There are a number of top ranked MBA colleges in India apart from the IIMs, which have good faculty, infrastructure and placement cell. Let's take a look at top 30 colleges accepting CAT score apart from IIMs having lower cut offs.
Top 30 colleges accepting CAT score apart from IIMs – CAT 2025 result is out and it is time now to plan MBA admission. IIMs are the first choice of every MBA aspirant in India, but if you plan to see options beyond IIMs, we have a list of best B-Schools for you. There are a lot of popular and high ranked MBA colleges to choose from apart from the IIMs.
These management institutions specialisations, industry exposure, or foreign exchange programmes at comparatively lower fees. Top ranked B-Schools such as FMS, SPJIMR, MDI, IITs, NMIMS, IIFT, GIM, GLIM, LIBA, GIM and many more accept CAT score for admission. Now, the CAT 2025 result is out know which are the top MBA colleges in India and how much CAT 2025 exam score is required for admission.
Alsio Read: CAT toppers 2025: Names, percentiles and scores
- Why MBA?
- Top 30 Colleges Accepting CAT Score for Admission: Cut offs and fees
- Selection Criteria for MBA Admission 2026
Why MBA?
Today, MBA is one of the most popular courses and a majority of students opt for it as it offers a varied range of career options, high salary and related perks. For the same, it is important to obtain an MBA degree from an institute of a good repute and a good placement record. However, IIMs are not within the reach of every student. For some, IIM cut offs are too high at (95-100 percentile) and for some IIM fees is too high (INR 13 to 27 lakh per annum). Apart from the fact that CAT cut offs for IIM admissions are too high, the selection criteria is also very tough. Thus, it is important to keep your options open viz. MBA admissions. For those whose CAT scores do not meet the IIM cut off, there are a lot of options available. There are many reputed MBA colleges in India that are on par with IIMs. Shiksha has shared below a list of the top 30 MBA colleges accepting CAT score, which ensure a good start to your career.
Commonly asked questions
No, you cannot get into MDI Gurgaon with 94 percentile. The Management Development Institute Gurgaon admission to PGDM in International Business + Master in Management (MIM) is based on CAT score, followed by a Personal Interview (PI) round. As per MDI Gurgaon cutoff 2024, the CAT cutoff percentile was 97 for the General All India category students. So, a general category student can not get into MDI Gurgaon with 94 percentile in CAT for PGDM courses.
However, candidates belonging to other categories, including SC, ST, OBC and PWD can get into Management Development Institute Gurgaon with 94 CAT percentile.
Top 30 Colleges Accepting CAT Score for Admission: Cut offs and fees
The list below features some of the top 30 MBA colleges other than the IIMs for MBA/PGDM course. Also, mentioned is the total course fees and expected CAT cut offs 2025 for admission.

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Student Forum
Answered an hour ago
No, candidates who apply for Sharda University admissions to MBA course with any one of CAT, MAT or XAT results are not required to appear in the GD and PI rounds.
These candidates skip SUAT entirely including the GD and PI rounds however, candidates can only skip SUAT with CAT, MAT or XAT if they se
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 hours ago
BMS College of Commerce and Management accepts CAT scores for admission to Weekedn Executive PGDM programme. Aspirants with score below 50% need to have CAT, MAT, XAT or ATMA scores for admission. Candidates with score above 50% in graduation are exempted from entrance test.
N
Guide-Level 15
Answered Yesterday
Yes, students can get admission in Manav Rachna University without CAT. The university considers scores obtained in MAT/ GMAT as well. Alternatively, students can appear for the MRNAT test too.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Candidates who are applying for the Jain University MBA admissions with CAT must score above 50% to apply. The aforementioned score will allow candidates to directly apply for the next selection rounds after JET for MBA admissions.
Candidates who do not have a score above the aforementioned limit nee
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
Yes, students can get admission in KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology MBA without CAT. The college instead accepts TSICET scores. Students do not have to appear for CAT or other management exams.
M
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
No, CAT is not a compulsory entrance exam in order to apply for BITSoM Mumbai MBA admission. Other than CAT, candidates also have the option of applying through a valid score of GMAT, GMAT-GRE or GRE for MBA at BITSoM Mumbai.
Appearing for one of the aforementioned entrance exams is a mandatory requi
S
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 3 days ago
GIBS Business School's PGDM cutoff is moderate and generally does not reach the high levels of an IIM. The main factors impacting cutoff are your entrance test scores and other criteria.
Cutoff Recent Data:
- CAT: 60-70 Percentile approximately
- XAT: 60-70 Percentile approximately
- MAT: 60-65 Percentile ap
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 5 days ago
The minimum marks or CAT cut off to appear for IIM selection round is different for every institute. Tier 1 colleges select candidates with CAT score above 95 percentile, Tier 2 colleges select candidates with score between 80-90 percentile and Tier 2 colleges select candidates with score lower than
P
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 5 days ago
There is no CAT PI shortlist for IIMs. Candidates have to simply login with their CAT credentials and fill the PI shortlist form.
S
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 5 days ago
There is no minimum qualifying marks for CAT. Anybody scoring above 0 in the exam is eligible for admission, however the B-Schools select candidates on the basis of cut offs which are 60 and above percentile.
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Contributor-Level 7
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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
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