Government has decided to reduce the cut offs for NEET- PG 2017 by 7(point)5 percentile, taking them to 42.5 percentile for general candidates, 32.5 for reserved category candidates and 37.5 for PWD (Divyang) category. <br/><br/>The lowering of percentile by the Central Government is applicable for the academic year 2017 only. <br/><br/>Health Ministry in a release said, the decision has been taken in consultation with Medical Council of India, which will benefit around nine thousand additional candidates.<br/><br/>The Ministry said, NEET- PG, 2017 was conducted by National Board of Examinations for admission to all post-graduate medical courses in the country. <br/><br/>The qualifying criteria was marks at 50 percentile for General category, 40 for OBC/SC/ST and 45 percentile for Divyang. <br/><br/>It said, as per Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, when sufficient number of candidates fail to secure minimum marks, the Central Government in consultation with MCI, may lower the minimum marks. <br/><br/>The Ministry said, it had received representations from some states that seats in some categories may remain vacant shortage of sufficient number of candidates.