NBE reduces NEET SS 2025 qualifying percentile, check group specific cutoff scores

New Delhi: The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has reduced the qualifying percentile for NEET SS 2025 from the earlier 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.

Medical Dialogues recently reported that after the Supreme Court directed the Centre to reconsider its decision on the NEET SS 2025 cutoff, the Union Government agreed to reduce the cutoff for the proposed special stray vacancy round. Due to this decision, around 6,000 additional candidates would now be eligible to appear in the counselling process for getting admitted to the super-speciality courses.

This follows a total of 1,857 super speciality seats - including 1,094 DM/MCh seats and 763 DNB-SS seats - left unfilled after the second round of NEET-SS counselling.

In compliance with the court order, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) issued a letter on September 22, 2026, directing the reduction of the qualifying percentile. The decision was taken with reference to the Supreme Court's September 17, 2026 order in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 771 of 2026.

Also read- NEET SS 2025: SC tells Centre to reconsider cutoff reduction as around 1800 seats remain vacant

Following the MoHFW directions, NBEMS has revised the NEET-SS 2025 qualifying criteria and shared the revised result with the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), MoHFW.

Releasing a notice on September 22, 2026, the Board said that candidates who have secured the 30th percentile or above in their respective NEET-SS 2025 question paper groups have now been declared qualified.

The group specific qualifying cut-off scores are as under:

Further, NBEMS clarified that there is no change in the question paper group-specific ranks declared on January 23, 2026. The examination authority has also stated that no fresh scorecards will be issued following the reduction in the qualifying percentile.

MBBS marks to be verified

The aggregate marks (in percentage) in all MBBS Professional Examinations as provided by the candidate in his/her NEET-SS 2025 application form will be verified against the original credentials at the time of admission by the counseling/ admitting authority, said NBEMS.

In cases where MBBS aggregate marks were used to break a tie in the NEET-SS 2025 rank, the scorecard will mention the marks provided by the candidate in the application form.

If the information provided by a candidate is found to be incorrect and the marks were used for tie-breaking, the candidate's NEET-SS 2025 candidature will be cancelled.

NBE warns against unfair means

NBEMS has also warned that candidates found to have used unfair means in the examination may face penal action by NBEMS, MCC or the counselling authority, as applicable.

If any such candidate has been declared successful in NEET-SS 2025, their result and/or candidature will be cancelled or treated as cancelled.

"If at any stage, candidates are found to have resorted to use of any unfair means in the exam, such candidates shall be liable for penal action as deemed appropriate by NBEMS/MCC/Counseling authority. In the event of any such candidates being declared successful in the NEET-SS 2025, the results/candidature of such candidates shall be cancelled and/or are deemed to be cancelled," the notice mentioned.

To view the notice, click on the link below:

Background:

The pending legal issue over the 151 vacant super speciality seats in Tamil Nadu halted the NEET-SS 2025 counselling for months. On July 28, 2026, the Supreme Court of India directed the Tamil Nadu government to revert the unfilled 151 NEET SS seats to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) by July 29, 2026, and asked the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to complete the NEET SS 2025 counselling process within two weeks.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that following the direction issued by the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers approached the apex court seeking a modification of its order. The Association had requested the Court to direct that all unfilled in-service super specialty seats should be returned to the State of Tamil Nadu if the qualifying percentile is reduced after the second round of counselling.

Then, the Union Government informed the Supreme Court about its decision to return all unfilled NEET SS 2025 seats to Tamil Nadu, which had been transferred to the All India Quota for counselling. Further, the Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati had also told a bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe that the government would also consider reducing the qualifying percentile to help fill the remaining seats. The Centre was supposed to inform the Court about the extent of the reduction on September 8.

Doctors had also urged the Union Health Minister Shri J P Nadda to conduct an additional round (Round 3) of the NEET SS 2025 counselling to ensure optimum utilisation of the unfilled seats.

Submitting a representation to the Union Health Minister, the doctors under the Indian Medical Association Junior Doctors Network (IMA-JDN) mentioned that leaving these super-speciality seats vacant would result in the loss of valuable training opportunities for the current academic session. It would also result in a shortage of trained Super-Specialists in the country, they pointed out.

Also read- NEET SS 2025 cutoff may be reduced to 30th percentile for special stray vacancy round: Centre tells SC