If you're dreaming of becoming an Ayurvedic doctor and you're from Maharashtra, chances are someone has already told you about Podar. Located on Dr. Annie Besant Road in Worli, Mumbai, R.A. Podar Ayurved Medical College is one of those government-aided colleges that students genuinely fight to get into. The college was established in 1941, which means it has been producing Ayurvedic doctors for over 80 years. That kind of history is not something every college can claim.
It all starts with NEET. There's no separate entrance exam for this college - your NEET UG score is everything. Once NEET results are declared, students participate in the Maharashtra State CET Cell counselling process for state quota seats. For All India Quota seats, the counselling is handled by AACCC (Ayush Admissions Central Counselling Committee) under the Ministry of Ayush.
The entire process goes something like this:
Eligibility in simple words:
Seats available: The college offers 60 BAMS seats in total. That's not a lot — which is exactly why the competition is tough.
Documents needed at the time of admission:
The campus itself has a fully functioning hospital attached to it, a library, Panchakarma centre, separate hostels for boys and girls, and well-equipped labs. Being in Mumbai means the hospital sees a huge volume of patients which directly benefits students during clinical training.
The official cutoffs will only be published after each round of counselling concludes. However, if you're planning and want a rough idea of where to aim, here's a realistic picture based on how things have been moving:
Expected Cutoff 2026 BAMS (AI Quota)
| Category |
Expected Closing Rank |
|
General / Open |
45,000 – 58,000 |
|
OBC |
90,000 – 1,50,000 |
|
EWS |
65,000 – 1,00,000 |
|
SC |
1,50,000 – 2,80,000 |
|
ST |
2,50,000 – 4,00,000 |
|
PWD |
Relaxed norms apply |
State Quota (Maharashtra domicile students) generally sees slightly different numbers since more seats fall under state pool. Maharashtra students should keep an eye on both AI quota and state quota rounds separately. In terms of NEET marks, general category students should realistically target somewhere between 480 to 530+ marks to feel safe. Scoring below 450 makes it uncertain, and below 400 makes it genuinely difficult for open category. This is a projected estimate. Once official results and counselling data drop, these numbers will be updated. Always cross-check with the Maharashtra CET Cell official website before making decisions.
The 2025 counselling cycle gave a clearer picture of how competitive Podar has become. Here's what the data looked like:
BAMS — AYUSH NEET Counselling 2025 (AI Quota)
| Round |
Category |
Closing Rank |
|
Round 1 |
General |
~47,900 |
|
Round 2 |
General |
~51,594 |
|
Round 2 |
All Categories Combined |
Up to 2,47,735 |
So if you were a general category student in 2025 with a rank around 50,000 or better, you had a realistic shot at getting in through the AI quota. Beyond Round 2, stray vacancy rounds also opened up some additional seats.
For state quota seats under Maharashtra counselling, the cutoffs were slightly different and in many rounds more relaxed for reserved category students since the seat pool was larger.
One interesting thing about 2025 was that the overall closing rank improved compared to 2024. This suggests that either more students ranked within the top 50,000 chose Ayurveda over other options, or NEET 2025 difficulty level shifted scores slightly, leading to more students clustering around certain rank bands.
For OBC category students in 2025, the closing ranks went up to roughly 1,00,000 to 1,50,000 range depending on the round. SC students had closing ranks stretching beyond 2,00,000, which shows there's real access for reserved category aspirants here.
Looking at just one year's cutoff can be misleading. The real insight comes from seeing the pattern over multiple years. Here's how Podar's BAMS cutoff has moved:
General Category — AI Quota Closing Rank (Final Round)
| Year |
Closing Rank (General) |
Observation |
|
2022 |
~40,000 – 46,000 |
Relatively open, fewer takers |
|
2023 |
~46,444 – 60,332 |
Competition started rising |
|
2024 |
~69,491 |
Highest closing rank seen recently |
|
2025 |
~51,594 |
Tightened again, more competition |
|
2026 |
TBD |
Expected similar to 2025 |
What does this pattern actually mean for you?
The closing rank jumped significantly between 2022 and 2024, going from roughly 40,000 to nearly 70,000. This tells us that over those years, more students with lower ranks (meaning weaker scores) were getting seats which typically happens when top rankers choose other colleges or other streams. However 2025 reversed that trend. The closing rank came back to ~51,594 which means stronger students competed for Podar seats again. This kind of fluctuation is normal and depends on several factors how tough NEET was that year, how many seats opened up in competing colleges, and how many students registered for counselling.
For SC/ST students, the trend shows consistently wide closing ranks — often going beyond 2,00,000 to 4,00,000. This means even students with very modest NEET scores have been able to secure seats here in reserved category rounds. That's genuinely great news for anyone from these backgrounds who wants quality Ayurvedic education at a low cost.
The honest advice from this data: If you are a general category student, targeting a NEET rank within 55,000 gives you a safe buffer. Anything between 55,000 and 80,000 is uncertain and depends on round-by-round luck. Beyond 80,000 in general category, the chances at Podar become slim unless stray vacancy rounds open up something. OBC students should aim for a rank within 1,20,000 to be fairly comfortable. SC students up to 2,50,000 generally have a reasonable chance going by historical data.
91-22-24934214,28525847, 91-22-24933533
deanrapmc@gmail.com
Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
RA Podar Ayurved Medical College offers courses like BAMS, MS, MD & Ph.D. and admissions into these courses are offered through entrance examinations. I joined this institution to pursue BAMS and for admission I appeared in CET entrance examination. Candidates must appear for CET exam and must secure valid score as per the cut off marks in order to get shortlisted for admission. Apart from this basic eligibility mandatory for admission is that, student must have completed 10+2 with physics, chemistry, biology and English as the compulsory subject from a recognised board with min aggregate of 50% marks. Fees structure for courses is feasible and is worth to pay.
RA Podar Ayurved Medical College Admission requirement for Bachelors of Ayurvedic medicine and surgery includes: The candidate should have secured a min. of 50% average marks in their 12th standard or an equivalent in science stream. Provided, the candidates have pursued physics, chemistry and biology as their majors. The candidate should also appear for the MHCET or the NEET UG entrance test. The score secured in the test will play a vital role in admitting the students to the BAMS program. The intake is only 60 every academic year, so generally it is expected that the candidates apply within the time range.
RA Podar Ayurved Medical College admission for the BAMS will be done based on the Maharashtra CET. After the CET was conducted they also directed the counselling in which they will do allotment process in some medical Ayurveda colleges. Admission process will have to fill the application form from the DMER official website. Once the registration process and all is over we have to submit all the documents in the admission. The course pattern includes 3 years having 18 months and the last one year will be internship in the hospital. The internship will have 6 months of working in Podar Hospital, 3 months of working in PHC and working in government hospital for 3 months.
RA Podar Ayurved Medical College offers BAMS, MD, MS & Ph.D. courses, admission into which is offered via entrance examinations. Aspirants must appear for NEET entrance exam and must secure valid score as per the cut off marks in order to get shortlisted. NEET is all India level entrance examination whose application form can be filled online through official website. Application fee for general/OBC is 1,500 and 800 for SC/ST and the fee can be paid online via net banking, credit/debit card or e-wallet. Basic requirement for admission is that candidate must have completed 10+2 with at least 50% aggregate marks with PCB as the compulsory subject from a recognised board.
