Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research

What are the cutoffs for Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in 2026?

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh admits MD and MS candidates through the INI-CET entrance exam conducted by AIIMS New Delhi, not NEET-PG, so the closing ranks below are INI-CET all-India ranks. In the 2025 cycle the headline General-category closing ranks were astonishingly tight: MD General Medicine closed at rank 21 and MS Orthopaedics at rank 28, making PGIMER one of the two or three hardest postgraduate medical seats in India. Clinical branches such as MS Ophthalmology (110), MS General Surgery (175) and MD Paediatrics (87) also shut within the top 200 General ranks. For 2026 (INI-CET January and July sessions), the General-category cutoffs for these flagship clinical branches are again expected to settle inside the top 30-250 ranks, while diagnostic and pre-clinical departments such as MD Pathology and MD Anaesthesiology offer comparatively wider entry windows. PGIMER releases separate closing ranks for General, OBC, SC and ST categories every session.

A quick orientation before the numbers: a lower rank means a tougher, more sought-after seat. Treat the General ranks below as the benchmark, then read across to your category to gauge your realistic chance.

Year-Wise Cutoff Trends (2024-2026)

The table below tracks how PGIMER's INI-CET closing ranks have moved across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 cycles for its marquee clinical departments. It answers the core question an aspirant asks: "Is the seat I want getting harder to crack each year?" Read it branch by branch in the General category, since reserved-category ranks shift in parallel but at higher numerical values. The 2026 figures reflect the latest INI-CET General-category trend reported for PGIMER.

The clear takeaway is that PGIMER's premier clinical seats have either held firm or tightened: MD General Medicine improved from rank 34 (2024) to 21 (2025) before easing slightly to 23 (2026), confirming it as the single most competitive department on campus. None of the flagship clinical branches drift beyond the top 600 General ranks in any year, which tells an applicant that PGIMER admission is decided in the very top slice of the INI-CET merit list. Exact 2024 ranks for some branches are approximate where the institute did not publish a clean single closing figure; the 2025 figures are the firm, verified values.

Course-Wise Cutoff at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research

PGIMER runs a wide MD and MS portfolio, and the closing rank you need varies enormously by department. The table below lists the verified 2025 INI-CET General-category closing ranks branch by branch, separating the ultra-competitive clinical seats from the diagnostic and pre-clinical departments that close at higher (more accessible) ranks. Use it to match your own INI-CET rank to a realistic branch choice at PGIMER. Branches are ordered from hardest to comparatively easier within each degree.

The course-wise spread shows a sharp internal hierarchy at PGIMER: clinical workhorses like MD General Medicine (21) and MS Orthopaedics (28) demand near-perfect ranks, whereas diagnostic and pre-clinical MD seats such as Anaesthesiology (822) and Pathology (1833) give candidates outside the top 200 a genuine shot. The practical lesson is that a strong-but-not-elite INI-CET rank can still secure a PGIMER MD seat, just not in the most coveted clinical branches.

Category-Wise Closing Ranks (2025)

PGIMER publishes separate INI-CET closing ranks for General, OBC, SC and ST candidates, and the gaps are wide because reserved seats are filled lower down the merit list. The table below shows the verified 2025 closing-rank bands for MD and MS aggregated across branches, so a reserved-category aspirant can immediately see the rank window they are competing within. Read each row as the spread from the toughest to the most accessible branch in that category.

The category bands make PGIMER's reservation advantage concrete: an OBC candidate can secure an MS seat as far down as rank 1335 and an MD seat up to 6546, while ST candidates have closing ranks stretching to 8902 (MS) and 9653 (MD). In other words, reserved-category aspirants who would miss out under General cutoffs of 21-554 still hold realistic admission chances several thousand ranks lower, which is the single most important strategic fact for non-General applicants targeting PGIMER.

Cutoff Trend Analysis

PGIMER's cutoff is broadly stable at an extremely high level rather than loosening: MD General Medicine moved 34 (2024) to 21 (2025) to 23 (2026), and the elite clinical branches consistently close inside the top 250 General ranks year after year. This stability reflects PGIMER's standing as a top-2 government PG medical institute alongside AIIMS New Delhi, with fees of roughly Rs 9,210 to Rs 12,410 for the full course making the seat exceptional value and therefore relentlessly contested. The mild upward drift in absolute rank numbers for a few diagnostic branches is driven by year-on-year growth in the INI-CET applicant pool, not by any softening of standards.

Realistically, an aspirant needs an INI-CET General rank inside the top 30 for MD General Medicine or MS Orthopaedics, within roughly the top 200 for MS General Surgery, MD Paediatrics or MS Ophthalmology, and up to about rank 1800 for diagnostic and pre-clinical MD branches such as Pathology. OBC candidates should target ranks under about 1335 for MS and 6546 for MD, SC candidates under about 3135 (MS) and 9700 (MD), and ST candidates have the widest window, with seats closing as late as 8902 (MS) and 9653 (MD). The strategic takeaway is simple: chase a top-couple-hundred rank for any clinical branch, and treat diagnostic departments as your realistic safety net if your rank sits in the four-figure range.