Last Updated on July 27, 2024
MBAUniverse.com News Desk
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) has raised the benchmark for CAT aspirants this year by revising its shortlisting criteria for the flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) 2026–28 batch. As per the new IIM Ahmedabad Admission 2025 policy, candidates from the General and EWS categories must now secure an overall CAT percentile of 95, in addition to a minimum of 85 percentile in each of the three sections. This is a sharp increase from the earlier cut-off of 80 overall and 70 sectional for the General category. With these changes, only the top performing candidates will qualify for IIMA’s Personal Interview round. This MBAUniverse.com article provides complete details on new IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria, eligibility, cut-offs, CAT/Interview weightages for final admission, and more.
Table of Contents
1. IIM Ahmedabad: Overview
2. IIM Ahmedabad Course & Fees
3. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission 2026: Overview
4. IIM Ahmedabad Eligibility Criteria 2026
5. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission and Selection Process 2025
6. IIM Ahmedabad Admission 2026 Dates
7. IIM Ahmedabad Fees
8. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Placements
9. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Cut Offs
10. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Rankings
1. IIM Ahmedabad: Overview
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) has raised the benchmark for CAT aspirants this year by revising its shortlisting criteria for the flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) 2026–28 batch. As per the new IIM Ahmedabad Admission 2025 policy, candidates from the General and EWS categories must now secure an overall CAT percentile of 95, in addition to a minimum of 85 percentile in each of the three sections. This is a sharp increase from the earlier cut-off of 80 overall and 70 sectional for the General category. With these changes, only the top performing candidates will qualify for IIMA’s Personal Interview round. This MBAUniverse.com article provides complete details on new IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria, eligibility, cut-offs, CAT/Interview weightages for final admission, and more.
2. IIM Ahmedabad Course & Fees
IIM Ahmedabad offers 2 years full time MBA and MBA-FABM. It also offers full time executive MBA. Check details below.
2 Years PGP leading to MBA Degree: The Postgraduate Programme (PGP) at IIMA, which leads to a Master’s degree in Business Administration, is IIMA’s flagship programme since inception. It is among the top-ranked programmes in the world for many years. This two-year programme has created business leaders, outstanding managers, and a number of significant entrepreneurs. The program offers wide range of specializations in Marketing, HR, Operations, Strategy, IT, Economics among others. The admission to IIM Ahmedabad MBA programme is through Common Admission Test (CAT). IIM Ahmedabad also gives substantial weightage to Academics, Diversity and Work experience in its MBA admission process. Read more about IIM Ahmedabad MBA Program.
2 Years PGP-FABM leading to MBA degree: The 2 year Post Graduate Programme in Food & Agri-Business Management (PGP- FABM) leading to MBA degree is meant for fresh graduates as well as for graduates with work experience. The scope of this 2 year full time management program with specialization in agriculture has expanded beyond agriculture to include allied areas like food processing, marketing and rural infrastructure management. A candidate with graduation in Non-Agriculture area but with interest in Food, Agriculture and other allied activities can also apply. Read more about IIM Ahmedabad Food and Agri Business MBA Program.
1 Year MBA PGPX: IIM Ahmedabad offers one year full time MBA-PGPX program with higher rigour than the 2 year full time programs. IIM Ahmedabad PGPX has served as a transformative journey for high-calibre, aspirational and industrious working professionals to meet their goals of becoming global leaders. The objective of IIMA PGPX is to produce future leaders who can handle the dynamic corporate environment. Read more about IIM Ahmedabad One Year MBA PGPX Program.
3. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission 2026: Overview
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) has raised the benchmark for CAT aspirants this year by revising its shortlisting criteria. As per the new IIM Ahmedabad Admission 2026 policy, candidates from the General and EWS categories must now secure an overall CAT percentile of 95, in addition to a minimum of 85 percentile in each of the three sections. This is a sharp increase from the earlier cut-off of 80 overall and 70 sectional for the General category. With these changes, only the top performing candidates will qualify for IIMA’s Personal Interview round.
Sharing the rationale for the change, Prof Karthik Sriram, Chairperson, Admissions (PGP & PGP-FABM) said, “IIMA has revised the minimum CAT percentile cut-offs for the PGP and PGP-FABM programmes for the 2026-28 batch admissions, to strengthen the pool of candidates to be interviewed during the selection process.”
IIM Ahmedabad MBA admission process is a multi-step process designed to admit the best MBA aspirants. Performance in CAT is an important input in the admission process. In addition to CAT, IIMA uses academic performance of the candidates throughout their academic career up to the bachelor’s level for shortlisting for AWT & PI. Read complete details in the next section.
4. IIM Ahmedabad Eligibility Criteria 2026
To apply for CAT 2025 and admission to the IIMs, candidates must meet specific academic and qualification requirements. These include minimum marks, degree recognition, and timelines for final year students. Following are the IIM Ahmedabad eligibility criteria 2026:
5. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission and Selection Process 2025
The selection of the candidates for admission to the 2026-28 Batch of the PGP (MBA) at IIMA involves following steps:
1. Preliminary Screening
IIM Ahmedabad will shortlist candidates who have taken CAT 2025 and meeting following criteria:
Table 1: IIM Ahmedabad CAT Cut offs 2025 - Non-PwD CAT Cutoff
| Non-PwD CAT Cutoff | ||
| Category | Overall percentile rank (PT) | Sectionwise percentile rank (PVARC, PDILR, PQA) |
| General/ EWS | 95 | 85 |
| NC-OBC | 90 | 80 |
| SC | 85 | 75 |
| ST | 75 | 65 |
Table 2: IIM Ahmedabad CAT Cut offs 2025 - PwD CAT Cutoff
| Non-PwD CAT Cutoff | PwD CAT Cutoff | |||
| Category | Overall percentile rank (PT) | Sectionwise percentile rank (PVARC, PDILR, PQA) | Overall percentile rank (PT) | Sectionwise percentile rank (PVARC, PDILR, PQA) |
| General/ EWS | 95 | 85 | 85 | 75 |
| NC-OBC | 90 | 80 | 80 | 70 |
| SC | 85 | 75 | 75 | 65 |
| ST | 75 | 65 | 65 | 55 |
Legend: Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Non-creamy Other Backward Class (NC-OBC), Persons with disabilities (PwD).
Overall percentile rank (PT), Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension percentile rank (PVARC), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning percentile rank (PDILR), Quantitative Ability percentile rank (PQA)
Application Rating (AR) Score
At different stages of the IIM Ahmedabad selection process ‘Application Rating’ (AR) score of an applicant will be used. An applicant’s AR score is the sum of the rating scores based on their percentage of marks obtained in the 10th standard, the 12th standard (depending upon the stream, viz., ‘Science’, ‘Commerce’ and ‘Arts & Humanities’), the bachelor’s degree programme (depending upon the discipline) and work experience (as on July 31, 2025). Gender diversity score, which takes the value 0 for male candidates and 3 for all other candidates, is also added to AR Score.
2. Shortlisting for Analytical Writing Test (AWT) & Personal Interview (PI)
Shortlisting will be carried out in two stages:
Stage 1: From the Applicants’ pool: Selection of exceptional performers across different disciplines
IIMA recognises exceptional performers who have excellent previous academic records and performance in CAT. Towards that, a certain number of top candidates from each of the academic disciplines will be shortlisted for AWT & PI on the basis of their composite score ‘CS’ subject to their fulfilling certain criteria.
Stage 2: After removing the candidates selected in Stage 1 from each category, additional number of candidates to be shortlisted for AWT & PI will be selected on the basis of the composite score ‘CS’.
3. Final Selection
Selection at this stage is based on the shortlisting of the candidates done separately for each category on the basis of their ‘Final Composite Score’s (FCS). The numbers selected in different reservation categories will be in proportions mandated by law.
Final Selection Weightages: IIM Ahmedabad final selection weightages are:
| Assessment Type | Percentage (%) Weightage |
| Personal Interview (PI) | 50% |
| Academic Writing Test (AWT) | 10% |
| CAT 2025 score | 25% |
| Application Rating (based on Past Academics & Work Experience) | 15% |
6. IIM Ahmedabad Admission 2026 Dates
a) Last Date to Apply: The last date to apply for IIM Ahmedabad admission 2026 is same as last date to apply for CAT 2025 exam – September 13, 2025.
b) Shortlisting: In addition to the performance in CAT, IIMA uses academic performance of the candidates throughout their academic career up to the bachelor’s level for shortlisting for AWT & PI. Details of the candidates shortlisted will be made available on the IIMA website tentatively by the second week of January 2026 after the CAT results are published. Shortlisted candidates would also be sent AWT & PI call letters by IIMA.
c) Final Admission Offers: After the AWT & PI round, admission offers are made by IIMA to successful candidates. Candidates, who appear in AWT & PI will be able to view whether they have been offered admission by IIMA tentatively during the second week of April, 2026 by visiting the IIMA website. Admission offer letter would be sent to all successful candidates.
d) Admission Confirmation: Candidates who are offered admission, need to confirm their acceptance by completing all the required formalities by the first/second week of May, 2026.
7. IIM Ahmedabad Fees
IIM Ahmedabad MBA programme fee is INR 27,50,000 for the PGP 2025-27 Batch (inclusive of tuition fees of INR 20,10,000). The programme fee does not cover personal expenses on boarding, laptop computer, travel, clothes, stationery, laundry, etc. All students are required to have a personal computer. IIM Ahmedabad MBA programme fee 2026-28 will be announced later.
IIM Ahmedabad refund policy states that an amount of INR 1,000 will be deducted towards processing fee. The refund, if applicable, after deduction of the above processing fee will be released to the same account from which it has been received.
IIM Ahmedabad financial assistance/scholarships give the opportunity to pursue its programmes (PGP & PGP-FABM) to all eligible applicants who are in need of financial assistance. IIMA has instituted a Need Based Scholarship Scheme to complement the various scholarships provided by the industry and government. Every year many students are provided substantial financial support under the scheme. Many commercial banks and financial institutions provide educational loans to students.
8. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Placements
IIM Ahmedabad Placement 2024 for the graduating batch of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management 2022-24 was successfully completed within three clusters in February 2024. Check key highlights:
Read more about IIM Ahmedabad MBA Placement
9. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Cut Offs
IIM Ahmedabad release two different CAT Cut Offs: Qualifying CAT Cut Off and Final CAT Cut Off.
IIM Ahmedabad Qualifying CAT Cut Off is 80 percent only and is used to shortlist candidates for Personal Interview (PI) Round. Final Cut Offs for IIM Ahmedabad admission is much higher and between CAT 98-99 percentile. Read more about IIM Ahmedabad MBA Cut Offs.
10. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Rankings
IIM Ahmedabad NIRF 2024 Ranking is # 1.
IIM Ahmedabad MBAUniverse.com Ranking 2025 is # 2
Indeed, IIM Ahmedabad is one of the top MBA colleges in India. IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission 2026 are open. This article gives you complete details of Cut Offs, Selection Process, Rankings, Placements and more.
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