India lowers NEET-MDS 2026 qualifying cut-off scores

The Indian Union government has reduced the qualifying cut-off for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for Master of Dental Surgery (NEET-MDS) 2026 for the second consecutive year. This decision follows reports of approximately 1,200 vacant postgraduate dental seats across the country.

The revision involves a reduction of 20.576 percentile points across various categories. For General and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) candidates, the qualifying score has dropped from 308 to 234 out of 960. For Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates, the score has been reduced from 271 to 200. The score for General candidates under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category has declined from 289 to 218.

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has identified 460 confirmed vacancies and 762 virtual vacancies for Round 2 of MDS counselling. The current admission landscape includes 7,716 MDS seats across 287 dental colleges, with 1,103 seats in government colleges and 6,613 in private colleges.