Best Colleges accepting CAT Score in India

There are approximately 1,550+ MBA colleges in India accepting CAT scores. Of these,  1,077 colleges are privately owned, 177 colleges are owned by public/government organisations, and public-private entities own 7 MBA colleges. CAT is the most accepting entrance exam in top MBA colleges in India. IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, Indian Institute of Management Mumbai, etc. are some of the top MBA colleges that accept CAT score in India.

Here are the best MBA colleges in India that accept CAT:

Top Colleges	NIRF 2023 Rank	NIRF 2024 Rank	NIRF 2025 Rank
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad Ranking	1	1	1
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore Ranking	2	2	2
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode Ranking	3	3	3
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi Ranking	5	4	4
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow Ranking	6	7	5
IIM Mumbai Ranking	7	6	6
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta Ranking	4	5	7
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore Ranking	8	8	8
Management Development Institute Ranking	13	11	9
Symbiosis International, Pune Ranking	17	13	11

Disclaimer: This info. is taken from the official website and may differ.

Joining the best MBA colleges accepting CAT scores in India can be worthwhile for you. For that, you need to check its ROI. Listed below are some of the colleges along with their tuition fees and average placement package:

College Names	Total Tuition Fee	Annual Average Package
IIM Ahmedabad MBA	INR 25 lakh	INR 20 LPA - INR 32 LPA
IIM Bangalore MBA	INR 25 lakh	INR 33 LPA
IIM Indore MBA	INR 17 Lacs - INR 20 lakh	INR 22 LPA - INR 27 LPA
IIM Kozhikode MBA	INR 18 Lacs – INR 21 lakh	INR 25 LPA – INR 27 LPA
IIM Lucknow MBA	INR 13 lakh	INR 30 LPA

 

CAT score is valid for one year at the IIMs and top B-Schools. In some tier 3 and government institutions, CAT score of previous two years are also acceptable. Many B-schools including IIMs have an option of deferment of admission, wherein you can confirm your admission and pay the nominal fee but join the batch in the next year. It is advised that candidates take admission in the same year as their CAT attempt so that they don't have to reappear next year. Given the competition in MBA space, it is difficult to get a good college whether you have a low score or average score. So, incase one is getting a good college, they should take admission and not drop a year to appear for CAT again.

The average package offered during IIM Ahmedabad PGP placements 2025 was 35.22 LPA. In 2024 and 2023, the average package was 33.23 LPA and 34.45 LPA.

It is estimated that joining the top B Schools accepting CAT scores in India can be affordable as most colleges have tuition fees between INR 1-2 lakh. Listed below are some of the affordable colleges having tuition fees of less than INR 1 lakh:

Low-cost MBA Colleges	Tuition Fees
PSGCT Coimbatore	INR 35,000
Tezpur University	INR 24,000 - INR 63,000
GJUST	INR 58,000
Calcutta University	INR 33,000
Institute of Management Studies, BHU	INR 99,000

College Names	Annual Average Package	Top Recruiters
IIM Ahmedabad Placement	INR 20 LPA - INR 32 LPA	Tata Steel, NPCI, Jio Financial Services, Axis Bank, etc.
IIM Bangalore Placement	INR 33 LPA	Accenture, EY, American Express, Infosys, Oliver, etc.
IIM Indore Placement	INR 22 LPA - INR 27 LPA	Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte India, EY, Infosys Consulting, KPMG, etc.
IIM Kozhikode Placement	INR 25 LPA – INR 27 LPA	Accenture, Amazon, Microsoft, Deloitte, TCS, HCL, Cognizant, etc.
IIM Lucknow Placement	INR 30 LPA	Adobe, TCS, Infosys, ITC Limited, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, etc.

The table below shows the best government colleges accepting CAT scores in India along with their total tuition fees:

Public/Government Colleges	Total Tuition Fee
IIM Ahmedabad Admission	INR 25 lakh
IIM Bangalore Admission	INR 25 lakh
IIM Indore Admission	INR 17 Lacs - INR 20 lakh
IIM Kozhikode Admission	INR 18 Lacs – INR 21 lakh
IIM Lucknow Admission	INR 13 lakh

 

If you have a very good CAT score but poor academic record it is quite likely that you may not be shortlisted for top IIMs as the institutes prefer candidates with overall consistency in academics. Class 12 scores holds a lot of importance in shortlisting of candidates for WAT-PI.

As per the tentative schedule released on the official wesbite, DMS IIT Delhi Personal Interviews and post admission process dates are tabulated below:  

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
11 Mar '24 - 14 Mar '24	Personal Interview
First Week of May 2024	Declaration of Admission Results
5 Jul '24	Post Admissions Process - Registration of New Students
8 Jul '24 - 19 Jul '24	Orientation of New Students

The general eligibility criteria to get MBA admission in India that accept CAT scores are listed below:

• Candidates should have a bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification in any discipline from a recognised university or institution with a minimum of 50% aggregate.
• MBA colleges in India consider scores from national-level entrance exams such as Candidates are required to meet the minimum cutoff scores set by the respective colleges.

Preparing for CAT 2024?

• Click to practice Q&A for Verbal Ability and Q&A for Quantitative Aptitude.
• Click here for Q&A4 Article

Yes CAT syllabus is difficult to crack if you do not have enough time. There are three subjects in CAT- VARC, DILR and Quantitative Aptitude. Most of candidates find RC passages tough to crack. In Quants, Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry pose significant challenge during preparation. In DILR, Reasoning questions often turnout to be tricky and confusion. 

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 2- Delhi 1- Haryana 1-Kerala 5- Maharashtra 1- Odisha 1- Rajasthan 2- Telangana
CAT 2023	14	1 – Andhra Pradesh 1 - Delhi 1 – Gujarat 1 – Jammu & Kashmir 1 - Karnataka 1 - Kerala 4 – Maharashtra 1 – Tamil Nadu 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh
CAT 2022	11	2 - Delhi 1 - Gujarat 1 - Haryana 1 - Kerala 1 - Madhya Pradesh 2 - Maharashtra 2 - Telangana 1 - Uttar Pradesh

 

The cost of IIM Indore MBA ranges between INR 17.30 Lacs and INR 35 Lacs as per unofficial sources. However, the fee structure given on IIM Indore official website, the total fee of the PGP course is inclusive of the course fee, alumni fee, medical insurance and mess deposit.

Given below is fee structure of IIM Indore MBA fees, as per the official website for 2023-25 batch:

Particulars	Total Amount (for 2 years)
Course fee	INR 20 lakh
Alumni fee	INR 23, 600
Medical Insuarance	INR 2,716
Refundable Caution Deposit	INR 1 lakh
Mess deposit	INR 1.08 lakh

MDI Gurgaon does not release cutoff list. The eligibility criteria set for admission to MDI Gurgaon follows that, Candidate must have a bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA. Candidate must have scored at least 50% in both Class 10 and 12, and have a valid CAT/GMAT score. In addition to the CAT score, candidates must also perform well in the Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds for final selection. Additionally, MDI Gurgaon does not have any management quota seats.

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.

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.

IIM shortlist is the list of CAT test takers who make it to the second phase of IIM admission process, which is Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI). The IIM shortlist is the list of candidates who are eligible to participate in the WAT-PI rounds of IIMs for MBA admission.

The CAT exam is always conducted in November every year so CAT 2026 will be conducted in November next year. Students can click here to know more about the CAT examination. 

Yes, for Pune University MBA Admission a valid CAT/ MAH CET/ CMAT score is compulsory along with the set minimum eligibility criteria. To be eligible, candidates must have completed an undergraduate degree with at least 50% aggregate (45% aggregate for reserved category candidates). For more information on other MBA accepting exams for SPPU and its affiliated colleges, students are advised to visit the official website of the university or the respective affiliated college.

The highest package offered during IIT KGP placements 2026 was INR 2.44 Crore per Annum.

Tabulated below are the CAT 2026 important dates: 

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
1 August 2025 to 13 September 2025	CAT 2026 registration
4 October to 7 October 2025	CAT 2026 form correction
12 November to 30 November 2025	CAT 2026 admit card download
30 November 2025	CAT 2026
First week of December 2025	CAT 2026 answer key challenge
First week of January 2026	CAT 2026 result announcement

 

The placement rate recorded during SJMSOM IIT Bombay MBA placements 2023 was 100%. Students get a good salary package after completing MBA from a reputed institute like SJMSOM. The highest package and average package offered during SJMSOM IIT Bombay MBA placements 2023 stood at INR 54 LPA and INR 28.88 LPA, respectively. The top recruiters of SJMSOM IIT Bombay in 2023 included leading companies such as GEP, HUL, Google, Accenture, Cargill, etc. 

The total tuition fee for the MBA programme at IIM is inclusive of admission fees, caution deposits, and charges for many facilities offered at IIM Raipur during the programme. Although, the total tuition fee for the MBA course at IIM Raipur is collated from unofficial sources. The total tuition fee for the MBA programme at IIM Raipur ranges somewhere between INR 8 Lacs to INR 14.2 lakh. Hence, it is indicative, that candidates can refer to the institute’s official website for more details on the same.

IIFT Delhi MBA eligibility criteria can slightly vary based on the selected programme. However, the minimum requirement is that the candidate should be a graduate from a recognised university in any stream. Mentioned below are other key pointers of IIFT Delhi MBA eligibility:

• MBA IB: Bachelor's degree with at least 50% aggregate (45% for SC/ ST/ PWD)
• MBA IB (Weekend): 

  - Graduation and at least 3 years of work experience in a managerial position as of Jun 30 of the respective admission year

  - Company sponsorship/ NOC from the employer

• MBA BA: Bachelor's degree in any field from a recognised university with at least 50% aggregate or 5.0 CGPA out of 10. Candidate shall have studied Mathematics/ Statistics as one of the subjects.