The Indian Express: New Delhi: Sunday, 27 July 2025.
An RTI response to a query filed by Dr Aman Kaushik shows NBEMS’ financial outlay for NEET PG in both 2023 and 2024.
The National Board of
Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) paid over Rs 13.29 crore to Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd for conducting the NEET PG 2023 examination and
incurred over Rs 24 crore for the 2024 edition, according to an RTI response to
a query filed by Dr Aman Kaushik.
The reply, dated May 28, 2025, outlines NBEMS’ financial outlay across both years. While Rs 13.29 crore was sanctioned to TCS for the NEET PG 2023 exam, the 2024 exam, held on August 11, incurred additional costs, including Rs 12.34 crore for the computer-based test (CBT) and Rs 89.58 lakh for CCTV surveillance feeds. Rs 11.02 crore was incurred as the cost for the deferred NEET PG 2024 exam. The NEET PG 2024 exam was postponed a night before the scheduled date as a precautionary measure.
Moreover, NBE paid Rs 1.94 crore and Rs 2.13 crore as annual remuneration in FY 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively, under separate cost heads to subject matter experts that contributed to the question bank, validation of the question bank and setting of question papers in NEET PG 2023 and NEET PG 2024.
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However, the cost of
holding a national-level exam extends far beyond vendor contracts. When
indianexpress.com reached out to NBEMS, a senior official shared that apart
from payments to TCS, the board bears significant internal administrative
costs, such as publishing of advertisement in newspapers on a pan-India basis,
deployment of its own staff, travel and accommodation expenses, security
arrangements like pre-audit and post-audit of exam centres, and faculty
logistics.
For instance, faculty members who set the question papers are flown into Delhi from across the country’s various medical colleges, and NBEMS covers their hotel expenses. There are also expenses related to remuneration to faculty for the preparation of the question bank, validation and question paper setting for the exam; remuneration to local independent appraisers (faculty), remuneration to flying squad members, jammer installation expenses, payment for live CCTV feed, legal issues arising out of the exams, infrastructure and manpower costs.
One of the most critical and cost-intensive aspects of the exam is the command centre infrastructure. NBEMS sets up eight to nine command centres across the country, including a central one at its Dwarka office in Delhi. These centres, equipped with large screen arrays and real-time monitoring systems, are staffed by trained personnel who oversee biometric authentication, login/logout records, and live CCTV feeds from hundreds of exam centres.
Besides this, there are dedicated data management centres and social media monitoring centres. Governing body members, executive director, senior officers, and officials of NBEMS are present in the command centre.
In 2024, the Dwarka-based command centre was monitored by both NBEMS and health ministry officials, along with eight regional hubs and one command centre at the TCS facility in Mumbai.
“Every click is logged, and every movement in the exam centre is scrutinised,” said the official, adding that each city, each centre, each lab and each computer node is centrally monitored with live CCTV monitoring, reviews from the independent appraisers, staff deployed by TCS and NBEMS observers.
“It’s a tightly controlled environment because even a small disruption can impact the credibility of one of India’s most competitive exams,” the official added.
With over two lakh candidates registering for NEET PG annually, the financial and operational ecosystem required to conduct it has only grown in complexity. While NBEMS maintains that many internal costs are not documented exam-wise such as payments to appraisers or experts validating question papers the scale of coordination involved makes NEET PG one of the most resource-intensive exams in India.
Moreover, according to the RTI reply, the total fee collected from candidates appearing for NEET PG 2024 amounted to approximately Rs 75 crore. The NEET PG application fee last year was Rs 3,500 for general, other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker section (EWS) candidates and Rs 2,500 for candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) categories.
However, the board has stated that it follows a cash-based accounting system, wherein expenses are recorded only when invoices are received for payment, rather than at the time services are rendered. As a result, NBEMS claimed that a comprehensive account of total expenditure incurred on the conduct of NEET PG 2024 could not be provided at this stage.
An RTI response to a query filed by Dr Aman Kaushik shows NBEMS’ financial outlay for NEET PG in both 2023 and 2024.
The reply, dated May 28, 2025, outlines NBEMS’ financial outlay across both years. While Rs 13.29 crore was sanctioned to TCS for the NEET PG 2023 exam, the 2024 exam, held on August 11, incurred additional costs, including Rs 12.34 crore for the computer-based test (CBT) and Rs 89.58 lakh for CCTV surveillance feeds. Rs 11.02 crore was incurred as the cost for the deferred NEET PG 2024 exam. The NEET PG 2024 exam was postponed a night before the scheduled date as a precautionary measure.
Moreover, NBE paid Rs 1.94 crore and Rs 2.13 crore as annual remuneration in FY 2023-24 and 2024-25, respectively, under separate cost heads to subject matter experts that contributed to the question bank, validation of the question bank and setting of question papers in NEET PG 2023 and NEET PG 2024.
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For instance, faculty members who set the question papers are flown into Delhi from across the country’s various medical colleges, and NBEMS covers their hotel expenses. There are also expenses related to remuneration to faculty for the preparation of the question bank, validation and question paper setting for the exam; remuneration to local independent appraisers (faculty), remuneration to flying squad members, jammer installation expenses, payment for live CCTV feed, legal issues arising out of the exams, infrastructure and manpower costs.
One of the most critical and cost-intensive aspects of the exam is the command centre infrastructure. NBEMS sets up eight to nine command centres across the country, including a central one at its Dwarka office in Delhi. These centres, equipped with large screen arrays and real-time monitoring systems, are staffed by trained personnel who oversee biometric authentication, login/logout records, and live CCTV feeds from hundreds of exam centres.
Besides this, there are dedicated data management centres and social media monitoring centres. Governing body members, executive director, senior officers, and officials of NBEMS are present in the command centre.
In 2024, the Dwarka-based command centre was monitored by both NBEMS and health ministry officials, along with eight regional hubs and one command centre at the TCS facility in Mumbai.
“Every click is logged, and every movement in the exam centre is scrutinised,” said the official, adding that each city, each centre, each lab and each computer node is centrally monitored with live CCTV monitoring, reviews from the independent appraisers, staff deployed by TCS and NBEMS observers.
“It’s a tightly controlled environment because even a small disruption can impact the credibility of one of India’s most competitive exams,” the official added.
With over two lakh candidates registering for NEET PG annually, the financial and operational ecosystem required to conduct it has only grown in complexity. While NBEMS maintains that many internal costs are not documented exam-wise such as payments to appraisers or experts validating question papers the scale of coordination involved makes NEET PG one of the most resource-intensive exams in India.
Moreover, according to the RTI reply, the total fee collected from candidates appearing for NEET PG 2024 amounted to approximately Rs 75 crore. The NEET PG application fee last year was Rs 3,500 for general, other backward classes (OBC) and economically weaker section (EWS) candidates and Rs 2,500 for candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) categories.
However, the board has stated that it follows a cash-based accounting system, wherein expenses are recorded only when invoices are received for payment, rather than at the time services are rendered. As a result, NBEMS claimed that a comprehensive account of total expenditure incurred on the conduct of NEET PG 2024 could not be provided at this stage.
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