NMC Approves 13,186 Additional MBBS Seats for 2026-27 Academic Year

13,186 additional seats have been approved

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved 13,186 additional MBBS seats for the 2026-27 academic year, taking the total approved undergraduate medical intake to 1,40,214 seats across 836 medical colleges, excluding seats at the Institutes of National Importance (INIs). The updated seat matrix, as on September 1, incorporates permissions for new medical colleges and increases in the annual intake of existing medical colleges. The expansion comes as NEET-UG counselling for the 2026-27 MBBS batch is under way, with the counselling schedule pushing back the start of the academic session and subsequent rounds, including the stray vacancy round, expected to continue into Oct. The increase is heavily driven by the private sector, which accounts for 10,400 of the 13,186 additional seats, or nearly 79%, while govt medical colleges have added 2,786 seats. The total intake has risen from 1,27,028 renewed seats to 1,40,214, an increase of about 10.4%. Karnataka has recorded the highest increase with 1,650 additional seats; followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,250; Bihar with 1,240; Uttar Pradesh with 1,200 and Rajasthan with 1,100. Telangana has added 1,010 seats and West Bengal 975. Karnataka's total MBBS intake now stands at 15,745 seats, including 4,600 in govt colleges and 11,145 in private colleges. Tamil Nadu has 14,299 seats, Uttar Pradesh 14,400 and Maharashtra 13,249. The addition of 13,186 seats will widen the pool of MBBS seats available during the 2026-27 admission cycle, although the actual allocation of these seats will depend on the ongoing counselling process.

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Among other major increases, Andhra Pradesh has added 525 seats, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand 520 each, Maharashtra 550, Haryana 350, Kerala 300, Gujarat 250, Puducherry and Uttarakhand 200 each, and Jammu and Kashmir 175. The NMC matrix shows zero increase in Delhi, while Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have also recorded no additional seats. The NMC has made it clear that admissions must be restricted to the number of seats approved in the matrix, with admissions beyond the approved intake liable to regulatory action.

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