CAT 2025 results will be released online. Students who appeared for the CAT exam may face concerns about the sectional cutoff. But worry not. In this article, Shiksha has listed down the top MBA colleges in India which give admission to the MBA programme without sectional cutoff. Read the article below to know more.
MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoff: CAT is one of the most popular MBA entrance exams in India. The CAT exam is the first stepping stone for students embarking upon the MBA journey. Every year lakhs of students appear for the CAT exam, with a dream to get into the top B-school in India. But all of them do not achieve it. But it does not mean it is the end of the road of getting into a good B-school.
CAT 2025 will be conducted on November 30, 2025, by the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. The CAT response sheet was also released on the official website of CAT. Traversing the intricate aspects of the CAT exam presents challenges other than the overall CAT percentile. Many students who appeared for the exam may face concerns about sectional cutoff. But, there are many top MBA colleges in India without sectional cutoff which offer admissions into the MBA programme. In this article, Shiksha has listed down the MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoffs.
- What is Sectional Cutoff?
- Is the Sectional Cutoff Important?
- List of MBA Colleges in India with No Sectional Cutoffs
- Advantages of MBA Colleges in India With No Sectional Cutoff
What is Sectional Cutoff?
CAT is divided into three sections, i.e. Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The sectional cutoff is the minimum score decided by the institutes. The minimum score or the sectional cutoff is based on factors such as the difficulty level of the exam, the number of applicants, available seats, etc. These cutoffs are set for each section of the CAT exam and serve as qualifying criteria for admissions to the institutes.
Many management colleges consider sectional cutoffs for admissions, in addition to the overall percentile for admissions, hence, maintaining a good sectional score is important. Meeting the sectional cutoff will enhance the chances of the students to get into their dream B-school. Usually, a score of 70-80 percentile in VARC and DILR and 60-70 percentile in QA is good score. However, various MBA colleges in India also take other factors into consideration such as work experience, academic profile, PI performance.
Also Read:
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- CAT 2024 Slot 1 answer key PDF question paper analysis
- CAT 2024 Slot 3 answer key PDF question paper analysis
- IIM Shortlist Process: Check, Dates, Waitlist
- IIM Admission Process and Selection Criteria 2025
Is the Sectional Cutoff Important?
CAT is a highly competitive exam and the sectional cutoff is important in the way that many institutes determine the minimum score needed for the students to qualify for admission. The CAT sectional cutoff can change from one institute to another and one programme to another. Scoring well in all the sections is importnat for achieving a good overall CAT percentile.
Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of Iims for Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI are listed below. Candidates who MET the qualifying CAT cut off, were eligible for What-PI round. These qualifying CAT cut offs are for General Category. The cut offs for Reserved category students are lower:
- IIM Ahmedabad: 95 percentile
- IIM Bangalore: 85 percentile
- IIM Calcutta: 85 percentile
- IIM Lucknow: 90 percentile
- IIM Kozhikode: 85 percentile
- IIM Indore: 90 percentile
- IIM Udaipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Shillong: 75 percentile
- IIM Trichy: 93 percentile
- IIM Visakhapatnam: 80 percentile
- IIM Rohtak: 95 percentile
- 1IIM Nagpur: 85 percentile
- IIM Jammu: 93 percentile
- IIM Ranchi: 90 percentile
- IIM Sirmaur: 92 percentile
- IIM Bodhgaya: 93 percentile
- IIM Sambalpur: 93 percentile
- IIM Kashipur: 94 percentile
- IIM Raipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Amritsar: 90 percentile
For complete details of IIM selection and admission process read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-shortlist-selection-admission-criteria-blogId-18787.
Most of the tier I colleges focus on the overall cutoff as well as the sectional cutoff, but a majority of the tier II and tier III colleges focus only on the overall cutoff.
IIMs and top business schools in India release their sectional and overall CAT exam cutoff after the CAT results are announced. The CAT result 2025 will likely be released in the third week of December 2025. So, scoring well only in one section is not enough to grab a seat in a top tier B-school. Scoring well in all the three sections of the CAT exam is imperative.
Also Read: CAT Score vs Percentile
List of MBA Colleges in India with No Sectional Cutoffs
The following table depicts the list of MBA colleges in India with no sectional cutoffs with their overall expected CAT cutoff 2024:
| Name of the Institute |
Expected CAT Cutoff 2023 |
|---|---|
| 96+ |
|
| 80+ |
|
| 98+ |
|
| 90+ |
|
| 24.6 |
|
| 23.75 |
|
| 70+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 99 |
|
| 93+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 94+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 85+ |
|
| 88+ |
Also Read:
Advantages of MBA Colleges in India With No Sectional Cutoff
Explore colleges based on CAT
Choosing MBA colleges with no sectional cutoff can be advantageous in the way that these colleges look at the overall performance of the aspirants rather than focusing on a particular section. Colleges that do not impose sectional cutoffs in entrance exams, such as the CAT for MBA programmes, offer several advantages to candidates.
- Broad Evaluation: Students are evaluated comprehensively, i.e. they are selected on the basis of the overall marks and percentile. Such colleges do not solely focus on one section. This gives way to a fairer evaluation and allows for a more nuanced consideration of the performances of the students.
- Diverse Skill Sets: Students with diverse skills get the change to apply to their dream college even if they have not cleared the sectional CAT cutoff. Students from non-traditional academic or professional backgrounds will find it easier to qualify, as their unique skills and experiences can be taken into account. The focus on rigid benchmarks can be taken off.
- Flexibility: Students have the option to emphasize on their strengths and work on their weaknesses in sections where they scored low.
It is important to note that while these advantages exist, candidates should still strive for a balanced performance across all sections to enhance their chances of success in the competitive admission processes.
Read More:
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.
- General category: 80 VARC 75 DILR 75 Quantitative Aptitude 85 (Overall)
- NC-OBC category: 75 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
- EWS category: 70 VARC 65 DILR 65 Quantitative Aptitude 75 (Overall)
- SC category: 65 VARC 60 DILR 60 Quantitative Aptitude 70 (Overall)
- ST category: 55 VARC 55 DILR 55 Quantitative Aptitude 65 (Overall)
- PwD category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall)
CAT cutoffs are usually not announced with the CAT result. The CAT cutoffs are also not released to the public.
They are published after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs opens their shortlisting window based on the CAT cut-offs two to three days after the result announcement. The CAT percentile of candidates shortlisted for the Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), and Personal Interview (PI) can be considered the cut-off for that IIM. For example, if a candidate with a CAT percentile of 99 belonging to the General category is selected for the WAT/GD-PI of IIM Calcutta, then the CAT cut-off for IIM Calcutta is 99 percentile. Only those candidates who make it to the WAT/GD-PI round of IIMs will get to know the cut-offs.

Saumya Jain is an English Literature graduate from University of Delhi. She brings over 8 years of editorial and content writing experience. At Shiksha.com, she has spent over six years creating research,
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Student Forum
Answered Yesterday
CAT cut offs do not flutuate much. For the past few years, the CAT exam cut offs for IIMs or other top colleges have not seen much change. If there is any change at all, it is in decimals. However, that decimal point too can make or mar admission chances. CAT cut offs for 2026 admission will largely
Answered 2 days ago
CAT cut offs for IIM admission 2026 batch will not change. They will remain high between 92-100 percentile. Top 6 IIM cut offs will be between 98-100, while the cut offs for rest of them will be between 92-97.
E
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
There will be no option of result evaluation in CAT 2025. Candidates cannot challenge the scorecard. Marks and percentiles printed on CAT 2025 result cum scorcard will be final.
M
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
CAT result is not released offline. Candidates have to download it from the iimcat.ac.in website only. The scorecard is available for download for 1 year.
P
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 days ago
As the Manipal University CAT Cutoff 2025 is not out yet, according to the Manipal University CAT Cutoff 2024, the qualifying cutoff was 25 percentile for General category candidates under the All India quota. The CAT cutoff for 2023 was also the same. So, going by the previous years' cutoff trends,
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
The Jaipur National University CAT Cutoff 2025 will be released soon. In the meantime, according to the Jaipur National University CAT Cutoff 2024, students needed to secure overall 70 percentile and 40 percentile sectional for admission to the MBA/PGDM course. In 2023, and 2022, the cutoff was also
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
The Jaipur National University CAT Cutoff 2025 will be released soon. In the meantime, according to the Jaipur National University CAT Cutoff 2024, students needed to attain 70 percentile overall and 40 percentile sectional. In 2023 and 2022, the cutoff was the same, indicating that the CAT Cutoff 2
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
For MBA admission, Sister Nivedita University accepts the national-level entrance exams, such as CAT, MAT, etc. It also accepts valid SNUET entrance exam score conducted by Sister Nivedita University for MBA admission. In 2024, the sectional CAT cutoff percentile was 25, for the General AI category
R
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
The K J Somaiya Institute of Management CAT Cutoff 2024 was released for admission to the MBA/ PGDM courses. The CAT Cutoff 2024 was 84 for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) course at K J Somaiya Institute of Management. Students who are aiming for admission have to attain qualifying cut
N
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
The IMT Nagpur CAT Cutoff 2025 will soon be released by the institute for admission to the MBA/PGDM courses. In the meantime, judging from the IMT Nagpur CAT Cutoff 2024, the qualifying CAT percentile was 85 for all categories under the All India quota. The institute also accepts the cutoff of vario
N
Contributor-Level 10
Result - To be notified
On an average, about 10-15 CAT aspirants score 100 percentile. Given below is the data of CAT 100 percentilers of last 3 years:
Exam year
CAT 100 percentilers
State wise numbers
CAT 2024
14
1- Andhra Pradesh
2- Delhi
1- Haryana
1-Kerala
5- Maharashtra
1- Odisha
1- Rajasthan
2- Telangana
CAT 2023
14
1 – Andhra Pradesh
1 - Delhi
1 – Gujarat
1 – Jammu & Kashmir
1 - Karnataka
1 - Kerala
4 – Maharashtra
1 – Tamil Nadu
2 - Telangana
1 - Uttar Pradesh
CAT 2022
11
2 - Delhi
1 - Gujarat
1 - Haryana
1 - Kerala
1 - Madhya Pradesh
2 - Maharashtra
2 - Telangana
1 - Uttar Pradesh