All India Institute of Medical Sciences Pharmacist

AIIMS Pharmacist recruitment is carried out through the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE), which the Examination Section of AIIMS New Delhi conducts for non-faculty Group B and Group C posts at AIIMS institutes and other central government bodies. Pharmacist, Pharmacist Grade II and Dispensing Attendant posts sit together in Group Code 12 of the latest cycle, CRE-5 (Notice No. 93/2026 dated 13 June 2026).

This page gives you the cycle in one place: key dates, who can apply, the exam pattern, the syllabus approach, the pay level and how selection works. Detailed pages on the pattern, syllabus, eligibility and cut-off are linked below. Every figure comes from the official notification unless it is marked tentative or indicative.

Table of Contents

AIIMS Pharmacist Recruitment at a Glance

Notification Overview

CRE-5 is a single-window exam for many institutes. AIIMS New Delhi only conducts the test. Eligibility, service conditions and appointment stay with each participating institute, and you may not be eligible for every post in the group even if you apply.

You apply once for the group by paying one exam fee, then choose institutes and set your order of preference only after you qualify. Eligibility is checked provisionally at the application stage and again at document verification, so an error at any point can cancel your candidature.

Important Dates

Tentative dates come from the notification schedule and can change. Track the official notices on aiimsexams.ac.in and your registered email. Third-party sites report that the CRE-5 result came out in August 2026 and that choice filling and seat allocation followed, but dates differ between those reports, so confirm your current stage on your candidate dashboard.

Posts and Vacancies

The official vacancy list is in Annexure-II of the notification, with institute-wise and category-wise numbers. Group Code 12 carries posts at AIIMS Awantipora, Bathinda, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Deoghar, Guwahati, Jodhpur, Kalyani, Madurai, Mangalagiri, New Delhi, Patna, Raebareli, Raipur, Rajkot, Rewari, Rishikesh and Vijaypur, plus Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. RML Hospital, CNCI Kolkata and the Rural Health Training Centre, Najafgarh.

Most institutes advertise one to three posts each, with AIIMS New Delhi among the larger ones. Media reports quote totals from about 58 to 75 posts. These are indicative and not official, so check Annexure-II for your preferred institute and category.

Eligibility Summary

Qualification

For most institutes you need a Diploma in Pharmacy from a recognised university or institution and registration as a pharmacist under the Pharmacy Act, 1948. A few institutes add conditions, such as 10+2 with Science, a Hindi working knowledge, or two years of experience. Many posts list experience in manufacture, storage or testing of transfusion fluids as desirable, not essential.

Age Limit

Age is counted on the closing date of registration, 3 July 2026. The limit is 21 to 27 years at most institutes, with different limits at some (for example 18 to 30 years at AIIMS Rajkot and a maximum of 30 years at AIIMS New Delhi). Relaxation is 5 years for SC and ST, 3 years for OBC and 10 years for PwBD.

Application Fee

The fee is paid online by debit card, credit card or net banking and is not refunded, even if your application is rejected. The notification says the fee of SC and ST candidates who appear in the exam is refunded to the source account after the result. Applying to more than one group needs a separate application and fee for each group.

Exam Pattern

The CBT has 100 multiple-choice questions of 4 marks each, for 400 marks, in 90 minutes. Twenty questions test General Knowledge and Aptitude and Knowledge of Computer, and 80 questions test pharmacy. The paper is split into five sections of 20 questions, each open for 18 minutes. Each wrong answer costs one-fourth of the question marks, which is 1 mark.

Syllabus Summary

AIIMS does not publish a topic-wise syllabus for this group. The notification says the 80 domain questions follow the level of your Pharmacy qualification, so the working topic list is built from the Diploma in Pharmacy curriculum. The AIIMS Pharmacist syllabus page turns this into a checklist you can plan against.

Selection Process

1. Computer Based Test: The merit list is prepared only on CBT performance, with normalisation if the test runs in several shifts.

2. Qualifying marks: 40 percent for UR and EWS, 35 percent for OBC, 30 percent for SC, ST and PwBD.

3. Choice and preference: Qualified candidates choose institutes in order of preference when invited.

4. Seat allocation: Seats are allotted in merit order against your choices and eligibility.

5. Document verification: The allocated institute checks your originals and may cancel the seat if any claim does not hold.

Pay Level

The notification lists Pharmacist and Pharmacist Grade II at Level 5 of the 7th CPC pay matrix, and Dispensing Attendant at Level 4 or Level 5 depending on the institute. Level 5 begins at Rs. 29,200 basic pay in the standard pay matrix. That figure is not stated in the notification, and allowances and in-hand pay vary by institute and city, so treat any take-home estimate as indicative.

How to Prepare

With 80 of 100 questions from pharmacy, depth in your Diploma subjects decides your rank. Cover pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacy law and hospital pharmacy first, then spend a steady 30 minutes a day on general knowledge, reasoning and computer basics.

Cut-Off Reference

Official qualifying marks for CRE-5 out of 400 are 160 for UR and EWS, 140 for OBC and 120 for SC, ST and PwBD. These are minimums to qualify, not the marks that earn a seat. Seats depend on rank, vacancies in your category and your institute choices.