IIM Lucknow Admission 2027: What CAT Percentile Do You Need, and How Is the Final Merit List Actually Decided?

Table of Contents

• IIM Lucknow Admission 2027: Highlights
• IIM Lucknow Eligibility Criteria
• CAT Cut Off Accepted by IIM Lucknow
• IIM Lucknow Stage-1 Shortlisting Criteria and Weightage
• Work Experience and the Diversity Factors
• IIM Lucknow Selection Process: WAT and PI
• IIM Lucknow Final Composite Score
• The PI Pass Mark: 12 Out of 40
• IIM Lucknow Admission 2027 Important Dates
• How to Apply to IIM Lucknow
• IIM Lucknow Programmes and Reservation
• IIM Lucknow Fees for Batch 2026-28
• IIM Lucknow Placements at a Glance
• Why Choose IIM Lucknow
• Summary
• IIM Lucknow Admission FAQs

IIM Lucknow Admission 2027: Highlights

IIM Lucknow Admission 2027 process will begin soon. Check highlights based on previous admission cycle.

IIM Lucknow Eligibility Criteria

The IIM Lucknow admission eligibility criteria follow the standard national baseline before the institute’s own thresholds apply.

A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA is required, relaxed to 45% for SC, ST and PwD candidates, from a recognised university. A valid CAT 2025 score is required.

For candidates appearing in their final year, the marks up to one year before the final examinations are considered for the entire process — up to the second year for a three-year degree, and up to the third year for a four-year degree. Such candidates must complete all requirements, including examinations, practical examinations and supplementary examinations, within the institute’s stated timeline.

Work experience claims must be supported by documentation produced at the WAT-PI stage: an appointment letter, first and last pay slips and a bank statement among them.

CAT Cut Off Accepted by IIM Lucknow

IIM Lucknow admission publishes a separate cut off for each of its three programmes, which no other IIM in the collection does at this level of separation.

The five-point gap between sectional and total in the General category is the defining feature of the IIM Lucknow cut off. 
Compare it with IIM Jammu, where the gap is 19 points, or IIM Visakhapatnam, where it is 12. IIM Ahmedabad demands the same 85 sectional but against a 95 overall, giving a ten-point gap.

The practical effect is that IIM Lucknow admission is materially harder to secure with an uneven profile than the headline 90 suggests, and materially easier with a balanced one.

MBA-ABM and MBA-SM sit five points lower on both measures for General candidates, at 80 sectional and 85 total, which makes them a genuine alternative route for a candidate who narrowly misses the MBA threshold.

IIM Lucknow Stage-1 Shortlisting Criteria and Weightage

Only candidates clearing the sectional and total percentiles above proceed to Stage 1b, where composite scores are computed.

Scaled CAT score = (candidate’s CAT score ÷ highest CAT score of 2025) × 60.

Class 12 marks. 12M = [{Max (P, 80) − 80} ÷ 20] × 10, where P is the candidate’s Class 12 percentile computed on CAT applicants’ pooled data of the past five years for the respective board and discipline. Note the structure: a candidate at or below the 80th percentile for their board scores zero on this component. It is a top-slice reward, not a sliding scale.

Graduation marks. Normalised by academic discipline across five buckets — Engineering, Science, Commerce, Arts and Others — using GM = [(candidate’s graduation percentage − μ) ÷ 3σ + 50] × 10 ÷ 100, bounded between 0 and 10, where μ and σ are the mean and standard deviation for that discipline. A 72% engineering graduate and a 78% commerce graduate can therefore score identically.

Class 10 marks carry no weight at all in IIM Lucknow admission, which distinguishes it from IIM Calcutta at 10 points and IIM Bangalore at 10.

Work Experience and the Diversity Factors

Work experience in IIM Lucknow admission rewards service above a threshold rather than from month one.
MBA: if x > 6, WE = min{(x − 6) × 0.50, 10} MBA-ABM: WE = 0 MBA-SM: if x > 24, WE = min{(x − 24) × 0.50, 10}
where x is completed months of work experience as of 31 July 2025.

For the MBA, a candidate needs 26 months to reach the full 10 points. For the MBA-SM the clock starts at 24 months and full marks require 44 — a design that clearly targets mid-career applicants. MBA-ABM awards nothing for work experience at all.

Academic discipline diversity carries 5 points on the MBA and MBA-SM for a non-engineering bachelor’s degree. On the MBA-ABM it carries 20 points for disciplines listed in the policy’s Table 3 — the single largest diversity award anywhere in the IIM system, and the reason an agriculture, veterinary or food technology graduate should look hard at that programme.

Gender diversity awards 5 points to female candidates across all three programmes.

IIM Lucknow Selection Process: WAT and PI

IIM Lucknow admission shortlists are notified through the composite score list published on the institute website, and must then complete a WAT-PI form online by a stated deadline.

This is a hard deadline. The policy states that candidates who fail to submit their WAT-PI form online within the prescribed time shall not be allowed into the WAT-PI process. No extension is offered.

The IIM Lucknow selection process then comprises a Writing Ability Test followed by a Personal Interview. There is no Group Discussion round.

IIM Lucknow Final Composite Score

The final IIM Lucknow admission score after WAT and PI reweights everything.

CAT falls from 60 at the shortlisting stage to 30 in the final score. The Personal Interview at 40 becomes the single largest component of IIM Lucknow admission, and with the WAT at 10, half the final decision rests on one day.

The PI Pass Mark: 12 Out of 40

A rule that removes candidates from IIM Lucknow admission entirely, and one of only two such published thresholds among the IIMs in India.

The minimum requirement for getting a pass in PI is 12 out of 40. Names of candidates who do not pass in PI will not be included in the final merit list.

This is not a weighting; it is a gate. A candidate with an exceptional CAT score, flawless academics and strong work experience who scores 11 in the interview does not appear on the merit list at all. IIM Shillong publishes category-wise PI minimums; beyond those two, most IIMs either do not set a threshold or do not disclose it.

Final discretion on the academic category into which a programme is classified rests with the Admissions Committee of IIM Lucknow.

IIM Lucknow Admission 2027 Important Dates

IIM Lucknow admission 2027 process will open soon. IIM Lucknow will use CAT 2026 scores. More details will be updated soon.

How to Apply to IIM Lucknow

Step 1. Register for CAT 2026 and name IIM Lucknow, indicating which of the three programmes you are targeting.
Step 2. Sit CAT. Check each section against the 85 threshold before checking your overall — the sectional requirement eliminates more candidates here than the total does.
Step 3. If you clear Stage 1a, your composite score is computed automatically from CAT and the profile data already held.
Step 4. Watch iiml.ac.in for the shortlist and submit the WAT-PI form online within the deadline. Miss it and you are out, with no appeal.
Step 5. Attend the WAT and PI, and clear 12 out of 40 in the interview.
Step 6. Await the final merit list.

IIM Lucknow Programmes and Reservation

IIM Lucknow admission applies the Government of India reservation policy for Central Educational Institutions.

IIM Lucknow Fees for Batch 2026-28

The total IIM Lucknow fees for Batch 2026-28 are ₹20,75,000 — ₹10,95,000 in the first year and ₹9,80,000 in the second.

The Infrastructure Fee covers computer and network maintenance, digital infrastructure maintenance, library resources including databases and digital resources, books and instructional material, hostel maintenance, student welfare activity and overheads.

Refundable Deposits comprise library, computer and mess deposits, refundable after necessary deductions.

Mess charges are payable on an actual basis every term, in addition to the figures above.

At ₹20,75,000, IIM Lucknow fees are the lowest among the six BLACKI IIMs and lower than eleven newer institutes. On the MBAUniverse.com fee series, IIM Lucknow has held its fee flat at ₹20.75 lakh across the 2023-25, 2024-26 and 2025-27 batches — a restraint matched only by IIM Indore.

IIM Lucknow Placements at a Glance

The Batch of 2026 secured more than 580 offers for 559 students, with an average of ₹33.20 lakh, a median of ₹32.90 lakh and a highest domestic package of ₹1 crore.

Full detail on percentile bands, batch profile, domain split and the previous cycle is on the IIM Lucknow Placements article.

Why Choose IIM Lucknow

IIM Lucknow admission comes at a fee that has not moved in three batches. ₹20.75 lakh across 2023-25, 2024-26 and 2025-27, while IIM Ahmedabad rose 10% and IIM Calcutta rose sharply over the same period.

It is the strongest fee-to-outcome ratio among the older IIMs. A ₹20,75,000 fee against a reported average of ₹33.20 lakh, and a median-to-average gap of just ₹0.30 lakh across 559 students — the tightest distribution reported by any IIM in the collection.

IIM Lucknow admission runs across three distinct flagship programmes with separate cut-offs and separate weightings, including an MBA-ABM that awards 20 points for academic discipline diversity.

IIM Lucknow admission publishes a PI pass mark. Twelve out of forty, stated plainly, when most IIMs disclose no threshold at all.

It ranks fifth on both frameworks. NIRF 2025 rank 5, MBAUniverse.com Rankings 2026 rank 5 with a score of 863.1, having climbed one place from rank 6.

Summary

IIM Lucknow admission 2027 rewards a balanced CAT profile far more than a spike: 90 percentile overall with 85 in every section for General MBA candidates, and lower thresholds of 85 and 80 for the MBA-ABM and MBA-SM, both worth considering if you narrowly miss the flagship. Three things should shape your plan — Class 10 marks carry no weight here, the interview is worth 40 marks against CAT's 30 at the final stage, and 12 out of 40 in that interview is a hard pass mark. The fee is ₹20,75,000 and has not changed across three batches. These figures come from official IIM Lucknow documents and will be revised as the 2027 cycle opens. Also read: IIM Lucknow Placements 2027, IIM Admission 2027, and CAT 2026 exam guide.

IIM Lucknow Admission FAQs