NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission and the Medical Counselling Committee have released the seat matrix for postgraduate medical admissions in 2026-27, setting out how many MD, MS, diploma and DNB seats will be filled through NEET PG counselling this year.
MD, MS and diploma seats have risen to about 58,000, an increase of 11 per cent, or 5,827 seats, from 52,173 last year, Careers360 reported on September 29 and MedAdmit on September 30. The matrix is published as a PDF on the NMC's website, nmc.org.in, under the title "Seat Matrix for Postgraduate (PG) seats for the Academic Year 2026–27 as on 29.09.2026", MedAdmit said.
A separate MedAdmit report gave a higher count, 63,177 postgraduate seats across government, private and deemed colleges, while also describing the increase as nearly 5,827 seats. Neither report sets out a full breakdown by category, and candidates should rely on the official matrix.
Careers360 said seats at private and deemed universities rose 32 per cent and at government medical colleges 10 per cent. Anaesthesia, ophthalmology, ENT, pathology, psychiatry and respiratory medicine were among the branches with more seats.
MedAdmit's larger count gives the biggest specialities: general medicine with 6,143 MD seats, anaesthesiology with 5,672, general surgery with 5,591 MS seats, obstetrics and gynaecology with 4,690, and paediatrics with 4,203. By state, Karnataka has the most seats, 8,323, followed by Maharashtra with 6,992, Tamil Nadu with 6,306, Uttar Pradesh with 6,082 and Andhra Pradesh with 4,142, according to MedAdmit.
NEET PG 2026 was held on August 30, with a re-exam on September 5, and the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences declared the results on September 24, MedAdmit reported. A total of 2,63,544 candidates sat the exam on August 30 and 2,416 on September 5, or 2,65,960 in all.
The qualifying cut-offs, out of 720, were 262 marks, the 50th percentile, for general and EWS candidates; 244 marks, the 45th percentile, for general candidates with benchmark disabilities; and 226 marks, the 40th percentile, for SC, ST and OBC candidates, including those with disabilities. Scorecards, which show the raw score, rank, percentile and All India Quota rank, can be downloaded from October 1 and remain available for six months.
With about 58,000 seats and some 2.66 lakh candidates, there are roughly 4.6 candidates who sat the exam for every seat.
The MCC opened the round one registration portal for candidates with disabilities on October 1, Careers360 reported. The Directorate General of Health Services said "the primary medical assessment board will remain open from October 1 at 5 pm to October 9", and the appellate medical assessment board will hold assessments from 10 am on October 5 to 5 pm on October 12.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences will publish question IDs, correct answers, candidates' recorded responses and scores on or after October 1 on natboard.edu.in, according to Careers360. Registration for the general counselling rounds is done through the MCC's website, mcc.nic.in.
For NEET PG candidates, the size of the seat matrix sets how far down the rank list admissions are likely to go. Every count published shows an increase over last year, with the fastest growth, 32 per cent, at private and deemed universities, against 10 per cent at government colleges.
The distribution also matters. MedAdmit's state figures show that the five states with the most seats, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, together account for more than 31,800 of them, about half of the 63,177 in that count.
Candidates should check the official seat matrix, since published counts differ, and follow the MCC's schedule for each counselling round on mcc.nic.in.
