CAT 2015: IIM Sirmaur qualifying percentile score slashed by 16.3; No GD-PI in admission policy

Getting alarmed with the low turnout of candidates seeking admission in the maiden PGP 2015-17 batch, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh has slashed the minimum qualifying percentile in CAT 2015 by 16.3 points. Apart from the overall percentile, the required sectional percentile in CAT 2015 score has also been reduced by 5 points in each section.

First batch with 96.3 CAT percentilers
IIM Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh began its operation from August 2015. Admission criteria for the first PGP 2015-17 batch at IIM Sirmaur required 96.3 overall percentile and a CAT percentile of 80 points in each section. However not many candidates bought this admission policy which called for higher CAT percentile than many older IIMs did not ask for.

As a result, against an intake of 60 candidates IIM Sirmaur could find only 22 candidates who finally took admission at IIM Sirmaur. The difference in the factual and envisioned intake of Ministry of Human Resource Development, GoI,  at IIM Sirmaur is more than 100 students.

It was approved in the Cabinet meeting on June 24, 2015 that IIM Sirmaur as well as all the other 5 new IIMs would have an increased intake of 140 students in their maiden PGP batch 2015-17 instead of 60 as announced earlier.  But none of them could reach this count of students. On the contrary, IIM Sirmaur is running with about 17% of announced intake. Interestingly, MHRD proposes to increase the annual intake of students to reach a level of 560 students each year by the end of 7 years.

Second batch with 80 percentilers  
Realizing that, if the qualifying percentile score in CAT 2015 is kept at the past level, the B-school might not attract too many students, the shortlisting criterion based on CAT 2015 percentile for PGP 2016-18 batch has been brought down to 80 overall and 75 sectional percentile.

IIM Sirmaur: 1st stage shortlisting criteria
Assuming there may not be any change in the intake in PGP 2016-18 batch, the changed shortlisting criteria to generate the merit list at the first stage at IIM Sirmaur for admission to PGP 2016-18 batch viz-a-viz the last year’s policy is as shared below.

It should be remembered that CAT 2015 had 3 sections namely VARC; DILR and Quant as against the 2 sections earlier on Quant & DI, and Verbal Ability & LR.

Weights assigned to generate merit list

Generation of merit list for PGP 2016-18 batch comprises other components also apart from major weightage to CAT 2015 percentile. They are as follows-

Admission policy with no PI round
Another important feature in the admission policy announced by IIM Sirmaur for PGP 2016-18 batch is that it does not include any GD-PI-WAT at the 2nd stage of admission round.

Final Admission offer
The score generated after assigning the weights will be doubled to make it on a scale of 100 and necessary merit list will generated to make final admission offer.

Selection at this stage will be based on the ranks of the candidates computed separately for each category (General/SC/ST/NC-OBC/DAP) on the basis of their Final Scores (FS). The numbers selected in different categories will be in proportions mandated by the law.

No PI round included
Although IIM Sirmaur in its admission process for PGP 2015-17  used PI-WAT scores from IIM Udaipur that coordinated Common Admission Process (CAP) for new IIMs and also assigned separate weights for them in generation of merit list. The admission process and generation of merit list for 2016-18 batch does not include this process nor the admission policy assigns any weight to them.

It is possible that there may not be any separate physical GD; PI or WAT to be conducted further for admission to IIM Sirmaur. It is possible that instead of conducting a separate PI round, IIM Sirmaur may use the WAT & PI scores provided by IIM Kashipur which would be coordinating the Common Admission Process for new IIMs.

IIM Sirmaur become the 15th IIM close on the heels of 14th IIM Nagpur who were the first to launch their websites with relevant information available in public domain ahaead of other new IIMs. IIM Sirmaur is mentored by IIM Lucknow who in the past has successfully mentored two other IIMs – IIM Rohtak and IIM Kashipur.

All activities at IIM Sirmaur will continue to be mentored by IIM Lucknow till it moves to its permanent campus (about 3 years later). During the mentorship period and while IIM Sirmaur's own faculty are recruited, faculty members from IIM Lucknow will be delivering courses at IIM Sirmaur.

IIM Sirmaur: How to reach
Dehradun Railway Station is the nearest major railway station which is about 60 Kms away from the upcoming IIM Sirmaur. The nearest Airport is also Jolly Grant Airport Dehradun although Shimla Airport is also about 100 Kms away.

Campus 
The temporary campus of IIM Sirmaur is situated at Himachal Institute of Technology, Near Dental College, Rampur Ghat Road, Paonta Sahib, Distt Sirmaur, H.P – 173025. Poanta Sahib is an industrial town in the south of Sirmaur district. National Highway 72 goes through this town. The river Yamuna passes through the town.

The site for permanent campus of IIM Sirmaur was finalised months back by the site selection team comprising 3 Central Committee members headed by Mr Shashi Prakash Goyal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD); and members Prof Ashish Nanda, Director, IIM-Ahmedabad and Professor Bharat Bhaskar, Task Force head from IIM-Lucknow. The site for permanent campus of IIM Sirmaur has an appx area of 10000 sq. yards at Daula Kuan in Paonta Sahib Sub Division of Sirmaur District.

Related Article

IIM Sirmaur: Admission process begins with launch of website; confirm interest by June 27

IIM Himachal renamed IIM Sirmaur ; Campus site finalized; first PGP batch to commence in August with 60 students

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