IIM Lucknow MBA Admission Criteria 2026-2028: PI Calls OUT; Check CAT Cut Off 2025
IIM Lucknow PGP shortlist 2026 is out. The CAT 2025 cut off fixed for IIM Lucknow admission is 90 percentile for MBA and 85 percentile for MBA-ABM and MBA-SM. Check the IIM Lucknow admission criteria 2026-28 below.
IIM Lucknow admission criteria for 2026-2028 is not much different from last year. However, IIM Lucknow has introduced 24 month work experience criteria for MBA-SM programme. The qualifying score required in CAT 2025 to make it to IIM Lucknow’s Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) round of MBA course is 90 percentile for General category students. For NC-OBC candidates, it is 82 percentile whereas for SC candidates it is 65 percentile and for ST candidates, it is 60 percentile.
IIM Lucknow admission shortlist 2026 has been released. Candidates who selected IIM Lucknow in the CAT 2025 application form, and meet the qualifying cut off, are eligible for shortlisting. Those selected are required to fill the the PI shortlist form at institute website to participate in the selection round.
- IIM Lucknow PI Shortlist 2026
- IIM Lucknow Selection and Admission Criteria 2026-2028
- IIM Lucknow Eligibility Criteria for MBA
- IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria 2026: CAT Cut Offs
- IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria 2026-28: WAT-PI Shortlisting
- IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria: Weights for Composite Score Calculation
- IIM Admission Criteria of Other Campuses
IIM Lucknow PI Shortlist 2026
Check below the process to check the shortlist status and apply for PI round of IIM Lucknow admission 2026.
- Visit the IIM Lucknow website
- Click on Admission Status: WAT-PI Shortlist for MBA 2026-28
- Enter CAT 2025 registration number, email ID, date of birth and CAPTCHA code
- Click on login to check your status and fill the PI form
Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.
IIM Lucknow Selection and Admission Criteria 2026-2028
Read below to understand IIM Lucknow selection and admission criteria for 2026-28 batch.
IIM Lucknow offers three MBA programmes.
IIM Lucknow Eligibility Criteria for MBA
- For MBA, the candidate must fulfill the basic eligibility criteria – Graduate in any stream with 50 per cent marks in aggregate or equivalent from a recognized university.
- For MBA-ABM the candidate must possess Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Science/ Agricultural Engineering/Engineering/Technology or allied subjects and MBAP-SM.
- Candidates not having these degrees will have to fill a special form at the time of personal interview, if selected. For MBA-SM, along with Graduation degree, minimum two years of work experience is mandatory.
The IIM Lucknow admission process 2026-28, includes three stages:
- Shortlisting of candidates on the basis of CAT 2025 score
- WAT-PI round
- Final Selection
The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.
- Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
- Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
- Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
- Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.
Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.
The MBA institute with an 85 percentile CAT cutoff that has the lowest fee is Delhi School of Economics. The fee is INR 30,000 for two years. The course fee is low in this institute because it is a government aided institution. DSE is a highly reputed for Economics and MBA programmes and provides excellent placement opportunities to its students.
CAT cut offs for non-IIMs is usually lower than IIMs.
Top MBA College | CAT Cut Offs (percentile) |
|---|---|
FMS, Delhi | 98-99 |
IIFT Delhi | 95-99 |
SPJIMR, Mumbai | 95-99 |
IMT, Ghaziabad | 95-97 |
JBIMS, Mumbai | 96 |
MDI, Gurgaon | 97-99 |
IMI, New Delhi | 90 |
XIM, Bhubaneshwar | 91 |
GIM Goa | 85 |
K J Somaiya, Mumbai | 86 |
TAPMI, Manipal | 80 |
FORE, New Delhi | 85 |
IFMR, Chennai | 80 |
IRMA, Anand | 80 |
MICA, Ahmedabad | 80 |
LIBA, Chennai | 70 |
XIME, Bangalore | 70 |
IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria 2026: CAT Cut Offs
The CAT cut off percentiles mentioned in IIM Lucknow selection and admission criteria 2026-2028 are qualifying cut offs final CAT 2025 cut offs are higher. Candidates must treat the qualifying CAT cut offs as the minimum eligibility criteria for IIM Lucknow for the WAT-PI round.
| Cut-off percentile for shortlisting candidates for WAT- PI stage for MBA |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category |
VARC |
DILR |
QA |
Overall |
| General |
85 |
85 |
85 |
90 |
| EWS |
77 |
77 |
77 |
82 |
| NC-OBC |
77 |
77 |
77 |
82 |
| SC |
55 |
55 |
55 |
65 |
| ST |
50 |
50 |
50 |
60 |
| PWD |
50 |
50 |
50 |
60 |
| Cut-off percentile for shortlisting candidates for WAT- PI stage for MBA-ABM |
||||
| Category |
VARC |
DILR |
QA |
Overall |
| General |
80 |
80 |
80 |
85 |
| EWS |
72 |
72 |
72 |
77 |
| NC-OBC |
72 |
72 |
72 |
77 |
| SC |
55 |
55 |
55 |
65 |
| ST |
50 |
50 |
50 |
55 |
| PWD |
50 |
50 |
50 |
55 |
| Cut-off percentile for shortlisting candidates for WAT- PI stage for MBA-SM |
||||
| Category |
VARC |
DILR |
QA |
Overall |
| General |
80 |
80 |
80 |
85 |
| EWS |
72 |
72 |
72 |
77 |
| NC-OBC |
72 |
72 |
72 |
77 |
| SC |
55 |
55 |
55 |
60 |
| ST |
50 |
50 |
50 |
55 |
| PWD |
50 |
50 |
50 |
55 |
IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria 2026-28: WAT-PI Shortlisting
In the second stage of IIM Lucknow admissions, candidates will be evaluated on parameters listed in the below table and consequently shortlisted for WAT-PI round. WAT or the Written Ability Test will be a 30-minute essay writing test on current affairs topics. Maximum weightage is given to scaled CAT score for WAT-PI shortlisting which is 60 points. Check the table below for other parameters that will be taken into consideration:
| Component |
MBA Weight |
MBA-ABM Weight |
MBA-SM Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scaled CAT 2025 score |
60 |
60 |
60 |
| Class 12 marks |
10 |
10 |
10 |
| Graduation marks |
10 |
10 |
10 |
| Work Experience |
10 |
0 |
10 |
| Diversity Factor |
5 |
20* |
5 |
| Gender Diversity |
5 |
5* |
5 |
* The maximum marks for the diversity factors (including Gender) cannot exceed 20 for MBA-ABM program.
IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria: Weights for Composite Score Calculation
For the final score calculation more weightage has been allotted to WAT and PI than CAT score. While CAT score has weightage of 30-35; the WAT and PI together have weightage of 50. Candidates must score a minimum of 12 out of 40 in the PI round to be considered for final selection.
| Component |
Weight |
|
|---|---|---|
| MBA & MBA-SM |
MBA-ABM |
|
| CAT 2025 |
30 |
35 |
| Academic Performance |
5+5 |
5+5 |
| Diversity Factor |
5 |
5 |
| Work Experience |
5 |
NA |
| Writing Ability Test (WAT) |
10 |
10 |
| Personal Interview (PI) |
40 |
40 |
| Final Score |
100 |
100 |
PGP-ABM: Academic Disciplines
Candidates applying for PGP-ABM course must not the disciplines that will be considered during the selection process:
| Academic Disciplines (AD) for MBA-ABM Program |
|
|---|---|
| Agriculture |
Science |
| Agriculture, Agronomy, Soil Science, Agricultural Biochemistry, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extension, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Entomology, Plant Pathology |
Biology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Biotechnology Engineering, Botany, Home Science, Life Science, Zoology, Veterinary Science, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Dairy Science, Agricultural Engineering, Dairy Technology, Food Technology, Food Technology & Management, Forestry, Horticulture, Rural Studies, Rural Sociology, Rural Cooperatives, Rural Banking |
IIM Admission Criteria of Other Campuses
To read IIM admission and selection criteria for each institute, refer to the table below:
| IIM Admission Criteria and Selection Process |
|
|---|---|
Also Read:
Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
Read Full BioNews & Updates
Photos & Videos
+14
- Top Commerce Colleges in Lucknow
- Top Mass Communication Colleges in Lucknow
- Top Private Medical Colleges in Lucknow
- Top Overall Colleges in Lucknow
- Top State Public University Colleges in Lucknow
- Top Commerce Colleges in Uttar Pradesh
- Top Mass Communication Colleges in Uttar Pradesh
- Top Private Medical Colleges in Uttar Pradesh
- Certificate colleges in Lucknow
- MBA colleges in Lucknow
- Executive MBA colleges in Lucknow
- Business & Management Studies colleges in Lucknow
- Banking, Finance & Insurance colleges in Lucknow
- IT & Software colleges in Lucknow
- Medicine & Health Sciences colleges in Lucknow
- Accounting & Commerce colleges in Lucknow
- Mass Communication & Media colleges in Lucknow
Contact Details
Address
Indian Institute of Management, Prabandh Nagar, IIM Road.
Lucknow ( Uttar Pradesh)
Other Popular IIMs
Get details of Similar Colleges
Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered a week ago
IIM Lucknow fees is different for each programme. Students have to pay the fees to complete the process. The amount can be paid online or offline. The fees is as below:
| Course | Total Tuition Fees |
|---|---|
| PGP | INR 12.6 lakh |
| PGP for Working Executives | INR 11 lakh |
| IPMX | INR 26 lakh |
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Students have to submit some documents for IIM Lucknow admission and application. The general list is as below:
- Class 12 marksheets & Certificate
- UG/PG degree marksheets and Certificate
- Entrance exam scorecard & admit cards
- SOP - if applicable
- Aadhaar card or other identity proof
- Caste certificate - if ap
M
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
IIM Lucknow shortlists students on an entrance basis mainly. For flagship PGP programme, students need to appear for CAT exam followed by GDPI. The selection process is as below:
| Courses | Selection Criteria |
|---|---|
| MBA/ PGP | CAT + WAT + PI |
| Executive MBA/PGP | GMAT/ CAT/ XAT/ GATE/ PGP-WE Entrance Exam + WAT + PI |
| FPM | CAT/ GATE/ GRE/ GMAT or JRF/ SRF (UGC/ CSIR/ ICAR) |
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes, IIM Lucknow does consider Class 12 marks while making the merit list for MBA programmes. But, Class 12 marks are only one of the selection parameters. Others include CAT score, UG marks, GDPI performance, extra curricular activities, and more.
U
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
To get admission in IIM Lucknow, students have to check the eligibility first. Eligible students can then apply online. The institute selects students on an entrance basis. For PGP/ MBA courses, students need to submit CAT scores. The college then conducts other selection rounds, such as interview a
B
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Yes, IIM Lucknow does offer scholarships. The institute provides financial help to eligible students. To get the scholarship benefits, students can apply online. The forms have to be given to the institute's office/ website.
A
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
IIM Lucknow MBA cutoff for the general category generally goes upto 90 percentile. Students must aim to score 90 & above to get admission in the institute. For other categories, the cutoff is generally lower and ranges from 60 percentile to 85 percentile. However, this changes every year. Students c
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Students can get admission in IIM Lucknow without CAT score. But only for courses, such as EFPM, FPM, EPGP programmes. Those seeking flagship PGP/ MBA course admission must have valid CAT score. The IIM Lucknow courses for which CAT is not needed are as below:
- IPMX
- PGPX
- FPM
A
Contributor-Level 10
The CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore hovers between 97-100 percentile. The qualifying CAT cut off required for being eligible for IIM Bangalore's Written Ability test (What) and Personal Interview PI is 85 percentile for General category students, whereas for SC candidates, it is 70 percentile. For ST candidates, it is 65 percentile and for PwD candidates it is 60 percentile. Given below are the sectional and overall qualifying CAT cut offs for IIM Bangalore.