'Computer-based testing is the future': NTA chief says NEET will soon move online

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is preparing to move the NEET examination to a computer-based test format, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh said on Sunday.  He also said that "CBT is the future" for its examinations.

"All our examinations are CBT (Computer-Based Test) except the NEET examination. On NEET also, we will be moving to CBT very soon," Singh told news agency ANI. "So the Nandan Nilekani-led high-powered task force is working on it."

He said CBT requires augmenting this testing infrastructure, building up safeguards. "Currently, the JEE examination, the UGC-NET examination, the CUET examinations, and the NIFT examinations are all done in CBT. So CBT is the future, so all our examinations will be CBT in the days to come," he said.

The NTA chief also said the agency is looking at artificial intelligence to improve both testing and fraud prevention. This includes examining logs, data, and analytics to ensure examinations are conducted without errors or problems.

"Not with the BRICS partners, but we are currently looking at the use of AI for conducting not only testing but also fraud prevention, trying to look at logs, trying to look at data, trying to look at analytics in order to ensure that the examinations are conducted without any error or without any problems," Singh said.

NTA Eyes Cross-Border Exams

The NTA DG said the agency eventually wants to conduct examinations for global bodies, but only after strengthening its domestic systems.

"Cross-border examinations are the next step," he said. "Our endeavor right now is to improve our systems so that we are able to conduct Indian examinations in a fair and transparent manner without any malpractice or without any error or without the need of having any review of our own systems."

"Once we have strengthened our own domestic systems, then we will go for conducting examinations for other global bodies," he added.

The NTA came under fire earlier this year over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and the subsequent cancellation of the examination.

Singh, a 1995-batch IAS officer, took charge as NTA Director General on April 1, 2026, about a month before NEET-UG was held on May 3.