Candidates who became eligible after the NEET PG 2025 score cut-off was lowered took up seats worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore in 48 medical colleges that are considered universities. This is an indication of how important the cap reduction was for these private universities.The government lowered the limit just before the third round of advice, saying this would help fill 18,000 places left vacant after the first two rounds, especially in preclinical and paraclinical specialties. Centralized counseling results data are available only for All India quota seats and for all postgraduate seats in private medical colleges deemed to be university-based. The all-India quota consists of 50% PG seats in around 300 public universities. The remaining 50% is covered through counseling carried out at the state level, for which consolidated data is not available.TOI analyzed the data of seat allocation in round 3 and the lost round of centralized counselling, analyzing only the new allocations in the third round and all allocations in the lost round. Candidates cannot change or upgrade their preference after allotment in Round 3 and abandoning an allotted seat would mean being barred from further participation in counseling and forfeiture of security deposit (Rs 25,000 for an All India quota seat and Rs 2 lakh for a deemed university seat). Joining a seat and then resigning could also incur a seat abandonment penalty.The analysis showed that the annual tuition fees of clinical seats filled in the third round by those with a reduced cut-off in the deemed universities amounted to about Rs 550 crore. There are two categories of positions in these universities: management positions and NRI positions. Since PG courses last for three years, that would amount to a revenue loss of about Rs 1,650 crore if the seat remained vacant.Tuition rates are higher for clinical specialties, especially for high-demand calls such as radiology, dermatology, obstetrics and gynecology, and general medicine. In these, the annual fees could reach between Rs 70 lakh and Rs 1 crore or more. In the round of lost seats, these universities filled up clinical specialty seats worth Rs 115 crore annually, or Rs 345 crore over the entire course.In the all-India quota, none of the candidates who became eligible due to the reduced cut-off got admission to clinical specialties, except those who cleared the disability quota. In comparison, 970 candidates who became eligible through cut-off reduction obtained clinical specialties in the university faculties considered in the third round and in the missed rounds.While the outrage over the limit reduction was mainly due to the reserved category reducing its limit to zero percentile, allocation data from the two rounds shows that around 38% of the over 1,200 all-India seats occupied by those with reduced limit were from the general category compared to 24% for OBCs, 25% for SCs and 14% for STs. In the university colleges considered, of the 1,770 seats occupied by those who were eligible by reducing the limit, more than two-thirds (1,224) were from the general category, while only 4.2% (75) and 0.2% (4) were from the SC and ST categories, respectively.The bias is even more pronounced in clinical positions at faculties considered university, which have the highest enrollment rates. Of the 973 clinical seats allotted in the last two rounds that were for those eligible under the reduced cut-off, 78% (759) were filled by general category candidates, 19% by OBC, 2.7% by SC and 0.3% by ST.In comparison, of the over 160 clinical posts in the all-India quota, 42% went to general category, 40% to OBCs, 17% to SCs and 2% to STs. Clearly, candidates from more general categories benefited from the reduced cutoff than those from reserved categories. Proportion of candidates who entered through a reduced limit (%)
| seats in | Generation+EWS | OBC | SOUTH CAROLINA | STREET |
| All India quota | 37 | 24 | 24 | 14 |
| Universities considered | 69 | 26 | 4 | 0.2 |
Proportion of clinical positions filled by those who entered through a reduced limit (%)
| seats in | Generation+EWS | OBC | SOUTH CAROLINA | STREET |
| All India quota | 42 | 40 | 17 | 2 |
| Universities considered | 78 | 19 | 3 | 0.3 |
*Each category includes candidates with disabilities in that category.
