.
In general PwBD, the percentile has been dropped from the 45th percentile to the 5th percentile.
In the SC/ST/OBC category, the cut-off percentile has been dropped from the 40th percentile to the 0 percentile. The decision was primarily driven by the need to fill approximately 18,000 postgraduate medical seats that remained vacant after the second round of counseling.
This measure seeks to optimize national medical resources and address the acute shortage of specialists without requiring doctors—who have already cleared their MBBS—to reassess their basic competence.
