03 Oct, 2025: INI CET registration 2026 for the January session starts; the last date to register is October 21, 2025 (5 PM). Apply Here.

03 Oct, 2025: INI CET registration 2026 for the January session starts; the last date to register is October 21, 2025 (5 PM). Apply Here.
The INI CET 2026 (Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test) is a national-level entrance exam for admission to postgraduate medical courses such as MD, MS, DM (6 years), MCh (6 years), and MDS in prestigious institutes like AIIMS, JIPMER, PGIMER, NIMHANS, and other participating universities. The exam is conducted in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode and consists of 200 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for 200 marks, with +1 for correct answers and -1.3 for wrong answers, to be completed in 3 hours.
INI CET is the gateway for 1,200+ PG seats, and the cutoff varies based on course and category, with AIIMS New Delhi and JIPMER Chandigarh having the highest closing ranks. Candidates must regularly check the official website aiimsexams.ac.in for updates on registration, admit card, and counselling.
January Session 2026:
Registration: September 30 – October 21, 2026 (5 PM)
Admit Card Release: November 1, 2026
Exam Date: November 9, 2026
Result Declaration: November 15, 2026
July Session 2026:
Exam Date: May 17, 2026
Result Declaration: May 23, 2026
6.1 INI CET 2026 Basic Registration Process
6.2 Filling out the INI CET Application Form
6.3 The process to Check the Registration Status and Generation of Code
6.4 Final Registration and Payment Process
6.5 INI CET 2026 Application Fee
14.1 INI CET Counselling Process
15.1 Documents Required During INI CET 2026 Counselling
19.1 INI CET 2023 Cutoff (Counselling Round 1)
19.2 INI CET 2023 Cutoff (Counselling Round 2)
Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI CET) is a national-level examination conducted by AIIMS Delhi to offer admission in 6-year PG medical courses (MD/ MS/ M.Ch/ DM). Qualified candidates will be eligible to take admission into top national importance institutions such as AIIMS, NIHMANS, JIPMER, and PGIMER.
AIIMS, New Delhi conducts the exam twice a year, in January and July Sessions.
| INI CET Full Form | Institute of National Importance Combined Test |
| Conducting Body | All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi |
| Exam Level | National Level |
| Courses Offered | MD, MS, DM, M.Ch, MDS |
| Mode of Application | Computer-Based/Online |
| Mode of Examination | Computer-Based/Online |
| Exam Frequency | Twice a year- January and July sessions |
| Exam Duration | 3 hours |
| Total Questions | 200 |
| Question Type | Objective-type/multiple-choice questions |
| Exam Medium | English |
| Application Fee |
|
| Marking Scheme |
|
| Courses Offered | 872 |
| Applications Per Year | 80,000+ |
| Number of Exam Centers | 114 |
| Official Website | https://www.aiimsexams.ac.in |
| INI CET Exam Helpline | 1800-117-898 |
Important INI CET 2026 Exam Dates for the January and July Sessions have been mentioned in the table below:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 30, 2026 | Registration Start |
| October 21, 2026 (5 PM) | Last Date for Registration |
| October 24 to 26 2026 (5 PM) | Correction Window |
| November 1, 2026 | Admit Card Release |
| 9th November 2026 (Sunday) | Exam Date |
| 15th November 2026 | Result Declaration |
| November–December 2026 | Counselling & Seat Allotment |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 2026 (Expected) | Registration Start |
| April 2026 (Tentative) | Last Date for Registration |
| April 2026 | Correction Window |
| Second week of May 2026 | Admit Card Release |
| 17 May 2026 (Sunday) | Exam Date |
| 23 May 2026 | Result Declaration |
| June–July 2026 | Counselling & Seat Allotment |
The courses offered under INI CET 2026 are as follows:
People Also Ask:
Ques: When will AIIMS conduct INI CET 2026 for the July session?
Ans: AIIMS conducted INI CET 2026 for the July session on May 17, 2026.
Ques: Will the offline application form be accepted for INI CET 2026?
Ans: No, candidates will have to fill up the INI CET 2026 Application Form online from the official website.
Ques: Who will be eligible to take the INI CET 2026?
Ans: Candidates who have graduated with the MBBS/BDS degree with 55% marks (50% for SC/ST Category) from an accredited medical college are eligible to sit for INI CET 2026 exam.
Candidates appearing for the INI CET 2026 must check the eligibility criteria before filling out the application form. The INI CET eligibility criteria are given below:
| Educational Qualifications | MBBS, BDS, or equivalent degree from a recognized institute registered under the Medical Council/Dental Council of India. |
| Passing Marks | Minimum 55% for the general category and minimum 50% for the SC/ST category. |
| Certificates | Registration certificate issued by MCI/DCI or State Medical Council/State Dental Council. |
| Internships | One year of rotary internship certificate |
The INI CET 2026 Application Form is to be filled in two stages- basic registration, followed by the final registration process. Given below are the steps to complete the INI CET 2026 registration process:
Candidates can follow the below-mentioned steps for INI CET Baisc Registration:
The INI CET Registration ID and password generated will be sent to the registered email ID and phone number. Note it down for future login purposes.
Candidates need to log into the official website using the generated credentials to complete the INI CET Application Form 2026.
To check the INI CET registration status and generate the code, candidates need to log in to the official website using their credentials.
Candidates need to login to the website via the credentials to complete the INI CET Final Registration.
The INI CET Application Fee 2026 has been tabulated below:
| Category | Application Fee |
|---|---|
| General/OBC/ Foreign National/ OCI | INR 4,000 |
| SC/ST/EWS | INR 3,200 |
| PwD | No Application Fee |
People Also Ask:
Ques: How many questions will be asked in the INI CET 2026 exam?
Ans: The INI CET question paper will have 200 multiple-choice questions.
Ques: Is there any negative marking in the INI CET exam?
Ans: Yes, 1/3rd marks will be deducted for every wrong answer in the INI CET 2026 exam.
The INI CET Exam Pattern for 2026 has been tabulated below:
| Particulars | Details |
|---|---|
| Mode of Exam | Computer-based Test |
| Exam Duration | 3 hours |
| Total Marks | 200 |
| Number of Questions | 200 |
| Type of Questions | Objective |
| Marking Scheme |
|
The INI CET Syllabus has been mentioned in detail below:
Para-Clinical Subjects-
Pre-Clinical Subjects-
Clinical Subjects-
Keeping in mind the level of competition in INI CET every year, it is important to have a preparation strategy to be able to cover all topics. Given below are some of the INI CET preparation tips that will enable the candidates to clear the exam in their first attempt:
Some of the best books for INI CET preparation have been mentioned in the table below:
| Name of the book | Author |
|---|---|
| AIIMS Essence | Pritesh Singh |
| How not to miss things?: NEET PG/INI CET High-yield Topics | Dr Shivaam Kesarwaani |
| Review of all recent papers of the Central PG Entrance Exam | Arvind Arora |
| Self-assessment and review of INI-CET | Manoj Chaudhary |
| Review of Postgraduate Medical Entrance Examination Vol -1Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pathology & Microbiology | Amit Ashish Arvind |
INI CET 2026 Admit Card for the January Session was released for all the successfully registered candidates on November 4, 2024. Successfully registered candidates can download the admit card on the official website. Candidates can download the INI CET Admit Card by following the below-mentioned steps:
The list of state-wise INI CET exam centres has been incorporated in the table below:
| State | Exam Cities |
|---|---|
| Arunachal Pradesh | Naharlagun/Itanagar |
| Andhra Pradesh | Visakhapatnam |
| Nellore | |
| Vizianagaram | |
| Vijayawada | |
| Kurnool | |
| Rajahmundry | |
| Tirupathi | |
| Guntur | |
| Assam | Jorhat |
| Tezpur | |
| Dibrugarh | |
| Silchar | |
| Guwahati | |
| Bihar | Darbhanga |
| Patna | |
| Arrah | |
| Purnea | |
| Bhagalpur | |
| Muzaffarpur | |
| Chhattisgarh | Raipur |
| Bilaspur | |
| Bhilai Nagar/Durg | |
| Chandigarh | Chandigarh/Mohali |
| Delhi | Delhi NCR (Delhi/New Delhi/Noida/Greater Noida) |
| Gujarat | Rajkot |
| Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar | |
| Surat | |
| Vadodara | |
| Mehsana | |
| Anand | |
| Goa | Madgaon/Panaji |
| Himachal Pradesh | Shimla |
| Palampur/Kangra | |
| Haryana | Gurugram |
| Ambala | |
| Jagadhari | |
| Faridabad | |
| Jharkhand | Jamshedpur |
| Dhanbad | |
| Ranchi | |
| Hazaribagh | |
| Bokaro | |
| Jammu and Kashmir | Jammu |
| Kerala | Kottayam |
| Thrissur | |
| Kannur | |
| Ernakulum/Angamaly/Moovattupuzzha | |
| Kollam | |
| Trivandrum | |
| Kozhikode | |
| Karnataka | Bengaluru |
| Manipal | |
| Mangaluru | |
| Hubballi | |
| Belgaum | |
| Mysuru | |
| Kalaburagi | |
| Shivamogga | |
| Maharashtra | Jalgaon |
| Nagpur | |
| Pune | |
| Nanded | |
| Amravati | |
| Nasik | |
| Mumbai | |
| Aurangabad | |
| Kolhapur | |
| Madhya Pradesh | Indore |
| Gwalior | |
| Sagar | |
| Ujjain | |
| Jabalpur | |
| Bhopal | |
| Satna | |
| Meghalaya | Shillong |
| Manipur | Manipur |
| Mizoram | Aizawl |
| Nagaland | Kohima |
| Odisha | Cuttack |
| Rourkela | |
| Bhubaneswar | |
| Sambalpur | |
| Dhenkanal | |
| Balasore | |
| Punjab | Ludhiana |
| Amritsar | |
| Jalandhar | |
| Bhatinda | |
| Patiala/Fathegarh Sahib | |
| Puducherry | Puducherry |
| Rajasthan | Jodhpur |
| Ajmer | |
| Sikar | |
| Bikaner | |
| Udaipur | |
| Sikkim | Sikkim |
| Telangana | Warangal |
| Hyderabad/Secunderabad/Ranga Reddy | |
| Karimnagar | |
| Tamil Nadu | Madurai |
| Trichy | |
| Coimbatore | |
| Salem | |
| Vellore | |
| Tirunelveli | |
| Chennai | |
| Tripura | Agartala |
| Uttar Pradesh | Jhansi |
| Bareilly | |
| Agra | |
| Kanpur | |
| Moradabad | |
| Gorakhpur | |
| Aligarh | |
| Muzaffarnagar | |
| Allahabad | |
| Varanasi | |
| Meerut | |
| Ghaziabad | |
| Uttarakhand | Haldwani |
| Dehradun | |
| West Bengal | Hoogly |
| Kolkata | |
| Siliguri | |
| Asansol |
All candidates qualifying for the INI CET exam can participate in the INI CET Counseling 2026 to take admission in MD, MS, M.Ch, and MDS courses in AIIMS, JIPMER, NIMHANS, PGIMER, and SCTIMST. INI CET Counselling is conducted online in various stages including registration, choice filling, seat allotment, and institute reporting. The seat allotment list will be prepared by AIIMS Delhi based on the marks secured by the candidates and the choices submitted by them.
INI CET 2026 July session counselling dates will be updated soon. INI CET Counselling 2026 is conducted in four rounds – mock round, first round, second round, and open round.
The step-wise INI CET Counselling Process has been mentioned below:

Registration: The steps for INI CET counselling registration are as follows:
Choice Filling and Locking Process: After completing the counselling registration, the candidate will have to enter their preferences of institute and courses. The steps to fill and lock choices are as follows:
Provisional Seat Allotment List: After submission of the choice filling form, candidates need to check the seat allotment list that will be published based on their marks secured in the exam and preferences submitted.
Final Round for the Submission of Preferences: Candidate will get a chance to modify their preferences after the provisional seat allotment list is published.
Final Seat Allotment List: After the submission of the preferences for the final round, candidates need to check the seat allotment result which will be released online on the official website.
Acceptance or Declination of the Seat Allotment: After checking the seat allotment list, candidates need to either accept or decline the seat allotted. They will have the below-mentioned options:
Document Verification Process: After completing all the above-mentioned steps, candidates need to report to the allotted institute with all the required documents in original and self-attest photocopies of each to complete the verification process.
The documents required for INI CET Counselling are as follows:
The INI CET admission process 2026 includes the following stages:
INI CET 2026 Result has been released online on the official website. To check the INI CET Result, candidates need to follow the steps mentioned below:
Details mentioned on the INI CET Scorecard 2026 are as follows:
People Also Ask:
Ques: What is the INI CET 2026 qualifying cutoff?
Ans: The qualifying INI CET 2026 Cutoff is 50 percentile for the general category candidates, while for the reserved category candidates, the cutoff is 45 percentile.
Ques: Is the INI CET qualifying cutoff the same as the admission cutoff?
Ans: No. The INI CET qualifying cutoff is the minimum mark required to be eligible to participate in the counselling process. The INI CET admission cutoff is the last rank up to which admission to a particular INI CET Score Accepting Institute is provided. The INI CET Admission Cutoff differs varies institute-wise.
The INI CET cutoff 2026 will be released by the authority for different counselling rounds. The INI CET cutoff list for the MD/ MS/ DM/ MCh and MDS courses will be made available separately. To be eligible to participate in the INI CET 2026 Counselling, candidates must obtain the qualifying INI CET cutoff score as tabulated below:
| Category | Percentile |
|---|---|
| Unreserved (UR), EWS/Sponsored/Deputed/Foreign National/Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) | 50 |
| SC/ST/OBC | 45 |
| Bhutanese Nationals (PGI-Chandigarh only) | 45 |
The category-wise previous year's INI CET Cutoff has been given in the tables below.
| Categories | MD/MS/MCh/DM | MDS |
|---|---|---|
| UR | 5,870 | 22 |
| EWS | 15,122 | 47 |
| OBC | 7,209 | 27 |
| SC | 18,290 | 276 |
| ST | 27,508 | 138 |
| UR-PWBD | 31,178 | 606 |
| OBC-PWBD | 28,411 | NA |
| SC-PWBD | 27,729 | NA |
| Categories | MD/MS/MCh/DM | MDS |
|---|---|---|
| UR | 7,873 | 23 |
| EWS | 21,254 | NA |
| OBC | 10,100 | 31 |
| SC | 21,457 | 276 |
| ST | 30,538 | NA |
| UR-PWBD | 31,178 | NA |
| OBC-PWBD | NA | NA |
| SC-PWBD | 17,665 | NA |
INI CET Seat Matrix 2026 for the January Session has been released by AIIMS Delhi. Around 1,350 seats will be allocated through the INI CET counselling. The institute-wise INI CET seat intake has been listed in the table below:
| Name of Institute | Total seats |
|---|---|
| AIIMS New Delhi | 185 |
| AIIMS Bhopal | 55 |
| AIIMS Bhubaneswar | 90 |
| AIIMS Jodhpur | 71 |
| AIIMS Nagpur | 73 |
| AIIMS Patna | 86 |
| AIIMS Rishikesh | 98 |
| AIIMS Raipur | 80 |
| AIIMS Bibinagar | 10 |
| AIIMS Bathinda | 56 |
| AIIMS Deoghar | 20 |
| AIIMS Mangalagiri | 42 |
| AIIMS Raibarely | 39 |
| AIIMS Kalyani | 67 |
| AIIMS Bilaspur | 35 |
| JIPMER, Puducherry | 126 |
| NIMHANS, Bengaluru | 22 |
| PGIMER Chandigarh | 120 |
| SCTIMST, Trivandrum | 2 |
| Total | 1,350 |
Ques. Is INI CET tough?
Ans. INI CET exam is generally found to be moderate in terms of difficulty level by the students.
Ques. How frequently does INI CET take place?
Ans. INI CET is conducted twice a year, once to admit students to the January session and once to admit students to the July session.
Ques. My application was rejected for the July 2024 session. Am I eligible to apply for the January session 2026?
Ans. Yes, those candidates whose registration and basic candidature were rejected due to incomplete candidate information are permitted to apply for INI CET 2026.
Ques. Will INI CET replace NEET PG also?
Ans. No, INI CET will not replace NEET PG as INI CET is the entrance exam conducted only for the Institute of National Importance.
Ques. Do I need to pay any fees for the counselling session of INI CET 2026?
Ans. Yes, you need to pay caution money for the first and second rounds of the INI CET counselling sessions.
Ques. How many test cities will INI CET 2026 be conducted in?
Ans. INI CET 2026 will be conducted in 114 cities.
Ques. What are the qualifying marks in INI CET 2026?
Ans. Candidates need to secure a minimum of 50% of marks to qualify for INI CET 2026.
*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.