New Delhi, India — India’s NTA overhaul could move beyond tighter exam security and technology upgrades to a more fundamental question: should the National Testing Agency itself be rebuilt on a new legal and governance framework?
A new SBI Research report proposes exactly that. It calls for a separate law for the NTA, an independent governing board, a permanent team of specialists and an independent mechanism to handle examination standards and serious candidate appeals.
The proposals matter to millions of students because the NTA conducts some of India’s biggest entrance examinations, including NEET UG and JEE Main. Since its creation in 2018, the agency had conducted more than 240 examinations involving over 5.4 crore candidates by July 2024, according to the report.
The recommendations come as the examination agency continues to face scrutiny over security, technology, outsourcing and the handling of high-stakes examinations. They also arrive alongside wider efforts by the government to restructure the NTA following earlier examination controversies.
What Is the SBI Research Proposal for NTA?
At the heart of the proposal is a new NTA law.
NTA currently operates as a society registered under the Societies Registration Act. SBI Research has suggested replacing that arrangement with a statutory framework created through an Act of Parliament.
The proposed legislation would clearly define:
- NTA’s legal powers and responsibilities
- Its governance structure
- Examination-related duties
- Accountability mechanisms
- Reporting requirements
- Oversight of examination operations
This would be different from the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, which primarily deals with malpractice and unfair means in public examinations. The proposed NTA legislation would instead establish the institutional framework under which the agency operates.
That distinction could become one of the most significant parts of the proposed reform.
Why Does NTA Need a New Law?
The argument behind statutory status is largely about clarity and accountability.
The NTA handles examinations involving millions of candidates, multiple examination centres, technology providers, security arrangements and other external agencies. SBI Research argues that an organisation operating at this scale needs a clearly defined legal mandate.
The Indian Express reported that SBI Research’s analysis also examined the agency’s dependence on outsourced personnel and services. In July 2024, 171 of 194 disclosed personnel were contractual or outsourced, accounting for about 88 per cent of the workforce covered by that data.
For students, the issue is less about organisational charts than one basic question:
When something goes wrong in a national examination, who is ultimately responsible?
The proposed structure seeks to make that chain easier to identify.
Independent NTA Board: What Would Change?
SBI Research has proposed an independent NTA Board made up of specialists from several fields.
The suggested areas include:
- Assessment and testing
- Technology
- Examination security
- Logistics
- Accessibility
The board would provide institutional oversight while the Director General or CEO would continue to manage day-to-day operations.
Under the proposed model, the Board would also approve examination readiness and oversee vendors involved in examination delivery.
That creates a clearer separation between oversight and execution.
The CEO would run the agency. The independent board would provide supervision.
NTA Could Build a Permanent Expert Team
Another major recommendation is to reduce reliance on external capacity by building a permanent professional workforce inside NTA.
SBI Research has proposed specialists in:
Examination assessment
Experts could focus on test design, assessment standards and examination quality.
Technology
The team would need expertise in digital systems, data and examination technology.
Security
Specialists could work on question-paper protection, examination security and risk assessment.
Operations and logistics
Large national examinations require coordination across thousands of centres and multiple administrative layers.
Candidate support
The proposed structure also gives greater attention to student grievances and communication.
The broader objective is to keep critical institutional knowledge inside the NTA instead of repeatedly depending on outside agencies.
New Standards and Appeals Body: What Will Students Get?
One of the most student-facing recommendations is a proposed independent Standards and Appeals Body.
It would audit high-risk examination processes and handle final administrative appeals in serious cases.
The broader recommendations also include a Candidate Charter, with defined procedures and timelines for issues such as answer-key challenges, score corrections, postponements, re-tests and accessibility failures, according to The Indian Express’s reporting on the SBI Research proposal.
For a NEET or JEE candidate, this could be particularly significant.
A student facing an examination problem often wants a simple answer: What is the procedure, who will hear the complaint and when can a decision be expected?
The proposed framework seeks to make those answers more predictable.
NEET UG and JEE Main: What Could the NTA Overhaul Mean?
The proposed changes are not limited to one examination.
NTA conducts several major national-level tests, including NEET UG and JEE Main, which affect millions of students and determine access to medical and engineering education.
For candidates, the most visible changes would potentially concern:
Exam security: stronger controls over sensitive examination processes.
Accountability: clearer responsibility between NTA, its leadership, vendors and examination partners.
Grievances: more defined mechanisms for challenging serious administrative problems.
Technology: greater in-house expertise rather than dependence on external providers.
Exam readiness: an independent board could have a formal role in assessing whether an examination is ready to proceed.
These are proposals, not yet changes to the examination rules students will automatically encounter. Their implementation would depend on decisions by the government and the eventual institutional framework.
NTA Reform Is Already Underway — But SBI Research Goes Further
The SBI Research proposal does not appear in isolation.
The government has already been working on changes to the NTA’s operations following scrutiny of examination security and the 2024 NEET-UG controversy.
Recent reforms have included stronger security measures, specialised staffing and changes in the agency’s operational infrastructure. The Indian Express has also reported on the NTA’s efforts involving security specialists, tighter procedures and technology following the earlier paper-leak allegations.
The NTA also launched a “Build New NTA” recruitment drive in August 2026, seeking specialists in areas including cybersecurity, vigilance, test-centre operations, research, data and communications.
SBI Research’s proposal therefore pushes the conversation one level higher.
Instead of asking only how should NTA conduct exams?, it asks what kind of institution should NTA be?
SBI Research Also Raises an Article 21 Question
The report extends beyond examination administration.
SBI Research has suggested examining whether Article 21 of the Constitution could be amended to recognise a right to free and fair educational opportunity.
The proposed concept would seek protection for students against fraud, discrimination and unreasonable barriers to education.
This is a much broader proposal than an examination reform.
It links the integrity of entrance tests with the larger question of whether students should have stronger guarantees around access to fair educational opportunities.
Any constitutional amendment, however, would require a separate legal and parliamentary process. The SBI Research suggestion should therefore be understood as a recommendation for consideration, not an existing constitutional right or an announced amendment.
India’s Higher Education System Has Expanded Rapidly
The report places the NTA debate inside a much larger picture of Indian higher education.
According to SBI Research’s FY24 figures cited by India Today, India had 64,756 universities, colleges and standalone institutions, while student enrolment had crossed 4.5 crore. The teaching workforce stood at around 17.32 lakh.
The expansion has been substantial, but the report argues that growth in the number of institutions and students must be matched by stronger systems.
That includes examination governance.
When millions of students depend on a small number of national examinations for access to medical, engineering and other programmes, the examination agency becomes a critical part of the higher education pipeline.
Higher Education Funding and Faculty Vacancies Also Flagged
SBI Research has also raised concerns about public spending and staffing.
The report noted that higher education’s share of total government expenditure had remained around 1 per cent, compared with 1.6 per cent in FY18.
It proposed raising the share to 1.5 per cent.
Faculty shortages are another concern. The report cited around 34 per cent of sanctioned teaching posts at centrally funded institutions as vacant.
The implication is straightforward: reforming examinations alone cannot solve every problem facing India’s higher education system.
A secure entrance examination determines how students enter the system. What happens after admission depends on the quality, capacity and funding of the institutions they enter.
Vocational Training Is Another Part of the Reform Agenda
The SBI Research report also examines India’s vocational education system.
It found that 30.7 per cent of Indians aged 15–29 had received or were receiving vocational training in 2025, compared with 7.1 per cent in 2018.
The report nevertheless calls for faster expansion of vocational training and stronger connections between education and employment.
That broadens the NTA debate considerably.
The report is not simply proposing a new structure for an examination agency. It is presenting examination integrity as one component of a much wider education-system reform agenda.
What Would the Proposed NTA Reform Actually Change?
If the recommendations were adopted, the proposed structure would introduce several layers of institutional change:
| Proposed change | What it could address |
|---|---|
| Separate NTA law | Legal powers and accountability |
| Independent NTA Board | Institutional oversight |
| Permanent expert workforce | Dependence on outsourced expertise |
| Standards and Appeals Body | Serious examination disputes |
| Stronger vendor oversight | Accountability in outsourced operations |
| Candidate Charter | Defined grievance procedures |
| Greater examination transparency | Public confidence and institutional accountability |
| Stronger security controls | Protection of high-stakes examinations |
But there is an important caveat.
These are recommendations from SBI Research, not yet an enacted NTA reform law.
The difference between a proposal and an implemented system will depend on what the government accepts, how legislation is drafted and whether the recommended structures receive adequate funding and authority.
The Bigger Question: Can NTA Rebuild Trust?
The debate surrounding the National Testing Agency is ultimately about more than technology.
A modern examination system needs secure question papers and reliable software. But it also needs clear responsibility, professional expertise, transparent procedures and a credible way for candidates to challenge serious administrative failures.
That is where the SBI Research proposal attempts to shift the conversation.
The suggested NTA law, independent board, permanent expert team and appeals body would change the institutional architecture behind some of India’s most consequential examinations.
For students preparing for NEET UG, JEE Main and other NTA exams, the immediate examination rules remain governed by existing arrangements. But if the recommendations move from a research report into policy, the agency responsible for conducting those exams could look substantially different.
The real test will not be the announcement of another reform.
It will be whether students can eventually enter an examination centre knowing that the system behind the paper is secure, accountable and capable of correcting its own mistakes.
