With the government increasing the seat count across the country, the number of vacant post-graduate medical seats after the first round of counselling has also been climbing up since 2020, with Maharashtra recording the highest vacancies.According to data from the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), the number of vacant seats at all-India level, after the first round of counselling, has gone up from 11,629 in 2021 to 17,619 in 2025 (the ongoing round of admissions).According to data presented by the government in Parliament in various years, the number of PG seats increased from 40,858 in 2020 to 62,584 in 2025, as the government aims for 75,000 more UG and PG seats over five years.Read | Cut-off reduced for PG medical seats as 18,000 remain vacant after 2nd counsellingWith nearly 18,000 seats remaining vacant after the second round of counselling — across India and state quota — the cut- off for some categories was reduced to zero percentile by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences that conducts NEET PG.The cut-offs were reduced to 7 percentile for general category students, 5 percentile for Persons With Disability belonging to general and EWS category, and zero percentile for all SC, ST, OBC candidates, including those with disabilities. This would essentially mean that candidates scoring as low as -40 will be eligible for a PG seat.“The practice of reducing the qualifying percentile is to ensure that the seats at the private medical colleges are filled up. It also comes in the way of merit. Bright students unable to pay the high fees of private medical colleges fail to secure a seat, while those with lower scores but financial means are able to get through,” said Dr Rohan Krishnan, chief patron and co-founder of the FAIMA doctors’ association.At least three rounds of counselling are held to fill up as many seats as possible, with around 3,744 seats remaining vacant in 2021 and 4,400 seats in 2022 after the entire counselling process.Trends in vacancyStory continues below this adData from MCC shows the highest vacancies were recorded in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu— the three states account for a third of the total PG seats in the country, the highest in Karnataka (7,650), followed by Maharashtra (6,919) and Tamil Nadu (5,793).In Maharashtra, MCC data shows, the number of vacant seats all-India was the highest, going up from 1,868 in 2021 to 2,801 in 2025, after the first round of counselling. Karnataka came second, where the number of vacant seats increased from 1,315 in 2021 to 2,161 in 2025. In Tamil Nadu, it jumped from 1,227 in 2021 to 1,932 in 2025.These states also have a high number of seats in private colleges and hospitals, which are not the first choice for many owing to a lack of infrastructure and exorbitant fees that could touch crores. In Karnataka, the number of seats in the government sector (2,470) is around half of that in the private sector (5,180).Tamil Nadu’s PG seats in private colleges or hospitals increased from 1,866 to 2,892, or 55%, between 2020 and 2025, data presented by the government in Parliament shows.The subjectsStory continues below this adAmong the high-rankers, the top subject choice continues to be general medicine and radio-diagnosis, shows MCC data. Anywhere between 43 and 53 of the top 100 PG aspirants chose general medicine, while 35 to 45 opted radio-diagnosis from 2020-25. Next in preference come general surgery, dermatology, and obstetrics and gynaecology or paediatrics. In the same period, the least preferred subjects are non-clinical ones which includes anatomy (selected by up to 40 of the 100 lowest rankers in the last list), physiology (between 17 and 29), and biochemistry (between 12 and 21). Other subjects available to the lowest rankers include microbiology, pathology, forensic medicine, pharmacology, and preventive medicine.The 2023 exampleDuring PG medical counselling in 2023, the cut-off percentile was reduced to zero for all categories.An analysis of the third round of counselling results shows the last general category candidate to secure a seat scored 11 marks, much lower than even the reduced cut-off for the third round in previous years — 201 marks in 2022, and 247 in 2021.The last rank in the general category to be allotted a seat in that round was 200449 in 2023, compared to 1.3 lakh in 2022, and 1.07 lakh for 2021.Story continues below this adThe last OBC seat was allotted to a candidate who scored five marks in 2023 as compared to the cut-off of 169 marks in 2022, and 210 in 2021. The last SC candidate to secure a seat scored 45 marks while in the ST category, it was 63. The cut off for SC and ST candidates was also the same as OBC candidates in 2022 and 2021.