IIM Shortlist Dates After CAT 2026

CAT 2026 is scheduled for 29 November 2026, with results tentatively due in the first week of January 2027. Interview shortlists then belong to the individual institutes, not to one central CAT admission list.

Ahmedabad sends call letters to shortlisted applicants and provides shortlist status on its admissions site. The January and April windows above apply to Ahmedabad. They should not be used as release dates for Calcutta or other IIMs.

The CAT result supplies sectional and overall performance. Each institute applies its own programme eligibility, category thresholds and shortlist formula to that information.

CAT 2026 Minimum Cutoffs for IIM Shortlisting

Selected current policies: Ahmedabad PGP and Calcutta MBA, 2027-29 batch. These are minimum screening percentiles, not the percentile of the last candidate who will receive an interview call.

IIM Ahmedabad

The sectional requirement applies separately to VARC, DILR and QA. Ahmedabad combines the cutoff screen with its normalised composite-score process and category-wise shortlisting.

IIM Calcutta

Calcutta also requires non-negative raw scores in every section. Candidates meeting the first-stage conditions enter consideration for the profile-based shortlist. Actual sectional or overall cutoffs can be higher, depending on the number called in each category.

For example, an Open-category Calcutta applicant with 99 overall but 74 QA percentile misses the stated QA floor of 75. A high overall percentile does not cancel the separate sectional condition.

How IIM Ahmedabad Calculates the Interview Shortlist

The domestic PGP screen requires an Indian national who applied to the two-year full-time programme and will be at least 19 on 30 June 2027. The bachelor's degree or equivalent must entail at least three years after 10+2 and meet the applicable qualifying marks: 50%, relaxed to 45% for SC, ST and PwD.

Ahmedabad first adds five application-rating components: Class 10, Class 12, bachelor's marks, full-time work experience and gender. Each of the three academic marks uses these same bands:

Work below twelve months receives zero. From twelve to thirty-six months, the score is 0.20 × (months - 11); above thirty-six months it is five. The duration is the one entered in the CAT form. Non-male applicants receive three gender-diversity points; male applicants receive zero.

The total application rating is divided by the average of the top fifty application ratings in the applicant pool. The raw composite then uses 35% of this normalised rating plus 65% of CAT overall percentile divided by 100.

A further normalisation compares the raw composite within the applicant's undergraduate discipline. It divides the score by the average of the top one percent of raw composites in that discipline, using at least five and at most one hundred scores. The CAT cutoffs are then applied for the AWT/PI shortlist.

This discipline step matters: the denominators come from the applicant pool. Your marks and percentile alone are insufficient to reproduce the final normalised score before those values are known.

For school percentages, Ahmedabad counts all subjects printed on the marksheet. For a degree, it follows the institution's awarded percentage and asks for a certificate where that practice excludes some subjects. A grade-only record needs certified equivalence. Final-year applicants use their latest available completed-semester/year records.

For CA/CS/ICWA, the average of Inter and Final percentages entered in CAT supplies the bachelor's-rating input; FIAI uses the entered aggregate percentage. An integrated/dual degree uses the institution's bachelor-equivalent percentage, or the latest aggregate when that percentage is unavailable. Its discipline follows the integrated master's programme.

A later higher degree does not replace the undergraduate discipline for this calculation. Under the Ahmedabad selection criteria, applicants with multiple undergraduate degrees in different disciplines receive separately calculated and normalised scores. The highest normalised composite is used for shortlist consideration.

How IIM Calcutta Calculates the Interview Shortlist

The CAT contribution is (A / B) × 56, where A is the candidate's total overall scaled score and B is the maximum possible total overall scaled score. It uses scaled score, not percentile.

Both school percentages include all subjects appearing on the marksheet, even if the board normally excludes some when reporting an aggregate. The category-wise composite threshold for the PI/WAT shortlist is decided after these components are calculated.

Worked example: take an illustrative A/B ratio of 0.50, Class 10 marks of 82%, Class 12 marks of 77%, and an applicant eligible for the four gender-diversity points. The shortlist composite is 28 + 10 + 12 + 4 = 54 out of 85. This example explains the arithmetic; 54 is not a published shortlist cutoff.

Graduation eligibility still applies, but the published pre-interview table does not award separate graduation-mark or work-experience points. The Calcutta selection criteria introduce academic-diversity and work points at final selection instead.

From Interview Shortlist to Final Selection

A shortlist invites you to the next assessed stage. After the writing test and interview, these two programmes calculate different final composites:

Ahmedabad's forty-percent component is its normalised composite from the earlier process, not forty percent of raw CAT marks. Calcutta replaces the pre-interview school and gender components with its final-selection components; adding them again would inflate the total.

Calcutta awards up to eight work points for qualifying post-degree employment, counted in completed months up to 31 January 2027. Internships, apprenticeships, articleship, training, curricular projects and unpaid work are excluded. Freshers remain eligible to apply; the absence of work points is different from failing a minimum qualification.

Both institutes prepare final merit within the applicable categories.

Documents and Conditions That Affect Selection

Use the same underlying marks and category claim throughout the process. Ahmedabad may ask for proof that an unavailable semester marksheet has not been issued; withholding a marksheet that is available can lead to disqualification.

A later final-marksheet date allows time for the result document, not extra time to finish degree requirements. The qualifying marks still have to meet the programme's eligibility rule.

Calcutta checks employment through an authorised employer letter stating dates, designation and role, along with payslips. Self-employed and family-business applicants need the specified registration, licence or tax evidence where payslips are unavailable.

Cutoffs and Callsdates, screening and Ahmedabad Scores and OffersCalcutta, final merit and proof

1. Shortlist Dates
2. Category-Wise Screening Cutoffs
3. Ahmedabad Composite Stages

1. Calcutta Shortlist Points
2. Final-Selection Weights
3. Qualification and Work Proof