CAT Cut off (2024-2021): Check CAT Cutoffs for IIMs and Top MBA Colleges

Exam On - 30 Nov '25

Updated on Oct 28, 2025 16:25 IST

By Vipra Shrivastava, Senior Manager - Content

CAT cut offs remain high (99+ percentile) for top IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow and IIM Kozhikode, every year. For General/NC-OBC category students the CAT cutoff percentile for top IIMs is around 98-100 percentile; for SC/ST/PwD category candidates the cut offs are lower. For non-IIMs, the CAT cutoff is usually in the range of 94-100 percentile.

In Tier 2 MBA colleges, CAT cut offs are usually around 70-80 percentile and above and in Tier 3 MBA colleges the CAT cut offs are usually around 60-70 percentile and above. CAT 2024 cutoffs were in the same range for these colleges. CAT 2025 cut offs are expected to be in the same range. The institutes fix admission cut offs on the basis of overall perfomance of candidates in the CAT exam. The cut offs will be available after the declaration of CAT 2025 result.

Table of content

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

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: Are CAT cut offs announced along with the CAT result?

CAT cut-offs are not announced along with the CAT result. The cut-offs are also not released publicly. They are known after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs will open the shortlist 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 2025 Exam Dates & Schedule

Take a look at the table below for the complete schedule of CAT 2025 exam

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
Dec ' 25	CAT 2025 answer key challenge TENTATIVE
Dec ' 25	CAT 2025 result announcement TENTATIVE

CAT Cut Offs for IIM Admission

The CAT qualifying cut offs are released by the IIMs before CAT exam. IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow have released their qualifying cut offs for 2026 batch. IIM Ahmedabad CAT cut off has increased from 80 percentile to 95 percentile, whereas IIM Lucknow's CAT cut off remains the same as last year.

IIM	Qualifying CAT cut offs
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?

The CAT qualifying cut off is the minimum score required by a candidate to be eligible for selection to the WAT-PI round. Which means a candidate who has scored as much or above the final cut off score can apply for IIM PI round but may not be selected.

The qualifying CAT cut off is much lower than the final cut off, basis which a candidate is actually shortlisted for the PI round. 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 are released after the announcement of CAT result. Presented below are the estimated CAT cut off percentiles for General category students for admission to the top 21 IIMs. The below mentioned cut offs are the estimated final cut offs on the basis of which the candidates will be called for the interview round. Please note that for General category students the CAT cut offs remain high every year (98-100) but for reserved category students, there is considerable relaxation in minimum percentile required.

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.

MBA in Food and Agri Business Management : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

Specializations Down Arrow Icon

Rounds

MBA in Food and Agri Business Management : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2023	2024
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	99	99
IIM Lucknow - Indian Institute of Management	97	97

MBA in Food and Agri Business Management in IIMs : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India) Accordion Icon V3

MBA in Food and Agri Business Management in IIMs : CAT 2024 Overall Percentile (General-All India)

College	2022	2023	2024
IIM Ahmedabad - Indian Institute of Management	– / –	99	99
IIM Lucknow - Indian Institute of Management	97	97	97

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

The CAT 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 the CAT cut off percentiles for General category students for admission to some of the top MBA colleges (non-IIM) in 2025.

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

*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

CAT Cut Off 2025: Score vs Percentile

For admission to MBA courses, B-Schools consider CAT percentile which is calculated from the scaled scores of all test takers. CAT scaled score is not the same as raw CAT score. It is the score arrived at after normalisation of the raw scores of all candidates across exam slots. This is done to ensure that every candidate's performance across the exam sessions are judged on the same scale and no one gets the advantage of solving an easier CAT test form or the disadvantage of solving a tougher test form.

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 scores vs CAT percentile (courtesy IMS India):

CAT Percentile	VARC Score	DILR Score	QA Score	Overall
99.9	50	46	46	118-123
99.5	42	40	41	103-108
99	38	37	33	92-95
98	28	30	22	69-72
95	23	27	16	57-59
90	20	21	13	47-49
85	18	19	12	42-44
80	15	17	10	39-40
75	14	14	9	34-36

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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

CAT Cut Offs: IIM Admission and Selection Criteria

Candidates who meet the required CAT cut off are 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. Nine new IIMs have a common admission process called IIM CAP.

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.

FAQs Regarding CAT Cut Offs

Check below Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to CAT cut offs

Commonly asked questions

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: 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: 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.