IIM CAP 2026 - Registration, Selection Criteria, Interview Dates, Top Colleges & Cutoff
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
IIM CAP or the Common Admission Process is a single-window selection process for MBA admission for new IIMs. The selection is based on CAT cut offs. One of the participating IIMs conduct the selection process for all campuses. Read more about IIM CAP 2026 for MBA admission on the basis of CAT score.
IIM CAP is a common admission process in which 8 newer IIMs participate. Under this Common Admission Process or CAP, selection process of the participating IIMs is common. The responsibility to conduct the CAP is given to one of the participating IIMs every year on rotation basis. For 2025 admission, IIM Bodhgaya conducted IIM CAP and it will be the coordinating institute for 2026 admissions too. In IIM CAP 2026, only three campuses will participate - IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Jammu and IIM Sirmaur.
IIM Trichy, IIM Ranchi, IIM Raipur and IIM Kashipur have opted out of CAP and will selecting canddidate through IIM JAP. IIM Udaipur will conduct admission individually like other IIMs.
IIM CAP process includes shortlisting of candidates based on their CAT exam score, conduct of Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) and final selection based on various parameters including academic record and work experience. CAT 2025 cut offs have been announced and they are same as last year.
- IIM CAP 2026 Highlights
- What is IIM CAP 2026?
- IIM CAP Registration Process?
- IIM CAP: Qualifying CAT Cut Offs
- IIM CAP Final Merit List: Parameters and Weightage
- IIM CAP Process 2026
- IIM Admission Criteria of non-CAP institutes
IIM CAP 2026 Highlights
Check below some key highlights of IIM CAP:
- Some of the new IIMs participate in IIM CAP conducted for MBA/PGP admission.
- Till last year, the IIM CAP colleges are IIM Nagpur, IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Kashipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Trichy and IIM Udaipur.
- In 2026, IIM Udaipur will not participate in the CAP and concduct WAT-PI round on its own
- IIM Trichy, Raipur, Kashipur and Ranchi will conduct MBA admissions together under JAP 2026.
- Till 2024, IIM Sambalpur also participated in the IIM CAP. For 2025 admissions, it opted out and will conduct admission individually.
- IIM Raipur, which was a part of IIM CAP till 2024, also opted out of the process for 2025 admission.
- Every year, one of the participating IIM is given the responsibility to conduct the process.
- In 2025, IIM CAP was conducted by IIM Bodh Gaya
- IIM CAP cut off for interview calls is common for all participating IIMs.
- IIM CAP is conducted for full time MBA courses only.
- IIM CAP interview dates (PI scheduling dates will be announced online.
- Shortlist for IIMs CAP is released in the third week January. Candidates have to fill an online application form to participate in IIM CAP.
- If a candidate's one IIM CAP interview clashes with another one, they can send a mail to CAP help desk for rescheduling the dates.
- The CAP conducting IIM releases the final merit list of candidates by May, but admission offers are made to selected students individually by the institutes.
- IIM CAP selection round is conducted in February-March.
Also Read:
What is IIM CAP 2026?
IIM CAP or the Common Admission Process is a single-window selection process in which candidates eligible for admission to the nine new IIMs have to appear for a single WAT-PI round. For example, the candidate who has selected IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Nagpur and IIM Sirmaur for admission, does not have to appear for WAT-PI round of all the four institutes. He/she only has to appear for this round conducted by the CAT conducting institute.
Under the IIMs CAP, participating IIMs send the list of candidates shortlisted for WAT-PI process to the institute conducting CAP for that particular year. The IIM CAP conducting institute conducts the WAT-PI round. Qualifying CAT cut off, admission parameters and their weightage are common to all CAP participating colleges.
The scores obtained by candidates in CAP are shared with individual institutes. Based on the final score of candidates, the 10 IIMs declare their own merit list of candidates selected for admission. The final list of selected candidates is displayed on individual institute website. Only those candidates who have institute login can access the merit list.
Also Read:
IIM CAP Registration Process?
Candidates can apply for IIM CAP at the conducting institute website with the help of their CAT login ID. Check steps to follow:
- Log on to IIM CAP website
- Click on the link indicating CAP
- Enter CAT ID and password
- If you are a new user, you'll need to register as new user
- Fill the CAP form, upload relevant documents and click on submit
IIM CAP: Qualifying CAT Cut Offs
The table below indicates qualifying IIM CAT cut off percentiles for various categories for 2025 batch. Candidates were shortlisted for WAT-PI round on the basis of following percentiles.
| Category |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2024 VARC |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2024 DILR |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2024 QA |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2024 Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEN |
75 |
75 |
75 |
95 |
| EWS |
55 |
55 |
55 |
81 |
| NC-OBC |
52 |
52 |
52 |
81 |
| SC |
45 |
45 |
45 |
66 |
| ST |
25 |
25 |
30 |
42 |
| DAP |
25 |
25 |
30 |
42 |
IIM CAP Final Merit List: Parameters and Weightage
The final merit list of IIM CAP 2026 will be prepared on the basis of all participating candidates’ scores on the following parameters. Academic profile includes 4 points for more than 70% in class 10 and 5 points for more than 70% in class 12. For work experience, 10 points will be awarded for 2 to 4 years of work experience, 5 for more than four years or less than 2 years of work experience. The parameters and weightage are mentioned below:
| Parameters |
Points |
|---|---|
| CAT Score |
50 |
| Personal Appearance |
25 |
| Academic Profile |
15 |
| Work Experience |
10 |
| Total |
100 |
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IIM CAP Process 2026
The IIM CAP process in explained below in 8 steps.
Step 1: Candidates select IIM campuses in the CAT application form.
Step 2: CAP institutes shortlist candidates on the basis of CAT score and predefined criteria for WAT-PI.
Step 3: The CAP conducting IIM collates list of candidates selected by participating IIMs sends e-mails to the aspirants, mentioning the IIMs which have shortlisted them for WAT-PI.
Step 4: The shortlisted candidates have to fill an online form for participation in WAT-PI.
Step 5: CAP conducting IIM sends an email informing the WAT-PI date and venue to students who confirmed participation in the admission round.
Step 6: Candidates participate in the common WAT-PI process.
Step 7: The CAP conducting IIM sends WAT-PI score report to all participating institutes under CAP
Step 8: Based on the scores received, each IIM prepares final merit list and sends offer letters to selected candidate via email.
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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)
Some of the top CAT 85 percentile colleges are mentioned below:
· IIM Amritsar
· IIM Bodh Gaya
· IIM Nagpur
· VGSoM IIT Kharagpur
· Department of Management Studies – IIT Madras
· Department of Management Studies-IIT Roorkee,
· Department of Management Studies-Delhi Technological University
· TAPMI Manipal
· IMT Nagpur
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.
IIM Udaipur MBA course admission is entirely based on CAT exam. Candidates needs to apply for the CAT exam if they desired to apply to IIM Udaipur. However, IIM Udaipur does offers courses which doesn't requires CAT exam for admission. IM Udaipur offers a regular Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA) for Working Executives, designed for building a solid foundation and deep understanding of Business Management. The duration of the programme is 24 months, i.e. two years.
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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