NEET-UG 2026 Results: Over 1.1 Million Students Qualify as Aryan Gupta and Panshul Bansal Jointly Grab Top Spot

The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the NEET-UG 2026 results at around 10:30 pm on Thursday, July 16, 2026. Around 1.1mn out of nearly 2mn candidates qualified for nearly 137,000 MBBS seats and other undergraduate dental, AYUSH and allied programmes. Aryan Gupta of Punjab and Panshul Bansal of Haryana jointly obtained the highest score of 715 out of 720. Among the top 10 NEET-UG 2026 rank holders, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra each had two candidates, while Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had one each.

Women Outperform Men

Women outshone men, making up 58% of the qualified candidates. "Women also qualified at a higher rate than men: 56.8 per cent of women who appeared qualified, as against 55.1 per cent of men," the NTA informed in a statement. The majority of the top-performing candidates were between 17 and 19 years of age. The NTA stated that of the 138 candidates who scored above 690 marks, 99% are between 17 and 19 years of age and over 93% appeared for NEET (UG) for the first time.

Score Ranges and Cut-offs

Only 19 candidates secured more than 700 marks, while 1,492 students got 650 and above. "A total of 10,160 candidates scored 600 and above and 90,780 candidates scored 500 and above," the NTA stated. The qualifying limit for the general and economically weaker sections is the 50th percentile, translating to a score range of 715–213, timesnownews.com reported. For reserved categories, the 40th percentile threshold requires scores between 212 and 177.

Overcoming Exam Tumult

These scores end a chaotic testing cycle. The government aborted the initial test following widespread protests over leaked question papers, forcing a fresh exam on June 21. Officials released the scores swiftly to ensure the "medical-admission and counselling calendar for candidates stays on track". Late-night declarations are common for the testing body. It published the initial 2024 scores at 10 pm on June 4, followed by re-test results for 1,563 students on June 30. It then issued corrected scorecards between 8:30 pm and 9 pm on July 26 after the Supreme Court ordered a revision over a contested Physics question.