New Delhi, May 15 -- The National Testing Agency accumulated a surplus of Rs.448.21 crore from examination fees collected over its first five years of operation - funds that experts, aspirants and a parliamentary panel say could have been used to plug the security gaps now in focus as the agency scrapped NEET-UG 2026 and left 2.275 million students waiting for a re-examination date.

Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, NTA collected Rs.3,512.98 crore in application fees while spending Rs.3,064.77 crore - 87.2% - on conducting examinations, according to the Union education ministry's response to a question raised by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek K Tankha on July 31, 2024.

A parliamentary panel on education, in its December 2025 report, recommend...