The NEET PG Counselling 2026 process has moved closer to commencement with the National Medical Commission (NMC) releasing the Postgraduate (PG) seat matrix for the 2026-27 academic year. The Medical Assessment & Rating Board (MARB), NMC, issued the public notice on September 29, 2026.
The seat matrix contains details of medical colleges, PG courses and the annual intake capacity approved for participation in counselling for the 2026-27 academic session.
The matrix is also subject to revision based on decisions of MARB, the competent Appeal Committee or any other competent authority. Any revised matrix will have to be considered by the Central and State/UT counselling committees.
An analysis of the complete NMC matrix shows 63,177 approved seats across 10,756 college-course listings. This figure, however, should not be treated as the number of seats available exclusively through NEET PG counselling, because the matrix also contains DM and MCh courses that are part of the super-speciality admission system.
The distribution also shows a substantial difference between institutional categories. Based on the matrix, government institutions account for about 33,088 seats, private institutions for 21,892, and deemed institutions for 8,197.
The numbers become more revealing when individual courses are examined.
State-Wise seats
Karnataka has the largest overall seat volume in the matrix with 8,061 seats, followed by Maharashtra with 6,514, Tamil Nadu with 6,239 and Uttar Pradesh with 5,806. Andhra Pradesh has 4,031, while Rajasthan and Telangana have 3,857 and 3,818 respectively.
This distribution could make the state-wise composition of the eventual MCC choice list particularly important for candidates comparing colleges across regions.
What Happens Next?
The NMC has cautioned that the matrix is subject to revision. Seats from applications seeking increased intake or approval for new PG courses are not included and may be added later.
Importantly, the MCC PG counselling page currently says the NMC and NBEMS seat matrices are awaited, even though NMC has now published this September 29 matrix.
For NEET PG aspirants, the next key development will therefore be the MCC's counselling schedule and the final counselling seat matrix used for choice filling.
