INI-CET counselling rounds explained
INI-CET is the one entrance test for MD, MS, MCh (6-year) and DM (6-year) seats at the AIIMS campuses, JIPMER, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS and SCTIMST. The AIIMS Examination Section runs the counselling itself, separate from MCC's NEET-PG counselling. Numbers below are from every allotment result from Jan 2023 to Jul 2026.
Two sessions a year
The January session's exam is held in November and the July session's in May. Each session has its own merit list and its own counselling. The January pool is the bigger one (the July exam falls in NEET-PG season), so with a similar number of seats the same seat closes at a smaller rank number in July. Course by course, a July Round 1 Open (UR) closing was a median 13% earlier than the January closing of the same year (2023 to 2026). The last Open (UR) Round 1 seat went at rank 6,176, 8,932, 7,768, 7,621 in the January sessions and 5,870, 6,034, 5,808, 4,799 in the July sessions. So a July closing rank from last year understates what the same rank gets in a January session.
Mock round
A trial allocation on the choices you fill first. It shows where your list lands but is not a seat: nobody joins on a mock result. If you do not edit your choices afterwards, the mock choices carry into Round 1. Use it to check your order, then fix it.
Round 1
Seats go strictly by overall rank, then by your order of choices. Taking part in Round 1 is required to stay in Round 2. A reserved-category candidate whose best choice is open as UR at their rank takes the UR seat, so OBC, EWS, SC and ST seats close later than UR. Round 1 is the biggest round: 1,553 seats were allotted in Jul 2026 Round 1 and 1,611 in Jan 2026.
Round 2
Round 2 refills seats left by people who did not join and moves people up their list. Round 1 holders who froze their seat do not appear on the Round 2 list, so "after Round 2" closings on this site take the deeper of Round 1 and Round 2 for each seat. The Jul 2023 Round 2 result was never published, so that session has no Round 2 column.
Open Round and converted (OCS) seats
The Open Round replaced the old physical spot round from Jan 2023. Choice filling opens again for everyone above the percentile cut-off who holds no seat. Reserved seats still empty are converted to UR and allotted on open merit, marked OCS ("On Converted Seat"): anyone can get them, which is why Open Round closings run far deeper than Round 1. Jul 2026 had 102 OCS seats and Jan 2026 had 68.
| Session | Round 1 seats | Open Round seats | OCS | Last UR R1 rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2026 | 1,553 | 650 | 102 | 4,799 |
| Jan 2026 | 1,611 | 754 | 68 | 7,621 |
| Jul 2025 | 1,316 | 566 | 108 | 5,808 |
| Jan 2025 | 1,435 | 660 | 99 | 7,768 |
| Jul 2024 | 1,307 | 532 | 52 | 6,034 |
| Jan 2024 | 1,416 | 492 | 47 | 8,932 |
| Jul 2023 | 1,157 | 541 | 35 | 5,870 |
| Jan 2023 | 1,338 | 397 | 47 | 6,176 |
MD/MS/MCh/DM list, all categories and quotas for seat counts; MDS, sponsored and foreign national seats left out. Last UR R1 rank = the last open UR seat (no PwBD) in Round 1.
Institutional preference, PwBD, sponsored and foreign seats
- Institutional preference (IP): each AIIMS keeps some UR seats for its own MBBS graduates; JIPMER does the same for its graduates (INST). These close later than open seats, and only that institute's graduates can take them. The app shows them when you set where you did MBBS.
- PwBD: 5% horizontal reservation across categories. The app has PwBD closings separately.
- Sponsored and foreign national seats are a separate list for employer-sponsored candidates and foreign nationals and never compete with open seats; this site leaves them out.
- MDS has its own merit list and is not on these pages.
Jan 2027 session: expected dates
Expected, from the pattern of earlier January sessions (Jan 2026: Round 1 on 18 Dec 2025, Round 2 on 9 Jan 2026, Open Round on 21 Feb 2026). The official schedule comes in the AIIMS notices.
- Exam: 1 Nov 2026. Result: about 7 Nov 2026.
- Mock round and Round 1 choice filling: from about mid-December 2026.
- Round 1 result: mid to late December 2026. Round 2: early January 2027. Open Round: February 2027.
Closing ranks for every course: INI-CET cutoffs by branch and by institute. NEET-PG instead? MCC counselling rounds.
Source: AIIMS Examination Section INI-CET seat allotment results (Round 1, Round 2 and Open Round), Jan 2023 to Jul 2026. Open (UR), no PwBD, open seats. Past closing ranks, not a guarantee. Built 26 Oct 2026 by ihatecounselling.fyi · Instagram @ihatecounselling_fyi