CAT 2026 : Cutoffs

CAT 2026 cut off marks indicate the lowest percentile required for moving further in the admission process of the IIMs and other prestigious MBA colleges. Cut-offs are fixed by each institute and vary from year to year.

Various factors affect the cut-off score such as difficulty level of the test, number of applicants, available seats, and prestige of the institute. There are different cut-offs for different courses and categories too.

Two Different Cutoffs That One Should Be Aware Of

It creates confusion among most of the applicants, but we should clarify it.

• Qualifying cut off: Minimum percentile to be eligible. This cut off mark is always relatively low – it could be 80-85 percentile.
• Cut-off for final call: Percentile from which actual call letters would start coming. This is the critical one and always quite high.

Suppose an IIM announces a qualifying cut off of 85 percentile. In actual practice, call letters are sent only to those candidates who are scoring above 98 or 99 percentile.

CAT 2026 Category-Wise Cutoff Trend (Expected)

Category	Expected Percentile Range
General	90–99
EWS	85–95
OBC-NCL	80–90
SC	65–75
ST	55–65
PwD	50–60

Expected CAT 2026 Cutoff for Top IIMs (General Category)

These are the percentiles at which interview calls realistically begin:

IIM	Expected Call Percentile
IIM Ahmedabad	99+
IIM Bangalore	99+
IIM Calcutta	99+
IIM Lucknow	97–99
IIM Indore	97–99
IIM Kozhikode	96–99
IIM Shillong	95+
New IIMs (Ranchi, Rohtak, Trichy, Amritsar)	93–96
Baby IIMs (Sambalpur, Sirmaur, Jammu)	85–92

Note: IIM Ahmedabad has raised its qualifying cutoff from 80 to 95 percentile for the 2026–28 batch. Reserved category candidates have lower cutoffs across all IIMs.

Expected Cutoff for Top Non-IIMs

Institute	Expected Cutoff (Percentile)
FMS Delhi	98–99+
JBIMS Mumbai	98–99+
MDI Gurgaon	95–97
SPJIMR Mumbai	85+ (profile-based), 95+ overall
IMT Ghaziabad	90–92
XIMB	90+
IITs (MBA)	90–96

Sectional Cutoffs: The Silent Disqualifier

This is where most potential candidates miss out. The majority of IIMs have different cutoff scores for every section, which include VARC, DILR, and QA. All three sections and the total cutoff have to be cleared by the candidate.

Thus, even a score of 99 percentile in the total marks will not help you out if you miss the DILR sectional cutoff. If you are applying to the top IIMs, then your target should be to score a balanced score of 85 percentile or more in every section.

Previous Years' CAT Cutoffs for Top IIMs

Cutoffs at the top IIMs have stayed consistently high over the years. Here's how they've trended.

CAT 2025 Cutoff

IIMs and other top B-schools have different CAT cutoffs for MBA admission. Check out the overall CAT cutoff for IIMs.

Name of the IIMs	IIM Cut off 2025
IIM Ahmedabad	95
IIM Bangalore	85
IIM Calcutta	85
IIM Lucknow	90
IIM Indore	90
IIM Kozhikode	85
IIM Amritsar	90
IIM Nagpur	85
IIM Sambalpur	90
IIM Trichy	92.5
IIM Raipur	90
IIM Ranchi	90

Process of IIM Admissions & Selection

After CAT 2026 result is declared, the IIMs start the admission process. In case you qualify the cut off, you will be called for further rounds.

The selection process of most of the IIMs consists of three steps:

• Short listing on the basis of your CAT score.
• WAT / GD-PI round – Written ability test, Group discussion and Personal interview.
• Final selection on the basis of composite score.

There is something to note here. Qualifying for cut-off just means that you have earned a call but no guarantee of a seat. The final offer will depend on your composite score, which will consist of your CAT percentile, academics (10th, 12th and graduation), work experience, and your interview score. In some of the IIMs, CAT will carry only 30-55% weightage.

So, two candidates with same percentile will get extremely different outcomes.

Required Documents for the WAT / GD-PI Round

Have these documents ready if you receive a call:

• Original and self attested copies of your Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation mark sheets.
• Original and self attested copies of caste or disability certificate (if any).

Students in final year require a certificate issued by your institute stating that you have scored minimum of 50% aggregate marks (45% for SC/ST/PWD candidates).