IIM Ahmedabad revises MBA admission policy for 2027-29 batch

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has revised its admission criteria for the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) 2027-29 batch, introducing a key change in the way candidates are shortlisted for the next stage of the selection process.

Under the revised policy, IIM Ahmedabad will use CAT 2026 percentiles instead of normalised CAT scores to shortlist candidates for the Analytical Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI).

The admission process will continue in two stages. The first stage involves shortlisting candidates for the AWT and PI, while the second stage determines final admission offers through the Final Composite Score (FCS).

IIM Ahmedabad MBA admission 2027 cut-offs

The minimum overall and sectional CAT percentile requirements vary across categories and are lower for candidates with benchmark disabilities (PwD).

For candidates without benchmark disabilities, the minimum overall CAT percentile requirements are:

• General and EWS: 95 percentile
• NC-OBC: 90 percentile
• SC: 85 percentile
• ST: 75 percentile

The corresponding sectional percentile cut-offs in VARC, DILR and QA are 85, 80, 75 and 65, respectively.

For candidates with benchmark disabilities, the minimum overall percentile requirements are:

• General and EWS: 85 percentile
• NC-OBC: 80 percentile
• SC: 75 percentile
• ST: 65 percentile

The corresponding sectional cut-offs are 75, 70, 65 and 55 percentile, respectively.

IIM Ahmedabad MBA admission 2027 selection process

The selection process begins with basic eligibility screening for candidates who have appeared for CAT 2026.

Applicants must be at least 19 years old by June 30, 2027, be Indian nationals as reported in their CAT application details and have applied for IIM Ahmedabad's two-year full-time PGP.

Candidates meeting these conditions are evaluated through a Raw Application Rating (RAR). The rating considers factors including Class 10 and Class 12 marks, undergraduate academic performance, gender and full-time work experience.

The institute then applies the prescribed CAT percentile cut-offs before preparing the shortlist for the AWT and PI, while ensuring representation across applicable reservation categories.

Personal Interview gets highest weightage

The second stage begins after candidates complete the AWT and PI. IIM Ahmedabad then calculates the Final Composite Score for candidates who appear in both assessments.

The final score is calculated as:

Final Composite Score = 0.50 × Normalised PI Score + 0.10 × Normalised AWT Score + 0.40 × Normalised Composite Score

The Personal Interview carries the highest weightage of 50% in the final selection score. The AWT accounts for 10%, while the remaining 40% comes from the normalised composite score.

The revised policy therefore changes the basis for the initial CAT-based shortlisting while retaining a selection framework that gives substantial weight to a candidate's overall academic profile, work experience and performance in the interview and writing assessment.