Bihar’s Riya Ranjan Secures AIR 6
New Delhi, July 17
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced the results of the NEET UG 2026 examination, with female candidates once again delivering an impressive performance in one of India’s most competitive entrance exams. Maharashtra’s Kudale Shravani Krishna has emerged as the highest-ranked female candidate in the country by securing All India Rank (AIR) 5, making her the leading woman achiever in this year’s merit list.
Shravani is followed closely by Riya Ranjan of Bihar, who secured AIR 6, while Mansha Garg of Haryana claimed AIR 17. Vaishnavi Das from Karnataka secured AIR 20, completing the list of female candidates in the national top 20. Other outstanding performers include Manasvi Kulshrestha (AIR 23), Kashvi Dhall (AIR 24), Srinika V (AIR 27) and Ashi Goyal (AIR 29), reflecting the exceptional performance of women across multiple states.
The overall NEET UG 2026 examination was jointly topped by Aryan Gupta of Punjab and Panshul Bansal of Haryana, both scoring 715 out of 720 marks. A total of 19 candidates scored above 700 marks, highlighting the intense competition in this year’s examination.
According to the NTA, around 20 lakh candidates appeared for the examination, while nearly 11.21 lakh candidates qualified for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other undergraduate medical programmes across the country. The results also underline the growing academic excellence of female aspirants, with over 58% of all qualified candidates being women, continuing a trend of strong representation in medical entrance examinations.
The NEET UG score will now be used for admissions to undergraduate medical courses, including MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BHMS, BUMS and BSMS, through the All India Quota and state counselling processes. The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) is expected to announce the counselling schedule shortly, following which qualified candidates will be able to register and participate in seat allocation based on their ranks, preferences and eligibility.
