AIIMS PG 2026: INI-CET Result Expected 19 June, Counselling, Cutoff and Seat Matrix

AIIMS PG entrance for admission to MD, MS, MDS, DM and MCh seats at AIIMS, JIPMER, PGIMER, NIMHANS and SCTIMST is now conducted through INI-CET 2026 by AIIMS New Delhi. INI-CET is held twice a year, and the July 2026 session is the active cycle right now. The July 2026 session exam was held on 8 June 2026 in CBT mode, and the result and counselling are the next big milestones for candidates.

• INI-CET July 2026 Result: The result is expected by 19 June 2026. Last year, the AIIMS office released the May 2025 session result on 17 May 2025, around 9 days after the exam.
• INI-CET July 2026 Counselling: First-round counselling is expected to begin in the first week of July 2026. In the previous July 2025 session, Round 1 seat allotment was published on 4 July 2025.
• Seat Matrix: Around 1,131 PG seats across AIIMS, JIPMER Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS Bengaluru and SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram are offered. AIIMS New Delhi alone offers more than 250 MD/MS seats.
• Cutoff: The qualifying cutoff stays the same every year — 50th percentile for General/EWS, 45th percentile for OBC/SC/ST and 40th percentile for PwBD General. The closing rank for AIIMS Delhi MD Radiodiagnosis stayed within the top 20 in July 2025.

What is AIIMS PG (INI-CET) 2026?

AIIMS PG, also known as INI-CET (Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test), is the national-level entrance test for postgraduate medical admissions to all Institutes of National Importance (INIs) in India. Since 2021, the older AIIMS PG entrance has been replaced by INI-CET, which is conducted twice a year by AIIMS New Delhi on behalf of all participating INIs.

INI-CET is the single window for MD, MS, MDS, DM (6 years) and MCh (6 years) admissions to the following Institutes of National Importance:

• All AIIMS (including AIIMS New Delhi and the newer AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, Rishikesh, Bibinagar, Bilaspur, Deoghar, Gorakhpur, Kalyani, Madurai, Mangalagiri, Nagpur, Rajkot, Vijaypur, Guwahati, Awantipora and Darbhanga as per the latest seat matrix)
• JIPMER, Puducherry
• PGIMER, Chandigarh
• NIMHANS, Bengaluru
• SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram

The exam is held in online CBT mode at multiple test centres across India. Around 1,131 PG seats are offered every session through INI-CET. More than 27,000 candidates appear in each cycle, making INI-CET one of the most competitive PG medical exams in India.

This makes INI-CET different from NEET PG. NEET PG governs seats at non-INI medical colleges; INI-CET governs only the seats inside the INIs. A candidate may write both — INI-CET first, NEET PG later — and pick the seat they prefer at counselling.

INI-CET 2026 Important Dates

INI-CET 2026 has two sessions — the July 2026 session and the January 2027 session. The July 2026 session exam has already been held on 8 June 2026, and the next big dates are the result and counselling rounds. The table below lists upcoming events first, followed by past events in chronological order.

Source: aiimsexams.ac.in

The dates above are confirmed for past events. Upcoming dates are based on the official tentative schedule and past-year trends. AIIMS may issue revised counselling notices closer to the result.

INI-CET 2026 Eligibility Criteria

You must meet the AIIMS PG / INI-CET 2026 eligibility before applying. The rules are the same for the January and July sessions, but the cut-off date for internship completion changes with each session.

Qualifying Degree:

• For MD/MS courses, you must have an MBBS degree from a college recognised by the National Medical Commission (NMC) or earlier MCI.
• For MDS courses, you must have a BDS degree recognised by the Dental Council of India (DCI).
• For DM (6 years) and MCh (6 years), the relevant MBBS degree with valid registration is required.

Internship:

• You must have completed your one-year compulsory rotatory internship on or before 30 September 2026 for the July 2026 session.
• For the January 2027 session, the internship completion date will move to 31 March 2027.

Registration: You must hold a permanent or provisional registration certificate of MBBS/BDS issued by the NMC, MCI, DCI or a State Medical/Dental Council.

Number of Attempts: There is no formal cap on attempts. However, AIIMS marks candidates as Category A, B or C based on past INI-CET attempts after qualifying. A "Category C" candidate (qualified in two earlier INI-CETs without taking a seat) faces a lower rank cut at counselling. You should read clause 9 of the prospectus carefully if you have already qualified earlier.

INI-CET 2026 Application Process

The INI-CET 2026 application form is released only online on the AIIMS exam portal. The process is single-window — there is no offline mode. You should follow these steps for the next session (January 2027) when the form opens.

Step 1: Basic Registration

• Visit aiimsexams.ac.in and click on the active INI-CET notice.
• Create a new account using your name, email ID and a working mobile number.
• You will get a login ID and password on the registered email.

Step 2: Fill the Application Form

• Log in and complete the personal, academic and address details.
• Choose your preferred test cities. INI-CET is usually conducted in around 10 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Jaipur and Lucknow.
• Upload your photograph, signature and left-thumb impression as per the format given in the prospectus.

Step 3: Pay the Application Fee

• Fee is paid online through debit card, credit card, net banking or UPI.
• The transaction is final. Once paid, the fee is non-refundable.

Step 4: Final Status Window

• AIIMS opens a "final status" window where you can correct minor errors before the admit card stage.
• You should check your category, course preference and uploaded documents during this window.

Step 5: Download the Admit Card

• The admit card is released about a week before the exam. You can download it from the same portal using your login.

INI-CET 2026 Application Fees

The application fee for INI-CET 2026 has stayed the same for the past three years. You can pay only through online modes. The fees are non-refundable.

Bank transaction charges and GST apply over and above the listed fee. Some banks levy a small convenience charge on UPI or net banking. You should keep the payment confirmation as a backup until the admit card is downloaded.

INI-CET 2026 Syllabus

The INI-CET 2026 syllabus is based on the MBBS curriculum prescribed by the National Medical Commission. You should focus on the entire MBBS syllabus, but the weightage is heavier on clinical subjects and high-yield para-clinical topics.

Pre-Clinical Subjects:

• Anatomy: Gross anatomy, embryology, histology, neuroanatomy.
• Physiology: Cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, endocrine, CNS.
• Biochemistry: Metabolism, genetics, clinical biochemistry, vitamins.

Para-Clinical Subjects:

• Pathology: General pathology, systemic pathology, haematology.
• Pharmacology: Autonomic drugs, CVS drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy.
• Microbiology: Bacteriology, virology, parasitology, mycology, immunology.
• Forensic Medicine: Toxicology, injuries, autopsy, identification.
• PSM (Community Medicine): Epidemiology, biostatistics, national health programmes, nutrition.

Clinical Subjects:

• General Medicine: Infectious diseases, cardiology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, neurology.
• General Surgery: Wound healing, GI surgery, urology, orthopaedic basics.
• Obstetrics and Gynaecology: Pregnancy and labour, infertility, contraception, oncology.
• Paediatrics: Neonatology, vaccination, growth, nutrition, common syndromes.
• Other Clinicals: ENT, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Anaesthesia, Radiology.

You will notice that INI-CET leans more on conceptual and application-based questions than on direct recall. Image-based questions and clinical vignettes need both theory and exposure to real-world cases.

INI-CET 2026 Admit Card

The INI-CET 2026 admit card is released on the official AIIMS exam portal about 5-7 days before the exam date. For the July 2026 session, the admit card was made available on 3 June 2026. You should download and print at least two copies before reaching the centre.

How to Download the Admit Card:

• Visit aiimsexams.ac.in.
• Click on the INI-CET admit card link under the active notice.
• Log in using your registration ID and password.
• Download the PDF and take a clear A4 printout.

Details on the Admit Card:

• Candidate’s name, roll number and category
• Test city, test centre address and reporting time
• Exam date and shift
• Photograph, signature and thumb impression
• Course applied for (MD/MS/MDS/DM/MCh)
• Detailed reporting and dress-code instructions

You should check every detail on the admit card. If you find any spelling error in your name or a mismatch in your category, raise a query with the AIIMS exam section immediately. No corrections can be made on the day of the exam.

INI-CET 2026 Exam Day Guidelines

AIIMS follows strict rules on the day of the exam. You should plan your reporting time and documents in advance to avoid last-minute issues.

Documents to Carry:

• Printout of the INI-CET 2026 admit card
• Original photo ID — Aadhaar card, PAN card, Voter ID or Passport
• Two recent passport-size photographs
• Internship completion certificate (if asked)

Reporting Time:

• You should reach the test centre at least 90 minutes before the exam starts.
• Gate closing is usually 30 minutes before the start of the test. Late candidates are not allowed in.

Items Not Allowed:

• Mobile phone, smart watch, calculator, fitness band
• Books, notes, paper, wallet or any electronic device
• Metal accessories like big earrings, brooches and chains

Inside the Hall:

• Frisking is done at the entry.
• Biometric verification and signature matching are mandatory.
• Rough sheets are provided at your desk. They must be returned at the end.

INI-CET 2026 Answer Key

AIIMS does not release a formal candidate-wise answer key for INI-CET. This is one of the key differences from NEET PG. You will not be able to download a question-wise answer key or submit objections.

Instead, the AIIMS exam section directly releases the final result with normalised scores. The score is calculated after equating the difficulty across the question sets. You should not rely on third-party "memory-based" keys floating on social media — these are not official and may mislead your rank prediction.

You may, however, see your own response sheet for a few days after the exam to verify your attempted and correct questions, before the result is published. This window is brief and is announced on the official portal.

INI-CET 2026 Seat Matrix and Participating Institutes

INI-CET 2026 distributes around 1,131 PG seats across all participating Institutes of National Importance. The exact distribution may shift by 30-40 seats each session because some seats convert into senior residency or are placed under sponsorship.

You should know that the seat matrix is updated round by round. Some seats from the central pool are converted into sponsored seats from state governments and are filled separately outside INI-CET counselling. The final seat matrix for each round is uploaded to the AIIMS portal a day before choice filling opens.

INI-CET 2026 Preparation Tips

INI-CET is widely considered tougher than NEET PG. The question style is more clinical, the image-based component is heavier, and the cutoff for top seats is razor-thin. You should plan a structured 8-10 month timeline if you are starting fresh.

Build Strong NCERT-Level Basics

• Cover all 19 MBBS subjects with standard PG textbooks or short notes.
• Make a one-page summary for each high-yield topic.
• Use the "spaced revision" rule — revise the same topic after 7, 21 and 60 days.

Solve Topic-Wise MCQs

• Aim for 100-150 MCQs per day during the active prep phase.
• Mark wrong attempts and revise them weekly.
• Focus on image-based MCQs from radiology, pathology and dermatology.

Take Grand Tests Under Real Conditions

• Solve at least 15-20 full-length 200-question tests in the last 2 months.
• Time yourself at exactly 180 minutes.
• Review the test the same evening — not after a week.

Watch the Marking Scheme

• Negative marking is 1/3 of a mark. A blind guess hurts your score.
• You should attempt only when you can eliminate at least two wrong options.

Past Year Question Trends

• Around 25-30 questions repeat in theme from older AIIMS PG papers.
• Solve the last 5 years of papers to spot the high-frequency areas.
• Forensic Medicine and PSM are scoring and high-return subjects per hour.

Plan the Last 30 Days

• Stop new chapters in the last month.
• Revise short notes, image atlases and past papers only.
• Sleep well — pattern-recognition speed drops sharply with sleep loss.