CAT 2026 Convener: Prof Aditya Billore of IIM Indore to Lead CAT 2026; Know Role, Responsibilities of CAT Convener

Who Conducts CAT Exam?
CAT is conducted every year by one of the six older Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), which are IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Lucknow. Although the IIMs have not officially announced a fixed rotation policy, the responsibility for conducting the exam has consistently rotated among these six institutes in last twenty years. 

Last six CAT exams were conducted by IIM Kozhikode (CAT 2025), IIM Calcutta (CAT 2024), IIM Lucknow (CAT 2023), IIM Bangalore (CAT 2022), IIM Ahmedabad (CAT 2021) and IIM Indore (CAT 2020). Based on this pattern, CAT 2026 was expected to be conducted by IIM Indore. The official confirmation was made on the CAT 2026 official website on August 26, 2026. The table below shows the conducting IIM for the last six CAT exams.

What is the Role of CAT Convener?

CAT Convenor is typically a senior faculty member from the convening IIM who is officially appointed to oversee the planning, execution, and administration of the CAT exam. CAT Convenor plays an important role in the conduct of CAT exam as the face of the exam. Specifically, as CAT 2025 Convenor, Prof Aditya Billore shall have following roles and responsibilities: 

1. Overall Responsibility for Conducting CAT
The Convenor is the academic and administrative head of the CAT exam process for that year. As CAT 2026 Convenor, Prof Aditya Billore shall be accountable for the integrity, transparency, and conduct of the exam.

2. Finalizing the CAT Paper Design 
As CAT Convenor, Prof Aditya Billore shall, along with an expert committee, finalize the structure of the CAT exam. This includes number of sections, types of questions, time duration, marking scheme, and any changes in pattern or format. While there are only minor changes in CAT exam from year to year, yet in some years there is a big change. 

3. Coordination with Testing Partners
CAT Convenor works closely with the technical service provider TCS iON to manage online test logistics, center allocation, and smooth exam delivery in hundreds of cities.

4. Ensuring Fairness and Security
The Convenor leads efforts to ensure that the exam is conducted in a secure and standardized manner across all centers, and malpractice is prevented or swiftly dealt with.

5. Public Communication
The CAT Convenor becomes the official face of CAT for that year, issuing press releases, updates on the official website, and answering important queries.

6. Score Normalization & Results Release 
Post-exam, the Convenor supervises the process of score calculation, normalization across sessions, and release of the results.

7. Liaison with All IIMs
The Convenor coordinates with the Admission Committees of all IIMs to ensure that their admission processes are aligned to CAT results.

So, why CAT Convener Matters?
For lakhs of CAT aspirants, the CAT Convenor plays a critical role in shaping their test experience and ensuring a level playing field. The decisions made by the Convenor influence test difficulty, structure, scheduling, communication and other factors. These have a big impact on aspirants’ preparation and mindset.

Who is Prof. Aditya Billore?

Prof. Aditya Billore is a Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management Indore. He earned his PhD (Fellow Programme in Management) from IIM Indore and holds an M.Tech in Microelectronics & VLSI Design and a B.E. in Electronics Engineering from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal. 

With over 13 years of academic experience at IIM Indore, his research focuses on consumer behaviour, digital advertising, and experimental research design. His work has been published in leading journals such as The Marketing Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing, and the International Journal of Electronics. Prof. Billore has also received the Ivey Publishing Bestseller Award (2025) from the Ivey Business School for his contributions to case-based management education.

Prof. Aditya Billore’s domain expertise and professional experience make him well qualified to lead as CAT 2026 Convener.

Past CAT Conveners 
As we prepare for CAT 2026, the contributions of past CAT convenors should be recalled. Here is the list of CAT convenors over the last decade. 

Source: MBAUniverse.com

Some of the key initiatives taken by CAT convenors in the past are:

• CAT 2014 Convenor Dr Rohit Kapoor, faculty at IIM Indore, increased the CAT exam time duration to 3 hours, increased the number of questions to 100 and reduced the testing window to two days.  
• In 2015, CAT Convenor 2015 Prof Tathagat Bandyopadhyay, faculty at IIM Ahmedabad reduced the CAT testing window to single day and two slots of 3 hours each. The number of CAT exam sections were increased to three from earlier two. TITA questions with No penalty of negative marking were introduced for the first time. This pattern is still followed.
• In 2020, due to Covid pandemic, CAT 2020 Convenor Prof Harshal Lowalekar, Faculty at IIM Indore, reduced the number of questions to 76, reduced the CAT time duration to 2 hours and increased the testing slots to 3 from earlier 2.
• In 2021, CAT 2021 Convenor Prof M P Rammohan, faculty at IIM Ahmedabad found that the number of 76 questions for a 2 hour CAT exam was high and reduced the number of questions to 66 to allow more time for the test takers to attempt the test. No change in test duration of 2 hours was made.

Countdown to CAT 2026 has begun…
CAT 2026 exam will be held on November 29, 2025. CAT 2026 Registration start date is August 3, 2025. There is no change in CAT 2026 Exam Pattern with three sections and 2 hour exam duration. For the lakhs of aspirants preparing for CAT 2026, Prof. Aditya Billore will be a name to watch out for. MBAUniverse.com shall continue to report all important updates on CAT 2026 exam.