NRI Quota Fees Reduced in Medical Colleges – New Structure & Benefits
- ALLEN Overseas
- September 20, 2025
In a landmark decision aimed at making medical education more affordable for Non-Resident Indian (NRI) students, the Rajasthan state government has approved a substantial cut in the fees for NRI quota seats in government medical colleges under the RajMES (Rajasthan Medical Education Society).
What’s Changed: New Fee Structure
- The annual fee for NRI seats has been reduced from approximately ₹31 lakh to ₹23.9 lakh, effective from the 2025-26 academic session. This is a decrease of nearly ₹7 lakh.
- Earlier, fees were linked to the US dollar and escalated by about 5% each year, which caused costs to soar.
Why the Change:
- Many NRI seats were going vacant because the fees had become prohibitively expensive. Rather than leaving them empty, the government was converting those to management quota seats, which charged much lower amounts (~₹9 lakh), leading to revenue losses.
- The fee reduction is expected to make NRI seats more attractive and hence fill up the seats, increasing utilization and stabilizing revenue streams for medical colleges.
Key Details:
- The restructured fee is ₹23.9 lakh/year per seat under the NRI quota in RajMES colleges.
- The allocation of seats remains: 15% of seats are under the NRI quota in RajMES colleges; the remaining are under government quota (50%) and management quota (35%) respectively.
- Rajasthan has 31 government medical colleges (including AIIMS Jodhpur and ESIC Alwar) with a total of 4,326 MBBS seats.
Benefits & Implications:
1. More Accessible Education for NRI Students:
The large fee drop reduces financial barriers, making medical education in Rajasthan more feasible for NRI students or their sponsors.
2. Improved Seat Utilization:
With more reasonable fees, vacant NRI seats are likely to be filled, which helps the colleges and the state recover revenue they were losing earlier.
3. Stabilized Revenue for Medical Colleges:
Even though fees are reduced, filling up empty seats can lead to better total revenue than having seats that remain unfilled. The government estimates a potential boost of around ₹45 crore from this move.
4. Predictability Over Volatility:
Moving away from a fee tied to the US dollar and annual escalations helps both students and institutions by reducing fluctuations and uncertainties.
5. Balanced Reform:
The reduction has been presented as a “balanced reform” — cutting fees to support students, but not so drastically that it jeopardizes institutional finances.
Notable thing:
- Even with the reduction, fees under the NRI quota remain significantly higher than government- or management-quota fees. Students and families should still plan financially, considering tuition, accommodation, materials, etc.
- Eligibility under the NRI quota, counselling process, and documentation remain the same as earlier (NEET results, etc.).
- Since this is a relatively recent change, always verify current fee notices from the medical colleges or RajMES to account for any updates or related rules.
The Rajasthan government’s decision to reduce the NRI quota fees in medical colleges by nearly ₹7 lakh is a major step toward making medical education more accessible to overseas Indians. While the fees remain substantial, the new structure is likely to ease financial burdens, improve seat usage, and generate better revenue outcomes for the state. For many NRI students, this could be the difference between pursuing a medical career in India or looking abroad.
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