With NEET UG counselling 2025 set to begin next week, students aiming for MBBS seats in deemed universities will now face much higher fees. The counselling for these universities is conducted by the central Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) after NEET.
Most deemed universities have raised their annual fees by several lakhs, with one institute increasing it by a massive ₹8 lakh. The highest MBBS fee has now touched an eye-watering ₹30.5 lakh per year.
Back in 2022–23, only 16 deemed medical colleges had total MBBS tuition fees crossing ₹1 crore. Today, that number has doubled to 32—now making up more than half of all deemed universities.
This data comes from an analysis of MBBS fee structures for the 2025–26 academic year at 54 private medical colleges by Careers360 and Muzaffar Khan, a medical education counsellor from Thane, Maharashtra.
The review considered only the tuition and annual fees for regular management seats, leaving out one-time admission payments and extra costs like hostel, mess, and transport. Fee structures for NRI students are different. While most colleges keep the same fee every year, a few have annual increases.
MBBS Fees Up in Most Deemed Universities
MBBS fees in privately-run deemed universities have long been criticised for being too high, especially since these institutes operate with minimal government oversight. In contrast, Tamil Nadu recently fixed MBBS fees at ₹4.5 lakh for general seats and ₹15 lakh for management quota seats in self-financing colleges—much lower than what deemed universities in the state charge.
Earlier this year, a parliamentary health panel raised concerns over the rising cost of medical education and recommended a 50% fee reduction along with strict action against capitation fees. According to the recent analysis, 36 out of 54 deemed universities have increased their MBBS fees for 2025–26, while 18 have kept them unchanged from last year.
It has now surpassed Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, which is located less than an hour away in the same city and has retained last year’s fee of ₹30 lakh. Tamil Nadu—particularly Chennai and its nearby areas—along with Puducherry, has become a major hub for some of the costliest deemed medical colleges. Other top institutes with high annual fees include Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College in Pune (₹28.6 lakh) and DY Patil medical colleges (Deemed Universities) in Pune and Navi Mumbai (₹27 lakh).
No Fee Hike at Kalinga and Hamdard Institutes
Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar has maintained its annual MBBS fee at ₹18.5 lakh. Similarly, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in New Delhi, which increased its tuition from ₹14 lakh to ₹16 lakh in 2023–24, has not made any further changes.
Raising concerns over the rising cost of medical education, Muzaffar Khan has called for government regulation of fees in deemed universities. “There seems to be no respite from the fee hike. While the government had earlier talked about bringing down the fees for half of the private college seats at par with the government institutes, nothing has happened,” he said.
Khan was referring to a 2022 proposal by the National Medical Commission (NMC) to cap fees for at least 50% of seats in private and deemed universities at the level charged by government medical colleges. However, that plan was never implemented.
“It’s difficult to comment on finance. The fee regulation is a sensitive area. I believe we have to reduce the fees. There are many people to advise on it,” he had said.
Meanwhile, the NEET UG 2025 counselling schedule has been released, with registration set to begin on July 21 at mcc.nic.in.