IIM Ahmedabad tightens CAT Cut-Offs for 2026–28 PGP Admissions: High scores now mandatory for India's B-School Ambition

As a policy shift, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) raised the CAT percentile cut-offs for its highly sought-after Post Graduate Programme (PGP) and PGP-FABM for the 2026–28 batch. The move reflects a better weeding-out process for India's most premium management seat.

Accordinmg to the admission policy of 2026-28, candidates from the General and EWS categories must now score a minimum of 95 percentile overall and at least 85 percentile in each section of the Common Admission Test (CAT)—namely Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA).

"Part of it is to make the shortlisting process more competitive and subtle," Prof Karthik Sriram, Chairperson of Admissions, IIMA, explained. He added that the institute would like to shortlist only the academically most competent candidates to the next rounds—Analytical Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI).

Revised Minimum CAT Percentiles by Category:

General & EWS: 95 overall | 85 in each section

NC-OBC: 90 total | 80 in each section

SC: 85 total | 75 in each section

ST: 75 total | 65 in each section

PwD: 75 total | 65 in each section

ST-PwD: 65 total | 55 in each section

In particular, transgender candidates of the General category will be dealt with according to NC-OBC standards.

Weightage in Final Selection:

Personal Interview (PI): 50%

Analytical Writing Test (AWT): 10%

CAT 2025 Score: 25%

Application Rating (AR – academics & profile): 15%

The CAT 2025 examination is to be held on November 30, 2025, across 170 cities, and the registration window is open until September 13, 2025.

This is bound to increase the intensity of competition among candidates competing for a seat in India's top B-school, since displaying severe scholastic discipline and a good profile will now have higher stakes.