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

CAT 2026 exam

29 Nov '26

Updated on May 29, 2026 23:52 IST

By Abhishek Dhawan, Assistant Manager – Editorial Content

Overview

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
FAQs on IIM CAT Cutoff

Factors Determining CAT Cut Offs 2025

CAT cut off percentiles for MBA/PGP programmes of every institute are determined on the basis of various factors that influence the exam result. Some of the key factors that determine IIM cut offs category wise, are mentioned below:

Difficulty level of the CAT exam
Number of aspirants who appeared for the exam
Number of aspirants who cleared the exam
Previous years' trends of CAT cut off
Number of seats in a particular institute
All India ranking of the institute

CAT cut offs never fall drastically. For example, in top rated colleges like IIMs, the cut offs have always been above 99.95 percentile for GEM candidates. In colleges like SPJIMR, MDI or FMS, the cut offs have remained between 95-97 percentile. In tier 2 colleges, the CAT cut offs remain in 70-80 percentile range, year on year.

Commonly asked questions

Q: 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)

Q: Who prepares CAT cutoff?

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.

Q: 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.

CAT 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule

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

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
Dec ' 26	CAT 2026 result announcement TENTATIVE

CAT 2025 Cut Offs for IIM Admission

The CAT qualifying cut offs are the minimum score requirement for PI shortlisting. For all IIMs the qualifying cut offs are same this year. But, IIM Ahmedabad CAT 2025 cut off has increased from 80 percentile to 95 percentile.

IIM	Qualifying CAT cut offs 2025
IIM Ahmedabad	95
IIM Bangalore	85
IIM Calcutta	85
IIM Lucknow	90
IIM Indore	90
IIM Kozhikode	85
IIM Amritsar	90
IIM Nagpur	94
IIM Sambalpur	94
IIM Trichy	94
IIM Raipur	94
IIM Ranchi	92
IIM Kashipur	94
IIM Vizag	82
IIM Udaipur	94
IIM Bodhgaya	94
IIM Shillong	75
IIM Sirmaur	94
IIM Rohtak	95
IIM Mumbai	85
IIM Jammu	94

What is IIM CAT qualifying cut off?

CAT qualifying cut off is the minimum percentile required for PI-WAT round. Candidates who meet the qualifying cut off, are eligible for selection to the WAT-PI round. Actual selection is done on higher cut offs. The qualifying CAT cut off is much lower than final cut off. For example, the qualifying CAT cut off for IIM Bangalore is 80 percentile but the final CAT cut off is 99.95 percentile and above.

IIM CAT Cut Offs (Final)

Final cut offs for 2026 batch admission were released after the announcement of CAT 2025 result. The final CAT cut offs are however not revealed publically. Presented below are the estimated CAT cut off percentiles for General category students for admission to the top 21 IIMs. These cut off percentiles should be seen as reference only.

IIMs	*CAT cut offs 2025 (percentile)
IIM Ahmedabad	99-100
IIM Bangalore	99-100
IIM Calcutta	99
IIM Lucknow	97-98
IIM Indore	97-98
IIM Kozhikode	97-98
IIM Amritsar	95-96
IIM Nagpur	95-96
IIM Sambalpur	95-96
IIM Trichy	94-95
IIM Raipur	94-95
IIM Ranchi	94-95
IIM Kashipur	94-95
IIM Vizag	92-94
IIM Rohtak	92-94
IIM Udaipur	92-94
IIM Bodhgaya	92-94
IIM Shillong	90
IIM Sirmaur	90
IIM Jammu	90
IIM Mumbai	90

Commonly asked questions

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: How to check CAT cutoff?

The final CAT cutoff are not released publically. However, candidates can check qualifying cut offs in the admission criteria document released by IIMs and other institute before the exam.

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Specializations

Rounds

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2024	2025
IIM Calcutta - Indian Institute of Management	99	99
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	99	99
IIM Bangalore - Indian Institute of Management	99	99
IIM Amritsar - Indian Institute of Management	95	95
IIM Kashipur - Indian Institute of Management	94	94

Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGPM) in IIMs : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGPM) in IIMs : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2023	2024	2025
IIM Bangalore - Indian Institute of Management	99	99	99
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	99	99	99
IIM Calcutta - Indian Institute of Management	99	99	99
IIM Kozhikode - Indian Institute of Management	97	97	97
IIM Amritsar - Indian Institute of Management	95	95	95

Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGPM) in IMI : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGPM) in IMI : CAT 2025 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2023	2024	2025
IMI Delhi	80	80	80

CAT Cut Offs 2025 for Top MBA Colleges (Non-IIM)

The CAT 2025 cut offs for top MBA colleges are lower than the top IIMs but still high at 95 percentile and above. There are some top ranked MBA colleges that have CAT cut offs in 70-80 percentiles too. Presented below are CAT 2025 cut off percentiles for General category students for admission to some of the top MBA colleges (non-IIM) in 2025.

Top MBA College	*CAT 2025 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

*Note: These cut offs are based on previous years' trends. CAT cut offs for upcoming session can be higher.

Check out: Latest CAT Question Papers for Download

List of MBA Colleges - CAT Cut Off Percentile Range

More than 1,300 MBA colleges accept the CAT score. Every college determines CAT cut off for admission individually. You can check the college you are likely to get with your CAT percentile from the links given in the below tbale.

Colleges Accepting CAT percentile from 60-70	Colleges Accepting CAT percentile from 70-80
Colleges Accepting CAT percentile from 80-90	Colleges Accepting CAT percentile above 85
Colleges Accepting CAT percentile from 50-60	Got a Low Score in CAT, Don't Fret You Can Still Get a Good MBA College

Check CAT cut offs and predict calls from IIMs and Non-IIMs accepting CAT score for admission. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and Eligibility of all CAT participating colleges by clicking the link below:

Predict CAT Admission Calls

Commonly asked questions

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

CAT Cut Off 2025: Score vs Percentile

For admission to MBA courses, B-Schools consider CAT percentile. It is calculated from the scaled scores of all test takers. The CAT scaled score is arrived at after normalization of raw scores. Score normalization is done to ensure no candidate across exam shifts has any advantage or disadvantage due to varied difficulty level of the test papers.

A high CAT score may not convert into high percentile if a large number of candidates have scored the same or higher. However, an estimation can be calculated based on number of test takers and difficulty level of CAT exam for that year. Check the table below to know estimated range of CAT score vs CAT percentile 2025 (courtesy IMS India):

Percentile	VARC Score	DILR Score	QA Score	Overall
99.9	51	46	48	122
99.5	44	39	40	103
99	40	34	33	90
98	34	31	30	81
95	30	26	25	70
90	23	19	18	53
85	19	15	16	45
80	17	13	14	40
75	15	11	12	34

Watch video:

Commonly asked questions

Q: 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.

Q: 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.

Q: What is the minimum CAT marks to appear for IIM selection round?

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 80 percentile.

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Previous Years' CAT Cut Off of Top IIMs

Here are previous years CAT cut offs for some of the IIMs. This data has been obtained from official website and through RTI. Over the years, the CAT cut offs have increased for these IIMs.

CAT 2019 Cut Off

IIM Bodh Gaya's CAT cut off percentiles in 2019 was 91 percentile for General category. Check the table below for CAT sectional cutoffs for IIM Bodh Gaya's WAT-PI round 2019 for all categories:

IIM Bodh Gaya cut off 2019 for male candidates
Category	Overall CAT cut off	QA	DILR	VARC
General	91	80	80	80
EWS	70	60	60	60
NC-OBC	73	60	60	60
SC	50	45	45	45
ST	38	30	30	30
PWD	35	30	30	30
IIM Bodh Gaya cut off 2020 for female candidates
Category	Overall CAT cut off	QA	DILR	VARC
General	88	75	75	75
EWS	70	55	55	55
NC-OBC	70	60	60	60
SC	50	43	43	43
ST	35	30	30	30

CAT 2018 Cut Off

Given below is the CAT 2018 cut off percentiles of some of the top IIMs on the basis of which candidates were selected for admission:

IIMs	CAT 2018 cut off (percentiles)
IIM Ahmedabad	81.53
IIM Bangalore	90+
IIM Calcutta	95+
IIM Lucknow	90+
IIM Indore	90
IIM Kozhikode	95.5
IIM Rohtak	90+
IIM Trichy	96
IIM Udaipur	90

The category-wise CAT cut offs for previous years (CAT 2017 and CAT 2016) for each of the top IIMs have been mentioned below. These cut off percentiles have been obtained by Shiksha through RTI filed with each IIM.

IIM Ahmedabad CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT 2017 cut off (percentile)	CAT 2016 cut off (percentile)
General	100	100
NC-OBC	100	99.99
SC	99.82	99.97
ST	99.92	99.88
DA	99.28	99.97

IIM Bangalore CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	90.72	92.48
NC-OBC	81.48	81.14
SC	75.22	76.35
ST	70.01	75.22
DA	64.21	76.21

IIM Kozhikode CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95.16	94.82
NC-OBC	80.19	81.14
SC	65.03	65.56
ST	55.28	55.23
DA	56.02	55.86

IIM Indore CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	90.05	90.01
NC-OBC	80.05	80.08
SC	50.19	50.03
ST	60.16	61.38
DA	50.87	50.59

IIM Trichy CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT 2017 cut off (percentile)	CAT 2016 cut off (percentile)
General	95	96
NC-OBC	78 (78.01)	78
SC	60 (60.01)	60
ST	40 (40.01)	42 (42.07)
DA	40 (40.16)	40 (40.19)

IIM Raipur CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95	96
NC-OBC	78.01	78
SC	60.01	60
ST	40.01	42.07
DA	40.16	40.19

IIM Rohtak CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95	96
NC-OBC	78.01	75.36
SC	60.01	65.05
ST	40.01	42.12
DA	40.16	40

IIM Udaipur CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95	96
NC-OBC	78.03	78
SC	64.14	61.16
ST	54.10	46.60
DA	43.46	41.91

IIM Sirmaur CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95	81.23
NC-OBC	78.01	76.54
SC	60.01	69.61
ST	40.01	61.81
DA	40.16	72.81

IIM Nagpur CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	90.09	90.08
NC-OBC	81.89	81.48
SC	65.48	79.78
ST	45.09	73.73
DA	66.4	NA

IIM Vishakhapatnam CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	90.09	90.02
NC-OBC	80.01	80.04
SC	75.03	75.12
ST	56.92	55.26
DA	57.3	59.58

IIM Amritsar CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	94.76	94.9
NC-OBC	85.35	75.09
SC	71.92	55.42
ST	43.19	36.26
DA	35.58	35.33

IIM Sambalpur CAT cut off (2017, 2016)

Category	CAT cut off 2017 (percentile)	CAT cut off 2016 (percentile)
General	95	NA
NC-OBC	78	NA
SC	60	NA
ST	40	NA
DA	40	NA

Commonly asked questions

Q: How many candidates scored 100 percentile in CAT 2025?

In CAT 2025, the number of 100 percentilers was 12. Check state wise data:

Overall Percentile

Total

Gender and Discipline

State wise distribution

100

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

Q: What is the overall difficulty level of CAT exam?

Overall difficulty level of CAT exam has always been moderate to high. CAT is of higher difficulty level than all other MBA entrance exams in India.

Q: What are the minimum qualifying marks for CAT?

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.

CAT Cut Offs 2025: IIM Admission and Selection Criteria

Candidates who will meet the required CAT 2025 cut off will be eligible to apply for WAT/GD-PI round. The IIM selection process includes screening of candidates based on CAT score, WAT/GD-PI round and final selection. Most of the IIMs conducted WAT and PI rounds from February to April while 'offer of admission' letters are issued to successful candidates in May.

On receiving invitation for WAT/GD-PI round, the candidate must present the following documents for confirming participation:

Original and self-attested photocopies of marksheets of Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation.
Original and self-attested photocopies of caste/class and/or disability certificate in case of SC, ST, NC-OBC and PwD candidates.
Candidates appearing for the final-year bachelor's degree exam or equivalent must present an original certificate from the Principal/Registrar/Director of the university/institution certifying that the candidate has obtained a minimum of 50 per cent aggregate or equivalent (45 per cent in case of the candidates belonging to SC, ST, and PwD categories) based on latest available grades/marks.

Commonly asked questions

Q: 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

Q: 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.

Q: What is the CAT PI shortlist fee for IIMs?

There is no CAT PI shortlist for IIMs. Candidates have to simply login with their CAT credentials and fill the PI shortlist form.

FAQs on IIM CAT Cutoff

Find some important FAQs related to IIM CAT cutoffs:

Q: Is CAT cutoff higher for non-IIMs?

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

Q: Which are the top private MBA colleges accepting 85 percentile in CAT?

The top private B-schools with CAT cutoff of 85 percentile are listed below:

Goa Institute of Management
LIBA Chennai
Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai
TAPMI Manipal
KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research Mumbai
BITS Pilani Department of Management Studies
IMI Delhi

Q: What is the IIM WAT/PI process?

Written Ability Test or WAT is a 30-minute essay-writing test on topics from fields like socio-political, economic and business affairs, sports, etc. PI refers to Personal Interview held on the same day as WAT. The WAT-PI round of all IIMs is conducted after CAT result declaration. The shortlisting for WAT-PI is done on the basis of CAT cut off, which is fixed by the institutes. The IIM cut offs range between 95-100 percentile, which means candidates scoring in this range get shortlisted for WAT-PI. The CAT cut offs for Reserved category students are lower. In the WAT round, candidate has to write a short essay of about 250 words on a given topic. The topics can be from any field. For example, one candidate at IIM Ahmedabad got 'writer was facing some health issues, he got cured because of laughing' as a WAT topic this year. The purpose of Written Ability Test is to assess the candidate's general awareness, clarity of ideas and ability to make a convincing argument. The Personal Interview or PI is all about personality assessment. In PI, a panel of professors and admission officials meet the candidates one by one. They assess the on their knowledge, confidence, communication skills, managerial skills and leadership qualities, etc.

Q: What is IIM CAP process?

IIM CAP is a common selection process for newer Iims. Under the CAP candidates eligible for admission to the nine new Iims - IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Kashipur, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Jammu, IIM Ranchi, IIM Trichy and IIM Udaipur are shortlisted for What-PI round by a single IIM, the one who is given the responsibility to conduct the CAP round in a particular academic year. CAT cut offs, admission parameters and their weightage are same for all CAP Iims. The participating Iims send the list of candidates shortlisted by them for the What-PI process to the institute conducting CAP. The CAP conducting IIM conducts the What-PI round for all the participating Iims. The IIM CAP conducting institute then share the What-PI scores and results of the candidates with the participating institutes. Those institutes then prepare the final shortlist for admission. Those who are selected for admission are informed by the Iims via email. The offer of admission is sent to selected candidates which they have to accept within the given time limit. For more details of IIM CAP, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/what-is-iim-cap-know-admission-process-selection-criteria-and-participating-institutes-blogId-51225.

Q: Which MBA college accepting 85 percentile in CAT has the lowest fee?

The MBA institute with an 85 percentile CAT cutoff that has the lowest fee is Delhi School of Economics. The fee is INR 30,000 for two years. The course fee is low in this institute because it is a government aided institution. DSE is a highly reputed for Economics and MBA programmes and provides excellent placement opportunities to its students.

Q: Apart from the CAT percentile, what are the other factors that are considered for the final admission in MBA?

Apart from the CAT scores, B-schools consider candidates' written and spoken communication skills through Written Ability Test or Essay Writing, Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds. The B-schools also consider candidates' overall profile such as past academic records, work experience and extracurricular activities or abilities. Candidates Class 12 scores and overall academic profile plays a decisive role in selection as institutes look for consistency in excellence.

Q: Which are some of the top MBA colleges for 85 percentile in CAT?

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

Q: Does every CAT accepting college conduct GD/PI?

Yes, the CAT accepting MBA colleges conduct either GD/PI or WAT/PI. Since MBA is a professional course about business and team management, personality assessment round is essential to ensure that the aspirant has the flair for management which can be polished during the programme. Communication skills, problem solving ability, management and leadership are essential qualities for MBA thus, every B-School conducts GD/PI or WAT/PI.

Q: Is securing the CAT cutoff enough to get an admission offer from an MBA institute?

No, securing a high CAT percentile is not enough for admission. One has to clear the selection process round too, like WAT and PI.

Q: What is the CAT admission process for non-IIMs?

CAT admission process for non-IIMs includes Written Ability Test (WAT) or Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI). For admission the institutes also take into consideration candidate's academic record and work experience. Overall, the admission process of all CAT accepting colleges is same where selection is based on candidate's overall personality, communication ability and consistency in academics.

Q: Which IIMs accept the CAT score of 85 percentile?

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.