How INI-CET counselling works: rounds, seat options, deposit and AIIMS preference

Last updated 20 Oct 2026 · Reviewed by Dr. Rajiv Marechal
Based on AIIMS New Delhi’s own prospectus and seat allocation brochures (listed under Sources). The documents for your session on aiimsexams.ac.in are the only ones that count. FindMyBranch is not part of AIIMS.

INI-CET (Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test) is the entrance exam for PG seats at the AIIMS institutes, JIPMER Puducherry, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS Bengaluru and SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram. It is separate from NEET-PG and MCC counselling. The exam, the results and the seat allocation are all run by the Examination Section of AIIMS New Delhi.

Jump to: who takes part · the rounds · after you get a seat · open round · categories and AIIMS preference · leaving a seat · documents · timeline

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Who takes part

Institutes and courses

The January 2027 prospectus lists 23 institutes: 19 AIIMS (New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Rishikesh, Bibinagar, Bathinda, Deoghar, Mangalagiri, Raebareli, Kalyani, Bilaspur, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Rajkot and Jammu), JIPMER Puducherry, NIMHANS Bengaluru, PGIMER Chandigarh and SCTIMST Thiruvananthapuram. Courses are MD, MS, MDS, MD (Hospital Administration), and the 6-year DM and MCh. Each institute sends its own seat list, which can change until results are declared.

The exam, in short

Held twice a year, for a January session and a July session.
January 2027: a computer test of 200 questions in 3 hours, +1 for a right answer, −1/3 for a wrong one and 0 for one left blank.
The paper comes in 4 parts of 50 questions, 45 minutes each, one part at a time. When a part’s 45 minutes are over it is submitted and the next one opens. You cannot go back to an earlier part, so review your skipped and marked questions before its time runs out.
To qualify you need the 50th percentile (UR, EWS, sponsored, foreign nationals) or the 45th percentile (OBC, SC, ST, PwBD).

Who is eligible (January 2027 session)

MBBS (or BDS for MDS) from an NMC/DCI-recognised university.
Your internship must be finished by the session’s cut-off date (31 January 2027 for January 2027).
At least 55% aggregate in MBBS/BDS, or 50% for SC/ST.
Registration with the NMC/DCI or a state council.
You cannot join if you have done, or are doing, an MD, MS, MDS, DM or MCh.

The rounds

Seat allocation is fully online. AIIMS runs a Mock Round, then Round 1, Round 2 and an Open Round. Seats go by your rank, your choices and each institute’s reservation and preference rules.

A choice is one institute plus one subject. There is no limit on how many you add.
The mock round is only a preview. If you do not fill Round 1 choices, your mock round choices are used.
You can edit and reorder choices until the Round 1 deadline. Then they are locked.
Round 2 uses your Round 1 choices. You cannot add or change choices for Round 2.

After you get a seat in Round 1

You must pick one of two options. There is no option to refuse the seat.

Option 1: accept the seat and stop. You keep this seat and take no further part in the rounds.
Option 2: accept the seat and stay in Round 2. If Round 2 gives you a new seat, you must join it, and your Round 1 seat is released automatically.

If you do not pick an option in time, you lose the seat and can only try again in the Open Round.

Reporting and the ₹3 lakh

Everyone who gets a seat must report to the institute in person, whichever option they chose.
At reporting you either hand over your original certificates or deposit ₹3 lakh.
Not joining your Round 1 seat, or the seat you were moved to, carries a ₹3 lakh penalty.

The Open Round

Anyone at or above the qualifying percentile can take part, including people already holding a seat.
Chose Option 1 in Round 1? The Round 1 notice says that option means not taking part in further rounds, so you are out of Round 2. But AIIMS’s July 2025 Open Round brochure let candidates who had joined a seat in any earlier round take part. Read your session’s Open Round brochure before you decide.
Every participant deposits ₹3 lakh online (RTGS/NEFT) to take part.
If you already hold a seat and the Open Round gives you a new one, your old seat is treated as resigned. You also pay that institute’s penalty for leaving.
Not joining an Open Round seat means losing the ₹3 lakh.
Reserved seats left empty are converted only in this round: EWS and OBC to UR, ST to SC and then UR, SC to ST and then UR.

Categories and AIIMS preference seats

At AIIMS: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC 27% and EWS 10%, as per Government of India rules, with 5% for PwBD (40% or more benchmark disability) across categories.
OBC and EWS certificates must be in the central government format; state-only certificates are rejected. You cannot change your category after applying.
In July 2026, AIIMS listed every 6-year DM and MCh seat at the AIIMS institutes as an open (UR) seat.

AIIMS institutional preference (IP)

An AIIMS keeps some of its open (UR) seats for graduates of its own MBBS course. AIIMS calls this a preference, not a reservation: unused IP seats go back to UR.

Graduates of an AIIMS get the preference only at that same AIIMS. At AIIMS New Delhi it covers open seats up to 50% of its MBBS intake, without a subject-wise preference.
IP is capped at 50% of that AIIMS’s MBBS intake and at 50% of its UR seats, so the number of IP seats changes each session. An AIIMS with no MBBS batch in the reference year has no IP seats.
Outside AIIMS (July 2026 Part-B): JIPMER has its own Institute preference seats for JIPMER graduates; NIMHANS, PGIMER and SCTIMST had none.
Some institutes have their own seat types, such as PGIMER’s Rural Area seats and NIMHANS’s Karnataka domicile seats. Sponsored and foreign national seats are a separate pool.

Leaving a seat after joining (AIIMS)

Under the July 2026 AIIMS Part-B prospectus:

Junior residents join on a 3-year contract.
Your original certificates stay with AIIMS until the course ends, unless you deposit ₹3 lakh.
Leaving within 6 months of joining costs ₹3 lakh; leaving after 6 months costs ₹5 lakh. The salary for the month you resign is also forfeited.
The AIIMS Part-B prospectus names no rural or government service bond.

JIPMER, PGIMER, NIMHANS and SCTIMST set their own rules in their own Part-B prospectus.

Documents to carry when you report

Offer letter, allocation letter, registration slip and admit card.
MBBS (or BDS) mark sheets for every professional exam, and the degree certificate.
Internship completion certificate, or a certificate that it will finish by the cut-off date.
NMC/DCI or state council registration certificate.
High school or higher secondary certificate (or birth certificate) as proof of date of birth.
If they apply to you: SC/ST, OBC/EWS (central format) and disability certificates.
Sponsored candidates: the original sponsorship certificate.

For the Open Round, carry the originals and one set of photocopies.

When it happens

The January session’s exam is usually held in November, and the July session’s in May. For January 2027, the official prospectus sets the exam for 1 November 2026 and the result for 7 November 2026 (expected). Courses start on 1 January 2027, and the last date of admission is 28 February 2027. The rounds, including the Open Round, fall between the result and the last date of admission; AIIMS publishes their dates in a separate notice.

INI-CET and NEET-PG together

The INI-CET prospectus has no rule on taking part in NEET-PG counselling as well. What it and the result notifications do say: you cannot join if you already hold a PG seat that you have started, leaving a joined INI-CET seat has a penalty, and an Open Round seat replaces any INI-CET seat you hold. Check MCC’s own bulletin for its rules on seats from other counsellings.

See the seats for your rank

Closing ranks show how far down each seat went last time. See INI-CET closing ranks by branch, or put in your rank and category in INI-CET options to see which AIIMS, JIPMER, PGIMER, NIMHANS and SCTIMST seats fit.

Check your INI-CET options. Your rank and category, against every seat’s past closing rank.

Check INI-CET options

Sources

Amounts, cut-off dates and the number of preference seats can change each session.