Same seat, two prices? KEA lists SMSIMSR MBBS fee as Rs 22 lakh for private quota, college says Rs 25L

In an amendment to its previous order, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has announced that the MBBS fee for government quota seats in Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Education and Research will be zero while the college will charge Rs 22 lakh per year for a private quota seat for admissions through the Karnataka NEET UG counselling 2025.

However, interestingly, the college website mentions that the MBBS fees for private quota has been fixed at Rs 25 lakh per year (with conditions). Earlier today, KEA announced the provisional seat allotment result for the first round of state NEET counselling.

The private university, established in 2023, introduced the fee for 40% or 20 private quota seats, which would cost more than Rs 1 crore for an MBBS degree, last year. It was zero in the year of inception. Several students had to reportedly surrender their seats allotted in the college after the sudden hike in the medical college fee for the private quota.

KEA will be conducting the Karnataka MBBS admissions for government, private, and Non-Resident Indian (NRI) seats in undergraduate medical and dental courses, based on the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) 2025 scores.

SMSIMSR MBBS Fee Structure 2025

The National Medical Commission (NMC) had given a green signal to the new college with 100 MBBS seats, however, the university has been running with 50 seats only for now.

For reference, the MBBS seat matrix, admission regulations, and MBBS fee for all types of seats, mentioned on the official website of SMSIMSR is given below.

SMSIMSR MBBS fee, seat matrix (Source: Official website)

Karnataka NEET UG Counselling 2025: Agreement with private colleges

In a meeting held on May 15, 2025, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Medical Education, regarding entering into a mutual agreement with the associations of private medical and dental colleges for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses for the academic session 2025-26, the associations submitted some demands regarding fee hike.

After thoroughly examining this matter, the Karnataka government entered into a mutual agreement with the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation (KPCF), Karnataka Minority Professional Colleges Association (AMPCK) and Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Colleges Association (KRLMPCA), regarding the seat allocation and fee fixation of undergraduate medical and dental courses for the year 2025-26.

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It has been decided to conduct Karnataka NEET UG counseling 2025 and allotment of seats for all undergraduate courses in government, unaided private medical, dental colleges and for the seats ceded to the government by private or deemed universities through the KEA for the year 2025-26.

Accordingly, the fees fixed for the year 2024-25 for undergraduate medical course seats applicable to government or private quota seats have been extended to the year 2025-26.

Karnataka MBBS fee structure 2025

Here’s a comparison of the Karnataka MBBS fees 2025 with last year’s fee for medical seats, as per the government:

Karnataka MBBS fee in private medical colleges

As per the government order, the MBBS fees fixed for the candidates selected for the KPCF, KRLMPCA, AMPCK medical courses have also been applied for the government quota seats in private or deemed university colleges. In addition, Jagadguru Gangadhar Mahaswamigalu Moorsavirmath Medical College (JGMMMC), Hubballi requested to fix 50% fee for MBBS course as per EC/FC given by the government to this institution.

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Further, the request submitted by St John's Medical College, Bangalore has been considered and since there is no agreement of the government with the said institution and as per the NMC/MCI rules, each seat has to be allotted as per the counselling process of the notified institution of the government, it was decided to notify the fees as decided by the institution.

Private universities provided the following fee details, requesting that the fees be fixed accordingly.