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 3 campuses shortlist candidates for the PI round through a single window. For MBA admission 2026, IIM Bodhgaya conducted the IIM CAP for itself, IIM Jammu and IIM Sirmaur. Earlier, IIM Trichy, IIM Ranchi, IIM Raipur and IIM Kashipur and IIM Udaipur were also a part of CAP, but over the years, they opted out of it.
IIM CAP process 2026 was conducted in January, after the release of CAT 2025 result. Candidates who qualified the CAT exam, could fill the IIM CAP 2026 application form at IIM Bodhgaya website to be eligible for the WAT-PI round of all three institutes. The WAT-PI round for IIM CAP 2026 campuses was held in March and final merit list was released by each of them in May. Selected candidates had to accept the offer of admission by a particular deadline. IIM waitlists were released for these campuses thereafter. Read this article to know all about IIM CAP 2026.
- IIM CAP 2026 Highlights
- IIM CAP Process 2026
- IM CAP 2026 Important Dates
- IIM CAP Registration Process 2026
- IIM CAP: Qualifying CAT Cut Offs
- IIM CAP Final Merit List: Parameters and Weightage
- IIM Admission Criteria of non-CAP institutes
IIM CAP 2026 Highlights
Check below some key highlights of IIM CAP:
- Until last year, the IIM CAP included IIM Nagpur, IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, IIM Kashipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Trichy and IIM Udaipur.
- In 2026, IIM Udaipur did not participate in the CAP and conducted WAT-PI round on its own
- IIM Trichy, Raipur, Kashipur and Ranchi conducted MBA admissions together under JAP 2026.
- Until 2024, IIM Sambalpur and IIM Raipur also participated in the IIM CAP. They opted out in 2025.
- All CAP participating IIMs have same qualifying CAT cut off, admission parameters and weightage.
- Shortlist for IIMs CAP is released at the convening institute website. Candidates have to fill an online application form to participate in IIM CAP 2026.
- 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 will release the final merit list of candidates by May, but admission offers will be made to selected students individually by the institutes.
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.
IM CAP 2026 Important Dates
The application window for IIM CAP 2026 was open for about a week in January. Check below key dates related to IIM CAP 2026.
| Event | Dates |
|---|---|
| Submission of EOI | Jan 21 to Jan 25, 2026 |
| PI round | Feb 23 to Mar 31, 2026 |
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IIM CAP Registration Process 2026
Candidates had to apply for the IIM CAP at the conducting institute website with the help of their CAT login ID. Check steps to follow:
- Log on to IIM CAP 2026 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
Also Read:
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 2025 VARC |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2025 DILR |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2025 QA |
IIM CAP Cut Off 2025 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 |
Also Read:
IIM CAP Final Merit List: Parameters and Weightage
The final merit list of IIM CAP 2026 was 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 was 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 |
Commonly asked questions
Having a good academic profile for IIM admission is very critical. The top 6 IIMs lay a lot of emphasis on Class 10 and Class 12 score for selection of candidates for WAT-PI round. The academic profile is evaluated again at the time of preparation of final merit list. It has been seen in the past that some candidates despite having 99+ percentile, were not selected for PI round due to low score in Class 12.
The academic profile is assessed for academic as well as gender diversity. Which means a candidate who studied Arts in Class 12 may be selected for PI with lower marks than a candidate who studied Science in Class 12.
Candidates aiming for IIMs must know that while the importance of academic profile is very important for top IIMs, it is moderately important for rest of the IIMs. For, other top MBA colleges, overall profile matters more than academic score. So, if you do not have superlative scores in Class 10 and 12, build a good profile with work experience and extra curricular activities to increase your chances of selection.
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 cut off is prepared by all accepting colleges individually. There is no one authorized body to do so. Even the IIMs determine their admission cut offs separately.
Read More:
Commonly asked questions
There are a very few IIMs which have CAT cutoff of 85 percentile. These are IIM Nagpur, IIM Amritsar and IIM Bodh Gaya. Since these IIMs have been launched in the last decade, the cut offs are low for admission to MBA/PGP courses. Reserved category students can apply with 85 percentile in most of the IIMs as the cut off for them is much lower in comparison to General category candidates.
On an average, about 10-15 CAT aspirants score 100 percentile. Given below is the data of CAT 100 percentilers of last 4 years:
Exam year | CAT 100 percentilers | State wise numbers |
|---|---|---|
CAT 2025 | 12 | 1- Uttar Pradesh 1- Karnataka 1- Maharashtra 3- Delhi 2- Haryana 2- Gujarat 1- Jharkhand 1- Odisha |
CAT 2024 | 14 | 1- Andhra Pradesh |
CAT 2023 | 14 | 1 – Andhra Pradesh |
CAT 2022 | 11 | 2 - Delhi 1 - Gujarat 1 - Haryana 1 - Kerala 1 - Madhya Pradesh 2 - Maharashtra 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh |
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 |
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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.
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.
In CAT 2025, the number of 100 percentilers was 12. Check state wise data:
Overall Percentile | Total | Gender and Discipline | State wise distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
100 | 12 | Female - 2 Male - 10 Engineering - 3 Non-Engineering - 9 | Uttar Pradesh 1 Karnataka 1 Maharashtra 1 Delhi 3 Haryana 2 Gujarat 2 Jharkhand 1 Odisha 1 |
IIM Admission Criteria of non-CAP institutes
Listed below are the shortlist & admission criteria of IIMs that do not participate in CAP.
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80 percentile & above | 50% of the 1st Semester Fee |
70 percentile to 79.99 percentile | 25% of the 1st Semester Fee |
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Contributor-Level 10
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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