IIM

Outside of the IIMs, Chandigarh University (CU) is one of the top MBA colleges in India. With a #4 national rank (QS World Rankings 2025) and collaborations with top corporates like IBM, PwC, Adobe, and NSE Academy, CU offers an MBA experience that's modern, practical, and globally relevant. The highest MBA package has hit INR 28 LPA, and students are trained through mock interviews, internships, and real-time projects in state-of-the-art labs. CU also stands out for its merit-based admission via CUCET only—no CMAT required. It's a fantastic IIM-alternative with real career results.

Yes, it is mandatory to qualify CAT for admission to full time MBA programmes offered by the 21 IITs, along with full-time MBA, qualifying CAT score is also required for PGP, FPM, PhD, PhD Executive, Executive MBA, Doctoral Programme, PGPx courses.

Doing PhD in economics from top institution like IITs and IIMs would be a great option.If you want a business and management oriented (applied economics) role go for IIM, while IITs are best suited for research in core economics and quantitative economic research.So the choice is totally dependent upon you field of interest and future goals.

Hope this would be fruitful to decide between the two.

Here are details of various PG courses offered at IIM with duration and fees:

1) Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP/MBA) with a duration of 2 years and fees is approximately Rs. 25 to 35Lakhs .

2)Executive Post Graduate Programmes with a duration of 1 year and fees is approximately Rs. 25 to 30 Lakhs.

3) Post Graduate Programme in Management for Working Executives with a duration of 2 years and fees is approximately Rs. 12 lakhs.

IIM Jammu offers an MBA and an MBA (HA & HM). The fee structure for these two-year programmes comprises tuition fees, caution deposit and other academic/non-academic expenses. The academic/non-academic expenses include Academic Support, Library fees, Hostel fees, etc. Check out the following table presenting the IIM Jammu MBA fee structure:

IIM does not conduct official CAT mock tests for candidates, but it does release a mock guide which can be viewed as official CAT mock test. It is essentially a walk through of what the CAT test form will be for that year. It has section wise questions marking scheme, time limit, etc. just like the actual CAT exam. Candidates must use take the official CAT mock test at least once before the exam.

Your academic grades make it difficult to secure admission into the top six Indian Institutes of Management but they do not prevent you from entering. Contrary to your 10th and 12th percentages which are acceptable you need to address your BCom (Hons) CGPA score of 6.8/10. The top 6 IIMs demand candidates to hold CGPA scores between 7.5 and 8.0. Your candidacy remains possible even when your CAT score reaches high standings above 99 percentile coupled with impressive performance during personal interviews. You need to reach above the cutoff limits in both quant and DI and particularly in these areas to secure admission.

Here are some national level entrance test for MBA specialised in sale and marketing - 

• CAT (Common Admission Test)
• XAT (Xavier Aptitude Test)
• MAT (Management Aptitude Test)
• CMAT (Common Management Admission Test)
• SNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test)
• IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade)

For the candidates interested in digital marketing - 

OMCP (Online Marketing Certified Professional) Exams.