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PGCET counselling process

Last checked against the official KEA site: September 2026

PGCET counselling is run entirely online by KEA, separately for each stream, in a fixed sequence repeated across multiple rounds until seats are filled or the process closes.

The steps, in order

1. Registration and document verification: candidates register for counselling and upload/verify documents (rank card, degree marks card, category and income certificates, work-experience proof where relevant).
2. Get your verification slip: issued after document verification, with a unique security key and login credentials mandatory for choice filling. Without it you cannot access the option-entry portal — contact KEA immediately if it fails to download.
3. Choice filling: candidates list colleges and specialisations in order of genuine preference, logging in with the verification slip's credentials.
4. Seat allotment: KEA runs automated allotment based on rank, category, seat availability and choice order, and publishes round-wise results.
5. Fee payment and reporting: candidates who accept their allotted seat pay the admission fee and report/confirm within a fixed deadline. These are two separate deadlines — see the callout below.
6. Next round, if applicable: unallotted candidates, or those seeking a better seat, carry forward into subsequent rounds.

Got a seat you're not sure about? Accept-and-float vs. reject

KEA gives more than a yes/no choice on an allotted seat, and mixing these up is one of the costliest mistakes in counselling: accept and float keeps this round's seat as a safety net while you're still eligible for a better one next round (a better allotment releases this one automatically). Accept and freeze locks it in and exits you from counselling — only for when you're certain. Reject and float gives up this round's seat entirely to try again — it is not a safe "keep as backup" option, despite how it sounds. If you're unsure, accept-and-float is almost always the safer choice.

Cancel within the permitted window and PGCET refunds your fee minus a roughly ₹5,000 processing charge; the same KEA-wide rule as KCET's. You also can't surrender a seat at all until you've returned your original documents — admission order, bank challan, green card and verification slip — and once you've reported to the college, giving up the seat isn't permitted at all. Don't assume you can walk away from an accepted seat without that paperwork step first, or after the reporting cutoff.

Spotted an error in your allotment?

Some rounds publish a provisional allotment result with its own short objection window before it's finalised. If your allotment doesn't reflect your actual category, cutoff eligibility, or entered options, email keauthority-ka@nic.in with your application number, options entered, cutoff rank, and exactly what's wrong. KEA has had to correct real allotment errors in past cycles, so don't assume a genuine mistake is something you just have to live with — but raise it immediately given how short these windows can be.

Scale

PGCET counselling covers roughly 289 colleges accepting MBA, 190 accepting MCA, and 129 accepting M.Tech/M.E./M.Arch, spanning more than 280 participating institutions and 57,000+ postgraduate seats combined (30,000+ of those in MBA alone) — figures gathered from counselling coverage rather than a single official KEA count, so treat them as approximate.

Documents typically needed at verification

• PGCET rank card / admit card
• Qualifying degree marks card and provisional/degree certificate
• Caste/category certificate, where applicable
• Income certificate, where applicable
• Work-experience certificate, for part-time/executive MBA
• Domicile / study certificates establishing Karnataka candidature

Bring original documents plus 2 photocopies of each — photocopies alone aren't accepted. If a document gets flagged or you miss your verification slot, you're not automatically barred from counselling for good; later rounds typically open fresh verification slots, but contact KEA as soon as you know there's a problem rather than waiting.