NEET UG 2026 Results: Female Candidates Outperform Males as 11.21 Lakh Qualify

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday declared the results of NEET (UG) 2026 , with 11.21 lakh candidates qualifying for undergraduate medical admissions across the country. Released on schedule, the results keep the national counselling calendar on track, paving the way for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, B.Sc. (Hons.) Nursing, BVSc & AH and other allied health programmes for the 2026-27 academic session.

Recognised as India's largest medical entrance examination , NEET-UG is the single gateway for admission to medical colleges governed by the National Medical Commission (NMC) , including premier institutions such as AIIMS and JIPMER , besides most government and private medical colleges.

This year, nearly 20 lakh candidates appeared for the examination conducted on June 21 at 5,440 centres across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad . The examination was held in 13 languages English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu ensuring wider accessibility for aspirants from across the country.

The results highlight the impressive performance of female candidates , who accounted for more than 58 per cent of all qualified candidates . Female candidates also registered a higher qualification rate than their male counterparts, with 56.8 per cent qualifying compared to 55.1 per cent of male candidates.

The highest score of 715 out of 720 was jointly secured by Aryan Gupta of Punjab and Panshul Bansal of Haryana . A total of 19 candidates scored above 700 marks , while 138 candidates crossed the 690-mark threshold. Among these top performers, over 93 per cent were first-time test takers and 99 per cent were between 17 and 19 years of age, reflecting the strong performance of fresh aspirants.

The Top 17 All India Rank holders , each scoring above 705 marks , came from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Telangana , underscoring the geographical diversity of the country's highest achievers. Although Telangana featured among the States producing top national rankers, the NTA has not separately disclosed the names of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state toppers in its official press release.

Qualified candidates emerged from all 36 States and Union Territories . Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of successful candidates with more than 1.7 lakh qualifiers , while Lakshadweep had 43 qualified candidates . Among the officially announced State and Union Territory toppers, Jigmet Yangchan Lamo from Ladakh scored 530 marks , Dhruv Tripathi from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands secured 606 marks , and Fahmida Anees from Lakshadweep scored 573 marks . Overall, 17 State toppers scored 700 or above , while 26 State toppers secured more than 690 marks . The 138 candidates scoring above 690 represented 66 cities across India.

The score distribution highlighted the intense competition. Besides the 19 candidates scoring above 700 , as many as 1,492 candidates secured 650 or more , 10,160 candidates crossed the 600-mark , and 90,780 candidates scored 500 or above .

Category-wise, the highest number of qualified candidates came from the OBC-NCL category with 5.12 lakh , followed by General ( 2.91 lakh ), Scheduled Castes ( 1.59 lakh ), Gen-EWS ( 95,026 ), Scheduled Tribes ( 63,716 ), PwBD ( 3,666 ) and PwD ( 303 ). The NTA has also released category-wise cut-offs, merit lists and topper lists.

According to the agency, the results were declared within the scheduled timeline through a re-engineered evaluation process , allowing multiple stages of assessment to run simultaneously. The provisional answer key was released on June 25 , objections were accepted until June 28 , scanned OMR sheets were displayed between July 13 and 15 , and the final answer key and results were published on July 16 .

Candidates can now download their scorecards from the official NEET portal. Counselling for the 15 per cent All India Quota will be conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) , while respective State authorities will oversee admissions under the 85 per cent State quota . With more than 1.09 lakh MBBS seats now available across India, alongside thousands of seats in dental, AYUSH, nursing and veterinary courses, qualified candidates are expected to begin the admission process shortly. The NTA has also cautioned students against fraudulent calls, fake counselling agencies and websites promising admissions or score improvements in exchange for money.