Abhishek
Abhishek Dhawan
Assistant Manager – Editorial Content
Updated on Feb 19, 2026 16:15 IST
Candidates belonging to SC/ST categories can now check the number of seats offered at IIMs. Know the alumnus of top IIMs here. SC/ST candidates who have been going through different websites to check reserved seats in different IIMs will find this article quite helpful.

IIMs is the dream destination of all MBA aspirants but only a few get to study in these top ranked institutes. Here is an article helpful for SC/ST candidates. Check out the reserved seats in different IIMs.

IIM Seats for SC & ST Categories

IIM Seats for SC & ST Categories

SC & ST Category Seats in IIMs for MBA: Indian Institute of Management offers MBA admissions based on CAT scores. All 21 IIMs follow a common reservation policy in line with the rules set by Government of India. MBA seat intake at IIMs for Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe (SC/ST) remains in a common proportion, irrespective of the total available seats. This article hosts the IIM seats for SC and ST category candidates. There can be slight variations in the number of seats, as the seat vacancy may change with every admission cycle. We have considered the national reservation guidelines and calculated the seats availability accordingly. Scroll down for more details on SC & ST Category seats in IIMs for MBA.

Check Category Wise IIM Seats
Total IIM Seats for General Category Total IIM Seats for General Category Total IIM Seats for OBC Category

SC & ST Category Seats in IIMs for MBA

IIM Ahmedabad has 58 seats for SC candidates and 29 seats for ST candidates. IIM Bangalore, also has a smilar seat structure having 57 seats for the SC category candidates and 29 for the ST categories. IIM Calcutta - another top notch business school and peer of the two top IIMs. Established in 1961 alongside IIM Ahmedabad, the institute has the highest number of seats among all the IIMs. Moreover, it has given many experts in different domains. Some of the alumni include Sunil Alagh (CEO of Brittania Industries), Ajit Balakrishnan (CEO of Rediff), and Sunil Duggal (CEO of Dabur), among many others. It has 69 seats reserved for SC candidates and 35 seats for ST candidates. Check IIM wise seats available for SC and ST category candidates in the table below:

IIM Institute

Seats for SC candidates

Seats for ST candidates

IIM Ahmedabad

58

29

IIM Bangalore

57

29

IIM Calcutta

69

37

IIM Lucknow

63

32

IIM Indore

68

34

IIM Kozhikode

56

28

IIM Shillong

18

10

IIM Ranchi

18

10

IIM Rohtak

18

10

IIM Raipur

18

10

IIM Trichy

15

8

IIM Udaipur

18

10

IIM Kashipur

14

7

IIM Nagpur

18

9

IIM Vishakhapatnam*

20

10

IIM Sambalpur*

20

10

IIM Sirmaur*

9

5

IIM Jammu*

21

11

IIM Amritsar*

18

9

IIM Bodh Gaya*

18

9

Total

614

317

Asterisk (*) has been put on several colleges to give a clear picture wherein a number of seats can vary slightly.

Q:   Can an average student get into an IIM?
A:

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.

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IIM Reservation Policy

Check the table below for IIM reservation criteria:

Category

IIM Reservation Criteria

Scheduled Castes (SC)

15

Scheduled Tribes (ST)

7.5

Other Backward Classes – Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL)

27

Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)

10

Total

59.5

The number of seats as well as the reservation policy will help in determining the CAT cutoff for IIMs.

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Abhishek Dhawan
Assistant Manager – Editorial Content

Abhishek is a content writer and editor with 7+ years of experience in education journalism. He completed his graduation from University of Delhi with a BA Degree. At Shiksha.com, he handles content for MBA, BBA, an

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