Why MBBS seats are going on discount in NEET UG counselling 2026

For as long as most parents can remember, an MBBS seat has been the one product in India that never went on sale. This year it did. As NEET UG counselling 2026 reaches its last rounds, some of the most expensive private medical colleges in the country are negotiating on price, and families are finding themselves in the unfamiliar position of the buyer.

What is happening

Careers360 reports that private medical colleges, especially pricey ones in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan, are offering big discounts on MBBS seats. One candidate negotiated a seat at a deemed university in Tamil Nadu down from Rs 25 lakh a year to Rs 15 lakh, a 40% cut. The course had originally cost over Rs 1 crore in total. Another family got Rs 4.5 lakh off a Rs 94.5 lakh course fee at a self-financed college in Rajasthan.

Counsellors told Careers360 that such negotiations are unheard of at the undergraduate level, where it is usually a seller's market. Mumbai counsellor Sudha Shenoy called it unprecedented, and said some Rajasthan colleges are putting the concession in writing on their letterheads. Medicine, it turns out, also has a clearance aisle. It is just very far from the entrance.

Why seats are empty

The numbers explain the mood. After the third round of all-India counselling run by the Medical Counselling Committee, 3,426 MBBS seats were vacant, more than five times the 802 at the same stage last year. Last year every one of those seats was filled in the stray vacancy round. This year 837 were still without takers even after it.

Two forces are at work, according to the same report. The first is supply. The National Medical Commission cleared 13,636 new undergraduate medical seats this year alone, on top of the existing 1.27 lakh, close to 11% growth in a single year. Thane counsellor Muzaffar Khan said more than 30,000 MBBS seats were added in the last three years, 75% of them in private colleges.

The second force is price. Most of the vacancies are in costly deemed universities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Careers360 says almost 75% of colleges attached to deemed universities now charge upwards of Rs 1 crore for the course, and four colleges that won deemed status this year raised fees by as much as 360%. At some point a seat stops being scarce and starts being expensive, and families notice the difference.

The abroad option got shakier too

The usual escape route has its own problems. The Pioneer reports that Indian enrolments at major Uzbek medical universities may have fallen to around 200 in the September 2026 intake, against more than 3,000 in earlier years, though it says the figures still need to be verified through official records. It links the drop to a National Medical Commission advisory of 1 April 2026 that raised concerns about admissions beyond capacity, clinical training, language barriers and compliance with foreign medical graduate rules. About 16,000 Indian medical students are currently in Uzbekistan, the paper says.

So the cheap option abroad looks less certain, and the expensive option at home suddenly looks negotiable. It is a strange year to be a parent with a spreadsheet.

What families should check before taking a deal

A discount is only good news if the seat is. Before signing anything:

• Confirm the college and the seat appear in the official counselling process, and that any concession is written down. Careers360 notes that in Karnataka and Rajasthan the first year fee goes to the admission authority, with discounts spread over later years.
• Ask for the full cost, including hostel and other charges. Counsellors told Careers360 that colleges often carry undisclosed charges on top of the declared fee.
• Be careful with middlemen. One family in the report closed its deal through one, and an agent's promise is not a fee receipt.
• Compare the total course cost, not the first year figure. A 40% cut on a Rs 1 crore course is still a very large number.

The bigger lesson

A medical seat was once treated as a guaranteed return. This year shows it is a market like any other, shaped by supply, price and trust. Students who can show real experience with real people have an edge in any market. Earth5R's FIELDWORK fellowship offers hands-on fieldwork on the ground, with real conversations and real research, independently verified. It will not get you a seat. It will give you something real to talk about in the interview.