New Delhi, Jan 14 — The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has drastically lowered the qualifying cut-off for NEET-PG 2025, allowing candidates with zero or even negative scores to compete for postgraduate medical seats, after nearly 18,000 MD and MS seats remained vacant following the second round of counselling.
The move follows a directive from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to expand the pool of eligible candidates for the third round of admissions.
In its official notice, NBEMS said the relaxation was meant “to ensure optimal utilisation of available postgraduate medical seats” and prevent the loss of trained medical capacity.
How the cut-offs have changed under the revised rules:
General and EWS candidates: cut-off reduced from 50th percentile to 7th percentile
General-PwBD candidates: from 45th to 5th percentile
SC, ST and OBC candidates: from 40th percentile to 0 percentile
The zero-percentile cut-off means candidates who scored below zero — including those with negative marks (as low as –40 due to negative marking) — are now eligible to take part in counselling.
NBEMS said, “The qualifying percentile has been lowered in view of the large number of unfilled seats after Round-2 of counselling.”
Officials acknowledged that the ministry’s decision marks a sharp shift from competitive filtering to emergency seat filling.
“The objective is no longer to restrict entry based on percentile,” a senior official said. “It is to make sure every postgraduate seat is occupied by a qualified MBBS doctor rather than left empty.”
The Health Ministry has justified the step by pointing to India’s growing shortage of medical specialists, arguing that doctors who have already passed MBBS and NEET-PG should not be excluded when seats are lying vacant.
An MoHFW note said the move was intended to “broaden participation in Round-3 counselling so that no training capacity is wasted.”
Never before have NEET-PG qualifying thresholds been pushed this low across all categories. Until now, cut-offs functioned as a minimum merit filter; with the new notification, they have effectively become eligibility gates for seat utilisation.
With Round-3 counselling expected to open shortly, thousands of candidates who were earlier disqualified will now be able to compete for MD and MS seats across the country.