“Nearly 1.20 lakh CAT aspirants have already bought CAT vouchers and we expect the CAT numbers to grow well above 2.50 lakh this year,” said Dr Rohit Kapoor, Convenor, CAT 2013 on September 11 in an interview with MBAUniverse.com.
But the expectations were shattered on September 26, the last day of the online registration for CAT 2013 as this year only about 2 lakh aspirants purchased registration vouchers to appear for CAT exam, which will be held in a 20 day window beginning October 16.
MBAUniverse.com was the first media to report the drop in CAT registrations to 200,000 on 23 Sept 2013.
So what went wrong? Let’s start by taking a historical perspective of CAT application numbers.
The number of CAT takers dipped significantly since the year 2008, when there were 2.76 lakh applicants, and only showed a sign of revival last year in 2012 when the number grew to 2.14 lakh. In 2010 and 2011 the number of CAT applicants was 2.04 lakh and 2.05 lakh respectively. The IIMs had hope to cross 250,000 mark this year but failed significantly as the registration are around 14000 less than last year mark of 2.14 lakh.
This year, the early response to CAT 2013 registration was good. Online sale of CAT Vouchers was more than 55 per cent share of the total CAT vouchers but the demand fizzed out in the last few days of CAT Registrations.
The lower CAT numbers come at a time when the IIMs have also increased their capacity to accommodate more students from this year. The 13 Indian Institutes of Management have altogether added more than hundred seats for admission year 2014, taking the total tally to 3335 seats across 13 IIMs. “This year’s CAT Aspirants will have greater opportunity for admission into the IIMs,” Dr Kapoor said, adding, “Across all IIMs, 115 seats have been added for B-School admissions this year, taking the total number of seats in IIMs to 3,335.”
So what led to this slowdown in CAT 2013 Registration numbers?
The early trend of voucher sales for CAT 2013 indicated a continued revival in CAT applications but the final figures were disappointing. So what lead to the slowdown in CAT numbers? While the topic demands a deeper analysis of the data, the possible reasons are general slowdown in placements, even at the IIMs, and recent rise in the popularity of other key exams like XAT, NMAT and CMAT can also be a reason.
The placement season of 2013 was a rough ride even for the IIMs as they took much longer to place their students. What used to take just a week, took months this year. Many IIMs and leading PGDM B-schools were still to place their students even in May 2013. The batch formally graduates in March or April. Some of the IIMs have even reported a drop in average salary figures. Take for instance IIM Indore, where the average salary was 13.30 Lakhs in 2012, but dropped to Rs 12.10 in 2013. Adjusted for inflation, this is a massive drop in average salary.
Analysis of the rise of applicants in other MBA entrance exams leads to interesting conclusion. In last few years, XLRI XAT has increased its popularity among MBA Aspirants. From 60,316 registrations in 2011, the XAT 2013 registrations grew to 92, 045. So has NMIMS NMAT which increased its registrations from 56,000 in 2011 to 67,000 in 2012.
Also CMAT has grown into the key national test for Tier 2-3 students and B-schools. CMAT September 2012 saw a total of 60,000 registrations while the figure rose to 1, 45,000 in February 2012.
As other exams gain popularity, and become entry points for leading institutions, the relative importance of CAT reduces. For instance, a candidate can today take XAT to reach to tier 1 B-schools, as its used by 75+ B-schools, and can take CMAT to reach Tier 2-3 B-schools with virtually all mid tier B-schools accepting CMAT scores, as one of the five national tests, as per the Supreme Court verdict. This is likely to have led to a drop in CAT numbers.
However, IIM Indore deserves a pat for many positive changes it brought to the CAT exam this year. For instance, IIM Indore introduced Online CAT Registrations for the first time, which provides a lot more convenience to the aspirants. In an earlier interview with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Rohit Kapoor, CAT Convenor said “The online voucher sale has received a good response from the MBA candidates. The online voucher sale has more than 55 per cent share of the total CAT vouchers sold.” IIM Indore has also set up its own team for monitoring CAT registrations unlike the past years where external agencies had been involved in different operations.
Now the focus shifts on delivering a smooth and secure CAT 2013 exam to avoid any mis-happening like inflated CAT scores or technical errors at CAT centers.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news on CAT 2013 and IIMs.
