Below is an in-depth, category-wise breakdown of shortlisting and final selection criteria for the top 7 IIMs—Ahmedabad (A), Bangalore (B), Calcutta (C), Indore (I), Lucknow (L), Kozhikode (K) and Shillong (S). For each institute you’ll find:
- Eligibility: minimum academic marks & CAT validity
- Shortlisting cut-offs: sectional & overall CAT percentiles by category
- Shortlisting index weightage: how CAT, school marks, work-ex, diversity feed into the composite score
- Final selection weightage: PI/WAT vs CAT vs profile
- “Safe” CAT percentiles you should target by category
- IIM Ahmedabad (A)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s degree (10+2+3/4) with ≥50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.in
- Stage I Shortlisting (AWT & PI call)
- Eligibility
Category
VARC
≥
DILR
≥
QA
≥
Overall
≥
10+12 avg
≥
Grad ≥ (80th pct cut-off)
General/EWS
70
70
70
80
80 (Sci)
77 (Comm)
75 (Arts)
80th pct of batch (<varies by stream>)
NC-OBC/Trans*
65
65
65
75
75, 72, 70
80th pct (lower than Gen)
SC
60
60
60
70
70, 67, 64
80th pct (lower)
ST
50
50
50
60
65, 62, 59
80th pct (lower)
PwD (Gen/OBC/SC)
60
60
60
70
Same as SC
80th pct (for PWD-Gen group)
PwD (ST)
50
50
50
60
Same as ST
80th pct (for PWD-ST group)
*Transgender category is grouped with NC-OBC for cut-offs.
Cut-offs from Shortlisting Criteria PDF (2023-25)—very likely unchanged for 2025-27 iima.ac.in.
Composite Score (CS) for shortlisting
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CS = 0.65 × (CAT total raw)/800
+ 0.35 × (Application Rating Score)
where ARS is sum of:
- 10th & 12th marks (avg scaled to 10)
- Graduation percent (scaled to 35)
- Work-ex (max 11×0.2=2.2) ac.in
- Stage II Final Selection
Component
Weight
Personal Interview
50%
AWT
10%
CAT (normalized)
25%
Application Rating
15%
Final Composite Score (FCS) formula given in same PDF iima.ac.in.
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
General/EWS
≥ 99.5
NC-OBC/EWS/Trans
≥ 98.5
SC
≥ 95
ST
≥ 90
PwD
≥ 95
- IIM Bangalore (B)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s ≥ 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.iniimb.ac.in
- Stage I (Pre-PI) Shortlisting
- Eligibility
Category
VARC ≥
DILR ≥
QA ≥
Overall ≥
Gen
80
80
80
85
NC-OBC
70
70
70
75
EWS
70
70
70
75
SC
60
60
60
70
ST
55
55
55
65
PwD
50
50
50
60
Pre-PI score (100 pt)
- CAT (55): VARC 19 + DILR 21 + QA 15
- 10th: 10, 12th: 10, Graduation: 10
- Work-ex/prof course: 10
- Gender diversity (female/trans): 5
Missing components re-weighted if COVID gaps iimb.ac.in
- Stage II Final Selection
Component
Weight
PI
40%
WAT
10%
CAT
25%
10th
5%
12th
5%
Graduation
5%
Work-ex/prof course
10%
Gender bonus not carried forward to Stage II iimb.ac.in.
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
General/EWS
≥ 99
NC-OBC
≥ 97
SC
≥ 90
ST
≥ 85
PwD
≥ 85
- IIM Calcutta (C)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s ≥ 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.in
- Stage I Shortlisting
- Eligibility
Category
VARC ≥
DILR ≥
QA ≥
Overall ≥
OPEN
80
80
75
85
EWS
70
65
65
75
NC-OBC
70
65
65
75
SC
65
60
60
70
ST
55
55
55
65
PwD
45
45
45
55
- Stage II & III
- Stage II: WAT + PI (weight undisclosed in public doc; likely ≈ 50% combined).
- Stage III: Final merit based on CAT (~ 60–66%), PI/WAT, academics, work-ex & Final weights typically mirror peers (~ PM = 40%, WAT 10%, CAT 25–30%, academics 10%,
work-ex 10%).
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
OPEN
≥ 99.5
NC-OBC/EWS
≥ 98
SC
≥ 95
ST
≥ 90
PwD
≥ 90
- IIM Indore (I)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s ≥ 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.in
- Stage I Shortlisting
- Eligibility
Category
QA ≥
DILR ≥
VARC ≥
Overall ≥
Gen
80.00
80.00
80.00
90.00
EWS
80.00
80.00
80.00
90.00
NC-OBC
70.00
70.00
70.00
80.00
SC
55.00
55.00
55.00
60.00
ST
40.00
40.00
40.00
45.00
PwD
40.00
40.00
40.00
45.00
- Stage II (PI) Shortlist CS
Component
Weight
10th
39%
12th
20%
CAT (sectional sum)
36%
Diversity factor
5%
Diversity = gender & academic; re-allocation if COVID gaps iimidr.ac.in.
- Stage III Final Selection
Component
Weight
PI
45%
CAT (scaled)
40%
10th
5%
12th
5%
Diversity factor
5%
FCS table from same PDF iimidr.ac.in.
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
Gen/EWS
≥ 99
NC-OBC
≥ 97
SC
≥ 92
ST/PwD
≥ 85
- IIM Lucknow (L)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s ≥ 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.in
- Stage I Shortlisting
- Eligibility
Category
VARC ≥
DILR ≥
QA ≥
Overall ≥
Gen
85
85
85
90
EWS
77
77
77
82
NC-OBC
77
77
77
82
SC
55
55
55
65
ST
50
50
50
60
PwD
50
50
50
60
Composite Score (Stage 1b)
- Scaled CAT: 60%
- 12th + Graduation: 10% (5% each)
- Diversity factors: 5%
- Work-ex: 5%
- WAT: 10%
- PI: 40% in Stage 2 ac.in
- Stage II Final Selection
Component
Weight
PI
40%
WAT
10%
CAT
30%
Academics (10+12)
10%
Work-ex
5%
Diversity
5%
From “Table 4” of 2023-25 policy iiml.ac.in.
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
Gen/EWS
≥ 99
NC-OBC
≥ 97
SC
≥ 90
ST/PwD
≥ 85
- IIM Kozhikode (K)
- Eligibility
- Graduation ≥ 60% (50% for CA/ICWA/CS only). ac.in
- Stage I Registration
- Positive CAT raw in all iimk.ac.in
- Stage II Shortlisting (AIS)
- Eligibility
Component
Weight
CAT Index (scaled avg of 3 secs)
50%
Class X % (normalized to board max)
15%
Class XII % (normalized to board)
20%
Gender/Academic diversity (max of one)
10% / 5%
Work-experience (months → 5%)
5%
- Stage III Final Selection
Component
Weight
CAT Index
35%
PI
35%
WAT
20%
Resume score
10%
Resume score (10%) from:
- NIRF-top 30 undergrad: 4 pts
- CA/ICWA/CS cert: 4 pts
- CFA-I/II/III: 4 pts ac.in
- Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
Gen
≥ 99
OBC-NCL/EWS
≥ 97
Category
Safe Percentile
SC
≥ 92
ST/PwD
≥ 85
- IIM Shillong (S)
- Eligibility
- Bachelor’s ≥ 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). ac.in
- Phase 1 Shortlisting
- Eligibility
Category
VARC ≥
DILR ≥
QA ≥
OT (Gen)
75
75
75
EWS
75
75
75
SC
60
60
60
ST
50
50
50
DA (PwD)
50
50
50
Composite Score (Phase 1)
makefile CopyEdit
CS = 0.65 × (CAT total %)
+ 0.35 × (Normalized ARS) where ARS = sum of:
- Class X rating (0–10)
- Class XII rating (0–10)
- Work-ex rating (0–14) ac.in
Shortlists enforced per academic discipline, then per category, then gender split—very granular iimshillong.ac.in.
- Phase 2 Final Merit
Component
Weight
CAT score
40%
PI
40%
ARS (pre-PI)
10%
Gender score (minority)
10%
Minimum PI & communication cut-offs by category apply (20–30%) iimshillong.ac.in.
Target CAT percentiles
Category
Safe Percentile
OT/EWS
≥ 97
SC
≥ 92
ST/DA
≥ 90
F Key Action Plan for Aspirants
- Aim above safe percentiles: General/EWS ≥ 99 for A/B/C; ≥ 98 for I/L/K; ≥ 97 for
- Strengthen profile: board marks, graduation %, work-ex, non-engineer backgrounds & gender diversity.
- Master WAT/PI: ~ 50% weight in final merit—practice essay & mock
- Check official brochure: always refer to each IIM’s latest Admission Process document (online).
- IIM Ahmedabad (A)