CAT Cut-Off 2025: Qualifying vs Final Cut-Offs for IIMs & Top B-Schools

Updated on July 22, 2025 Written By Wasia Zaidi

CAT Cut-Off 2025: Qualifying vs Final Cut-Offs for IIMs & Top B-Schools

The CAT cut-off for 2025 is one of the most prominent parameters for admission to the best B-schools in India. It is the minimum percentile that a candidate needs to secure in the Common Admission Test (CAT) in order to be considered for the next level of the selection process which typically comprises group discussions, written ability tests and personal interviews. The cut-offs differ from institute to institute based on various parameters like the level of difficulty of the exam, the number of candidates who have appeared, the number of seats available and the overall performance of the candidates.

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Premier institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), SPJIMR, MDI Gurgaon and others usually have high cut-offs usually above the 95 or 99 percentile level for general category applicants. These cut-offs however, are marginally eased off for reserved category applicants. Further, some institutes also have sectional cut-offs which applicants have to achieve minimum scores in every section of the CAT exam VARC, DILR and QA as well as the overall cut-off.

Knowing these cut-off trends is important for aspirants to make realistic goals, strategise their preparation and target the correct institutes based on their predicted performance.

CAT Cut-Off 2025 Qualifying vs Final Cut-Offs for IIMs & Top B-Schools

Major Factors that Decide CAT Exam 2025 Cut-Off

Factors that decide the CAT exam cut-off are as follows:

Difficulty of the CAT exam question paper.
Number of students who took the test.
Availability of Seats.
College Ranking.
Past year cut-off trends.

CAT Qualifying Cut-Offs vs Final Cut-Offs

1. Qualifying Cut-Off (Minimum Eligibity Criteria):

It is the lowest percentile specified by an institute for students to be eligible to receive shortlisting for the subsequent round (WAT-PI or GD-PI).
It is normally stated in the official admission policy of the B-schools.
Achieving this cut-off is not a surety of receiving the interview call.
These are typically lower, particularly for the reserved categories.

Example: IIM Ahmedabad can state a qualifying cut-off of 85 aggregate for the General category.

2. Final Cut-Off (Actual Shortlist Cut-Off):

This is the precise percentile at which applicants are selected for further admissions processes, including the Personal Interview (PI), Group Discussion (GD), and Written Ability Test (WAT).
It is typically much higher than the qualifying cut-off.
It fluctuates from year to year based on factors such as difficulty of the exam, number of candidates and availability of seats.
Final cut-offs are usually not announced officially but are deduced by trends.

Example: Even if the cut-off for IIM Ahmedabad to qualify is 85, the shortlisting may occur at 99+ percentile for General category.

Particulars	CAT Qualifying Cut-off	CAT Final Cut-off
What’s the purpose	Minimum Eligibility	Actual Shortlisting of the Candidates
Is it declared officially?	Yes, in admission policies	Not usually (mostly based on the trends)
Call from colleges guaranteed?	No	Yes, if the candidates meet the final cut-off
Who sets these cut-offs?	Institutes only	Institutions according to the received applications

IIMs Percentile for CAT 2024

IIMs	CAT 2024 Percentile	IIMs	CAT 2024 Percentile
IIM Ahmedabad	99	IIM Nagpur	94
IIM Bangalore	99	IIM Ranchi	94
IIM Lucknow	97	IIM Sirmaur	92
IIM Kozhikode	97	IIM Tiruchirappalli	94
IIM Mumbai	97	IIM Bodh Gaya	94
IIM Calcutta	99	IIM Raipur	94
IIM Indore	97	IIM Sambalpur	92
IIM Kashipur	95	IIM Jammu	91
IIM Udaipur	96	IIM Shillong	92
IIM Rohtak	96	IIM Visakhapatnam	92
IIM Amritsar	90

IIMs (Indian Institute of Management): Qualifying CAT 2025 Cut-offs

CAT Qualifying Cut-off 2025: IIM Kozhikode

Category	SSC/10th percentage	HSC/12th percentage	CAT Sectional percentile	CAT Overall percentile
ST/PwD	55	55	45	55
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)/OBC-NC	60	60	65	75
SC	55	55	55	65
General	60	60	75	85

CAT Qualifying Cut-off 2025: IIM Ahmedabad

Category	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall Percentile
PwD (General, NC-OBC-cum-transgender, SC)	60	60	60	70
PwD (ST)	50	50	50	60
NC-OBC-cum-transgender	65	65	65	75
SC	60	60	60	70
ST	50	50	50	60
General	70	70	70	80

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Calcutta

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Overall percentile
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	≥55	≥55	≥55	≥65
NC-OBC	≥65	≥65	≥70	≥75
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	≥65	≥65	≥70	≥75
General	≥75	≥80	≥80	≥85
ST	≥55	≥55	≥55	≥65
SC	≥60	≥60	≥65	≥70

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Bangalore

Category	VARC	DILR	Quant	Overall percentile
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	50	50	50	60
NC-OBC	70	70	70	75
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	70	70	70	75
SC	60	60	60	70
General	80	80	80	85
ST	55	55	55	65

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Lucknow

Category	PGP				PGP-ABM and PGP-SM
Category	QA	VARC	DILR	Total	DILR	VARC	QA	Total
Other backwards classes - Non-creamy layer OBC-NC	77	77	77	82	72	72	72	77
	50	50	50	60	50	50	50	55
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	77	77	77	82	72	72	72	77
SC	55	55	55	65	55	55	55	65 for ABM 60 for SM
General	85	85	85	90	80	80	80	85
ST	50	50	50	60	50	50	50	55

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Kashipur

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Overall percentile
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	>=32.5	>=32	>=25	>=40
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	>=40	>=40	>=40	>=70
Scheduled Castes (SC)	>=35	>=35	>=35	>=54
General	>=70	>=70	>=70	>=92
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	>=32.5	>=32	>=25	>=40
NC-OBC	>=45	>=45	>=45	>=74

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Mumbai

Category	VARC	DILR	QA	Overall
ST	>=55	>=55	>=55	>=65
EWS	>=70	>=65	>=65	>=75
Other backward classes—Non-creamy layer OBC-NC	>=70	>=65	>=65	>=75
Open	>=80	>=80	>=75	>=85
SC	>=65	>=60	>=60	>=70
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	>=45	>=45	>=45	>=55

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Ranchi

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
DAP	32.5	25	25	40
EWS	40	40	40	70
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	32.5	25	25	40
NC-OBC	45	45	45	74
Scheduled Castes (SC)	35	35	35	54
General	70	70	70	92

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Udaipur

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32.5	25	25	40
General	70	70	70	92
Other backward classes - Non-creamy layer OBC-NC	45	45	45	74
SC	35	35	35	54
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	40	40	40	70
ST	32.5	25	25	40

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Jammu

Category	VARC		DILR		QA		Total
Category	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
EWS	40	40	40	40	40	40	68	65
Persons with Disabilities(PwD)	25	25	25	25	32.5	32.5	37	34
NC-OBC	45	45	45	45	45	45	72	70
Scheduled Castes (SC)	35	35	35	35	35	35	52	50
General	65	65	65	65	65	65	90	87
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	25	25	25	25	32.5	32.5	37	34

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Raipur

Category	Quant	DILR	VARC	Total
NC-OBC	45	45	45	74
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32.5	25	25	40
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	40	40	40	70
SC	35	35	35	54
ST	32.5	25	25	40
General	70	70	70	92

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Vishakhapatnam

Category	VARC	DILR	QA	Total
SC	40	40	40	45
NC-OBC	63	63	63	72
General	70	70	70	80
ST	30	30	30	35
Persons with Disabilities(PwD)	30	30	30	35
EWS	63	63	63	72

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Bodh Gaya

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32.5	25	25	40
EWS	40	40	40	70
NC-OBC	45	45	45	74
General	70	70	70	92
SC	35	35	35	54
ST	32.5	25	25	40

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Sirmaur

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Other backward classes - Non-creamy layer OBC-NC	>=45	>=45	>=45	74
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	>=32.5	>=25	>=25	40
EWS	>=40	>=40	>=40	70
ST	>=32.5	>=25	>=25	40
SC	>=35	>=35	>=35	54
General	>=70	>=70	>=70	92

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Sambalpur

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	40	40	40	70
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32.5	25	25	40
NC-OBC	45	45	45	74
Scheduled Castes (SC)	35	35	35	54
General	70	70	70	92
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	32.5	25	25	40

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Amritsar

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Persons with Disabilities(PwD)	35	35	35	40
EWS	80	75	75	85
Non Creamy Other Backward Classes (NC- OBC)	65	60	60	75
Scheduled Castes (SC)	55	50	50	55
General	80	75	75	85
Scheduled Tribes (ST)	35	35	35	40

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Indore

Category	DILR	VARC	QA	Total
Schedule Caste - (SC)	55	55	55	60
Persons with Disabilities - (PwD)	40	40	40	45
NC-OBC	70	70	70	80
Schedule Caste - (ST)	40	40	40	45
General/EWS	80	80	80	90

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Rohtak

Category	CAT Percentile (Overall)
Schedule Caste - (SC)	55
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	30
General	95
NC-OBC	78
Schedule Caste - (ST)	30
EWS	90

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Trichy

Category	QA	DILR	VARC	Total
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	40	40	40	70
Schedule Caste - (ST)	32.5	25	25	40
OBC-NC	45	45	45	74
General	70	70	70	92
Schedule Caste - (SC)	35	35	35	54
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32.5	25	25	40

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Shillong

Category	VARC	DILR	QA
Other	75	75	75
Schedule Tribe - (ST)	50	50	50
Schedule Caste - (SC)	60	60	60
Differently Abled	50	50	50
EWS	75	75	75

CAT Qualifying Cut-Off 2025: IIM Nagpur

Category	DILR	VARC	QA	Total
Defence Acquisition Procedure - (DAP)	32	25	32.5	40
Schedule Tribe - (ST)	32	25	32.5	40
Economically Weaker Section - (EWS)	40	40	40	70
OBC-NC	45	45	45	74
Schedule Caste- (SC)	35	35	35	54
General	70	70	70	92

Qualifying CAT cut-off: Indian Institute of Management (IITs)

IITs accepting CAT cut-off	General Category: CAT cut-off	Reserved Category (SC/ST): CAT cut-off
IIT Delhi	90 %ile	60 %ile
IIT Madras	95-96+ %ile	-
IIT Bombay	90 %ile	60 %ile
IIT Kharagpur	90 %ile	75 %ile
IIT Kanpur	80 %ile	55 %ile
IIT Roorkee	90 %ile	70 %ile
IIT Dhanbad (ISM)	80 %ile	-
IIT Jodhpur	Direct Admissions for the candidates with 98 %ile

Other Top Management Institutes CAT Qualifying Cut-Off

List of Institutes	CAT Cut-Off	List of Institutes	CAT Cut-Off
IIT Mumbai	90	FMS Delhi	98
IMI New Delhi	90	SPJIMR	85
IIT Kharagpur	90	IIFT Delhi	98
XIM Bhubaneswar	91	MDI	95
Fore School of Management	85	Great Lakes Institute Of Management	85
IMT Ghaziabad	90	IIT Delhi	90
JBIMS	99	Woxsen University	70

FAQs

What is meant by CAT cutoff?

The CAT cut-off refers to the minimum percentile that candidates must achieve to be considered for the next stage of the MBA admission process such as the Written Ability Test (WAT), Personal Interview (PI) or Group Discussion (GD). These cut-offs differ from one B-school to another and also vary according to candidate categories like General, OBC, SC, ST etc.

For prestigious IIMs like Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta what is the CAT cut-off?

For the top IIMs such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta the qualifying cut-off for general category candidates is generally around the 80 to 85 mark. However, the actual or final cut-off used for shortlisting candidates is significantly higher and typically ranges between the 98 to 100 percentiles. These institutes also look at various other factors such as academic background, diversity and work experience.

Do non-IIM schools also consider CAT scores and their own cut-offs?

Indeed. Besides the IIMs, several other leading B-schools in India use CAT scores for entry. Some of these are FMS Delhi, MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai, IMT Ghaziabad and some of the IITs. All of these have different cut-off percentiles depending on their own choice parameters, which may differ from year to year.

Does crossing the cut-off entail admission or a call from an IIM?

No, being just above the cut-off does not imply any guarantee for admission or even an invitation for the interview stage. It simply indicates that the candidate is in the running. The actual decision to invite a candidate for the next round is made based on various parameters like the candidate's academic performance, category, gender mix, work experience and the respective weightages assigned by the institute to each of these elements.

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CAT Cut-Off 2025: Qualifying vs Final Cut-Offs for IIMs & Top B-Schools