What is sectional cutoff in CAT exam?

Sectional cut-off in the CAT exam refers to the section-wise percentiles required by the candidate to make it to the Personal Interview round of the IIMs or other top MBA colleges. The sectional cut-offs are lower than the overall cut-offs of any institute. To understand better, check the table below for sectional CAT cut-offs for IIM Ahmedabad: Category VARC percentile DILR percentile QA percentile Overall percentile General 70 70 70 80 NC-OBC-Transgender 65 65 65 75 SC 60 60 60 70 ST 50 50 50 60 PwD (General, NC-OBC-cum-transgender, SC) 60 60 60 70 PwD (ST) 50 50 50 60 For sectional cut-offs of all IIMs, check this article – IIM shortlist and selection criteria

What are the qualifying CAT cutoffs for all the IIMs?

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 .

What is the CAT exam cutoff required to get admission to IIM Bangalore?

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)

Are CAT cut offs announced along with the CAT result?

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.

What is the CAT cut off for IIM Lucknow?

The CAT cut offs for IIM Lucknow is usually around 97-99 percentile. The two courses - PGP Agri-Business Management (ABM) and PGP Sustainable Management (some) are extremely popular among MBA aspirants who wish to make a career in these areas. The institute also offers PGP programme. The qualifying CAT cut off for IIM Lucknow's Written Ability test (What) and Personal Interview PI is 90 percentile for General category students, whereas for SC candidates, it is 70 percentile. For ST and PwD candidates, it is 60 percentile. Given below are the sectional and overall qualifying CAT cut offs for IIM Lucknow PGP course. General category: 85 VARC 85 DILR 85 Quantitative Aptitude 90 (Overall) NC-OBC category: 77 VARC 77 DILR 77 Quantitative Aptitude 82 (Overall) EWS category: 77 VARC 77 DILR 77 Quantitative Aptitude 82 (Overall) SC category: 55 VARC 55 DILR 55 Quantitative Aptitude 70 (Overall) ST category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall) PwD category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall) Click here for detailed IIM Lucknow admission and selection criteria: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-lucknow-shortlist-admission-criteria-blogId-18509.

What is the difference between qualifying CAT cut off and final CAT cut off?

Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of an IIM is the minimum percentile (sectional as well as overall) required by candidates to be eligible for the Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI round. These are only eligibility score and not the score for selection. The final CAT cut off percentiles are the scores on the basis of which a candidate is actually selected for the What-PI round. The qualifying CAT cut offs are released publically before the CAT exam and result as a part of selection criteria for the MBA/PGP batch of that year. The qualifying cut offs for CAT are release category wise - General, NC/OBC. General-EWS, SC/ST, PwD. The qualifying cut offs percentiles of General category candidate is higher than then rest. The final CAT cut offs are not released publically. The cut offs are estimate on the basis of candidate's selection for What-PI. The final CAT cut offs for General category candidate is also higher than then rest.

Which MBA colleges are available with 60 percentile in CAT?

There are a number of private MBA colleges that accept CAT score of 60+ percentile for admission. We have listed some of the colleges below: AIMS Institutes (AIMS), Bangalore Amrita School of Business - Bangalore Acharya Bangalore B-School Asian Business School (ABS), Noida Amrita School of Business, Kochi Bengal Institute of Business Studies (BIBS), Kolkata Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Christ Institute of Management, Pune Doon Business School (DBS), Dehradun Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management, Kolkata FOSTIIMA Business School, Delhi International Institute of Business Studies, Noida International School of Business and Media (ISB&M) Bangalore International School of Business & Media, Kolkata IIKM Business School, Calicut IILM Institute for Higher Education, Delhi For full list, click here: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/colleges-accepting-cat-scores-range-60-to-70-percentile-blogId-11984.

Which MBA colleges are available with 80 percentile in CAT?

There are quite a few MBA colleges who accept CAT score of 80 percentile and above for admission. The admission process for these colleges include group discussion and Personal Interview . Fore School of Management Goa Institute of Management International Management Institute, Delhi Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli Praxis Business School, Kolkata Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management development & Research, Bangalore Shiva Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research TA Pai Management Institute Trinity College for Management and Technology, Ghaziabad Click on this link for more: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/colleges-accepting-cat-scores-range-80-to-90-percentile-blogId-11981.

What is the IIM selection criteria through CAT?

IM selection criteria includes Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI). Academic record and work experience are also taken into consideration for final selection.

Will CAT cut offs rise for 2026 admission?

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 remain the same as the CAT 2025 exam difficulty level was same as last year and number of takers dipped from last year.

Which MBA colleges are available with 70 percentile in CAT?

A good number of private MBA colleges accept CAT score of 70 percentile in CAT. We have listed some of the colleges in which admission is possible with 70 percentile. Amity University AIMS Institutes (AIMS), Bangalore Amrita School of Business - Bangalore Acharya Bangalore B-School Asian Business School (ABS), Noida Amrita School of Business, Kochi Bengal Institute of Business Studies (BIBS), Kolkata Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Christ Institute of Management, Pune Doon Business School (DBS), Dehradun Eastern Institute For Integrated Learning In Management, Kolkata FOSTIIMA Business School, Delhi International Institute of Business Studies, Noida International School of Business and Media (ISB&M) Bangalore JK Lakshmipat University-Institute of Management, Jaipur National University (JNU), Jaipur JRE Group of Institutions (JRE), Greater Noida Lotus Business School, Pune Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar MATS University, Raipur IIKM Business School, Calicut IILM Institute for Higher Education, Delhi For full list, click here: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/colleges-accepting-cat-scores-range-70-to-80-percentile-blogId-11956.

CAT 2025 Cutoff for IIMs and Top Colleges: Check Category-wise Cut offs

13.1K Students Q&A

Registration - To be notified

Updated on Feb 27, 2026 17:56 IST

By Vipra Shrivastava, Senior Manager - Content

CAT 2025 cut offs for IIMs are same as last yeer. PI shortlists 2026 released in January reveal that there is not much change in the minimum score requirement for PI round. CAT cut offs 2025 for top IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow and IIM Kozhikode are 99.97+ percentile for General category students For SC/ST/PwD category candidates the CAT 2025 cut offs are slightly lower. For non-IIMs, the minimum CAT cutoff 2025 are around 94 percentile. In Tier 2 MBA colleges, CAT cut offs are around 70-80 percentile and above and in Tier 3 MBA colleges the CAT cut offs usually around 60-70 percentile and above. Read below all about CAT 2025 cut offs.

Table of contents

Factors Determining CAT Cut Offs 2025
CAT 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule
CAT 2025 Cut Offs for IIM Admission
CAT Cut Offs 2025 for Top MBA Colleges (Non-IIM)
CAT Cut Off 2025: Score vs Percentile
Previous Years' CAT Cut Off of Top IIMs
CAT Cut Offs 2025: IIM Admission and Selection Criteria

Factors Determining CAT Cut Offs 2025

CAT 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule

Take a look at the table below for the complete schedule of CAT 2026 exam

Dates	Past Exam Dates
24 Dec ' 25	CAT 2025 result announcement
08 Dec ' 25 - 10 Dec ' 25	CAT 2025 answer key challenge

CAT 2025 Cut Offs for IIM Admission

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Specializations

Rounds

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2024
IIM Calcutta - Indian Institute of Management	99
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	99
IIM Bangalore - Indian Institute of Management	99
IIM Amritsar - Indian Institute of Management	95
IIM Kashipur - Indian Institute of Management	94

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) in IIMs : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) in IIMs : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2022	2023	2024
IIM Calcutta - Indian Institute of Management	– / –	99	99
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	– / –	99	99
IIM Bangalore - Indian Institute of Management	99	99	99
IIM Amritsar - Indian Institute of Management	– / –	95	95
IIM Kashipur - Indian Institute of Management	– / –	94	94