New Delhi, May 5 (IANS): The Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE-Main) will be held from July 18 to July 23 while the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) will be held on July 26.

JEE Advanced is expected to be held in August, the dates of which are yet to be decided.

The dates were announced by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Tuesday during a webinar with students.

As many as 16.84 lakh candidates have filled forms to appear in NEET (UG)-2020 that will be conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to MBBS/BDS courses and other undergraduate medical courses in approved/recognised medical/dental & other colleges/ institutes in India, the Minister said.

The number of candidates for JEE-Main is over 9 lakh.

The NTA was to issue admit cards to NEET candidates in April, but the process was not taken up as the MHRD decided to postpone the exam in view of the nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus scare.

With declaration of the dates for the entrance exams, the candidates can now focus on their preparations.

The candidates will also not have to move to other cities/town to appear in entrance/competitive exams for various academic courses as the NTA has provided for the same.

Candidates in different entrance exams will be allowed to mention in the online forms their preferred exam centres and cities where they wish to appear. Depending on the availability, they will be allotted the same.