22 lakh students take the NEET exam. From their families, Rs. 1.32 lakh crore is taken every year. The amount these 22 lakh people pay in one year for…

Our finding

Why we rated this “False”

Two numbers, and what each one actually measures

The claim joins two figures: ₹1.32 lakh crore said to be taken every year from the families of 22 lakh NEET candidates, and a comparison holding that this equals the Government of India's entire education budget.

Both halves need unpacking, because neither measures what it is presented as measuring.

The ₹1.32 lakh crore figure

This is an estimated value for the Indian coaching industry as a whole, projected forward to 2028. [1]

Three things follow from that, and each one matters:

It is a projection, not a current-year figure. It describes an expected future size, not money changing hands today.

It covers the entire coaching sector — engineering, civil services, banking, board exams, school tuition and everything else. NEET preparation is one part of that market, not the whole of it.

It is an industry revenue estimate, not a levy on 22 lakh families. Treating a sector-wide projected turnover as a fee extracted annually from one exam's candidates attributes the whole industry's value to a single group.

The budget comparison

The second half compares that figure against "the Government of India's entire education budget."

Comparisons of this kind are usually drawn against the central Ministry of Education allocation alone. But education in India is funded by the Centre and the states together, and combined public spending on education across both is several times the central ministry figure. [2]

Measured against the central allocation, a large number will look like it matches or exceeds the whole education budget. Measured against what the country actually spends on education, it does not. The comparison depends on which of those two denominators is used, and the smaller one is the one that makes the point.

What has been done about coaching costs

The cost of exam preparation is a real burden on families, and it is worth setting out what exists on the other side of the ledger.

SWAYAM, the government's open online course platform, had developed over 4,400 unique courses by January 2026, recording 1.72 crore unique learners, 5.80 crore cumulative enrolments and 52.88 lakh certifications. [3]

On Independence Day 2026, free nationwide online coaching for competitive examinations was announced, aimed directly at reducing what families spend on preparation. [4]

Whether free online provision substitutes for paid classroom coaching in practice is a fair question, and one worth watching rather than assuming. But it is not accurate to describe the coaching burden as an unaddressed problem.

On medical seats

The claim sits inside a wider argument that medical opportunities are shrinking. The capacity figures point the other way.

Medical colleges rose from 387 to 846, an increase of 118.6%. MBBS seats went from 51,348 to 1,39,864, up 172.4%. Postgraduate medical seats rose from 31,185 to 86,360, up 176.9%.

Where the claim goes wrong

The specific assertion — that ₹1.32 lakh crore is taken every year from the families of NEET candidates, and that this equals India's entire education budget — does not survive contact with either figure.

The first number is a forward projection for an entire industry, not an annual NEET cost. The second comparison works only against a partial measure of education spending.

The concern underneath is genuine: preparation for competitive examinations is expensive, and it falls hardest on families who can least absorb it. That case can be made with accurate figures. These are not those figures.

In short

₹1.32 lakh crore is a projected 2028 valuation of the whole coaching sector, not money collected annually from NEET families. And the budget it is measured against counts only central spending, leaving out the states — which together fund several times more.