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.

IIM-A's PGP course which leads to a Master’s degree in Business Administration is IIMA’s flagship programme for more than fifty-five years and is among the top-ranked programmes in the world for many years. Ranked 1 by NIRF 2022 for Management education, experts consider MBA at IIM-A as one of the toughest programmes to get into. Additionally, during placements in 2022, the highest and average package of IIM Ahmedabad stood at INR 61.48 LPA and INR 32.79 LPA, respectively, and 100% of the students got placement opportunities from companies, such as Bain, Amazon and Google. Thus, it isn't just worth but pursuing MBA from IIM-A is the best option in India. 

Find below the reviews by MBA students of IIM Ahmedabad:

 

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

 

Yes, you can apply for CAT. The main criteria of eligibility for CAT is graduation from a recognised university. So, whether the education mode is full-time or correspondence, if the university is recognised by the UGC, the candidates will be eligible to appear for the CAT exam.

The total tuition fee of the MBA programme at DMS IIT Delhi is INR 11.2 lakh. During the MBA placements of 2023 at DMS IIT Delhi, the top and median salary packages reached INR 41.13 LPA and INR 24.45 LPA respectively. Additionally, the average package for freshers was INR 25.82 LPA as part of the same placements.  Considering the total cost of tuition and the package secured after the completion of the course this seems to be a good return on the investment. To get admission to the MBA course provided by tha college, candidates must clear CAT. Give as many CAT mock tests as possible. 

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. 

CAT 2026 exam will be held on November 29, 2026. Official announcement of the exam and registration schedule will be announced in the last week of July 2026.

As per the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2024, both IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad ranked among the top 5 IIMs for their MBA course. However, IIM Ahmedabad tops the list, while IIM Calcutta ranked at fifth spot. Talking about IIM Calcutta placements 2024, it has recorded 100% placements for its flagship PGP (MBA) programme. 

The highest package offered during IIM Calcutta MBA placements 2024 stood at INR 1.2 crore per annum. Talking about IIM Ahmedabad placements in 2023, the average domestic package stood at INR 34.36 LPA. The highest package stood at INR 115 LPA. So, considering the rankings, IIM Ahmedabad shall be a better option in comparison to IIM Calcutta, but placements are good at IIM Kolkata.

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

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.

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

 

There is no pattern to which CAT question paper can be the toughest. The CAT question paper of every slot has unique questions. The examination body strives to maintain the same difficulty level of the paper across all slots but it may happen that a question can be more difficult from another. It is seen that, to keep the uniqueness of the question paper intact, the examination authority also changes the topic wise weightage a little bit across the exam slots. In most of the previous years, it is seen that the morning slot of the CAT exam is tougher than the rest two. However, candidates must not worry about the difficulty level of the slots as, the scores of all the candidates are normalised on a common scale to root out the possibility of advantage or disadvantage to any student due to difference in difficulty level. To know how the CAT scores are normalised, read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/understanding-cat-normalization-process-blogId-9386.

Gauhati University is a good and famous university. The accepted entrance exams are MAT, XAT, CAT, CMAT, and others. Students must prepare in advance for these entrance exams. Read the MAT preparation guidelines, study the MAT exam pattern, and study from MAT reference books and study material. Gauhati University is ranked 88 by NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2023 under the University category. Hence, it is a good and famous university that offers scholarships and placement assistance to students. The university is also famous for its infrastructure and the various facilities it offers to students.

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.

In the recent placements at DoMS IIT Madras witnessed 100% placements with the highest and average package offered to MBA students stood at INR 30.60 and INR 20.19 LPA, respectively. As per the placement brochure 2023, the median package offered to MBA students stood at INR 20.40 LPA. Moreover, 26 companies participated in the MBA placement process and presented 42% PPOs to the students.

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 fee of the MBA for General/ OBC category candidates is between INR 4 lakh - INR 21.77 lakh. Admissions are based on entrance exam scores and various other rounds. Candidates must thoroughly go through the IIFT Syllabus, must have knowledge of the IIFT exam pattern, and must check the IIFT exam analysis for a clear understanding.