The National Testing Agency (NTA) has declared the NEET UG 2026 results, with Aryan Gupta of Ludhiana securing All India Rank (AIR) 1 after scoring a percentile of 99.9999. Panshul Bansal of Haryana also recorded a percentile of 99.9999 to finish second in the national rankings.
A total of 11.21 lakh candidates qualified for admission to undergraduate medical, dental, AYUSH and allied health courses across India. The examination was conducted on June 21 at 5,440 centres in 551 cities across India and 14 cities overseas, with nearly 20 lakh candidates appearing.
Uplakshya Goyal of Rajasthan secured AIR 3 with a percentile of 99.99985, while Ayush Bhalotia of Bihar claimed AIR 4. Kudale Shravani Krishna of Maharashtra emerged as the highest-ranked female candidate with AIR 5, followed by Riya Ranjan of Bihar at AIR 6.
According to the NTA, 138 candidates scored more than 690 marks out of 720, with over 93% of them appearing for NEET UG for the first time. More than 58% of the qualified candidates are women, and candidates from every State and Union Territory met the qualifying cut-off.
Maharashtra had the highest representation among the top 138 rank holders with 22 candidates, followed by Rajasthan (18) and Punjab (11). Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh had nine candidates each, while Gujarat and Delhi contributed eight candidates each.
Ayush Bhalotia, who secured AIR 4 with 710 marks, said discipline played a key role in his preparation.
“I scored 710 marks and secured All India Rank 4…I spent about five to seven hours on self-study and attended six hours of classes every day.”
Kritik Jain, who secured AIR 18, said he concentrated on giving his best instead of chasing a particular rank.
“I tried to give my best, though I did not think much about achieving a specific rank at the time. My only aim was to give it my all…My parents were incredibly supportive. Whenever I got good results, they were very happy, which motivated me further. When my results were not as good, they would tell me not to get upset. They reminded me that there was still room for improvement and that I could do better, especially since there was still plenty of time before the NEET exam.”
Gunjan, who secured AIR 52, credited her teachers and family for helping her prepare.
“I studied diligently and followed my teachers’ advice. I studied for about six to seven hours daily. Including classes, my total study time would go up to around ten hours. My family supported me a lot.”
The NTA said the results were announced on schedule to keep the counselling and medical admissions calendar on track. It added that scorecards, category-wise merit lists, state toppers and cut-off marks have been published on the official NEET website.
The agency also warned candidates against fraudulent calls, messages and websites promising admissions, seat blocking or score improvements. Counselling for the All India Quota in MBBS and BDS courses will be conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), while respective state authorities will oversee state quota admissions.
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