The Common Admission Test (CAT) is among the most difficult competitive MBA admission tests in India, with thousands of MBA aspirants aspiring for admission to IIMs, IITs, and other prestigious B-schools every year. While getting a good percentile score is important, fulfilling the sectional and overall CAT cutoff is equally important for those who are preparing for their MBA admission.
Many MBA aspirants keep themselves busy only with their overall CAT percentile score but forget to look into their sectional cutoff in VARC, DILR, and QA. Many MBA colleges do not mention anything about their sectional cutoffs, while many require the candidate to have an absolute minimum sectional percentile in order to get themselves qualified for the next step of the admission process. This makes it necessary for the candidates to be aware of the cutoff requirements of the respective institutes before choosing the colleges.
For the candidates who will give the CAT 2026 test, knowing the cutoff details will give them some idea about how various B-schools take the admission and how much do you need to target or score in the upcoming CAT 2026 examination. Below is a list of 30 MBA colleges with their reported/official sectional cutoffs, overall cutoff, and CAT year.
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30 MBA Colleges With Lowest Sectional Cutoffs
The sectional cutoff criteria differ from IIMs to IITs and other management colleges. Certain colleges do not have a minimum sectional cutoff criteria, whereas others have minimum sectional percentiles ranging from 55 to 85 percentile in each section, such as VARC, DILR, and QA.
The IIT Jodhpur, for instance, has a minimum sectional cutoff percentile of 55 percentile in each section, whereas IIM Bodh Gaya, IIM Jammu, and IIM Sirmaur have sectional cutoff of 65 percentile in each section. Other many institutes like IIM Kashipur, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, and IIM Trichy have sectional cutoff percentile of 75 percentile in each section based on the data available.
One must also keep in mind that the lack of sectional cutoff criteria does not imply that admission is assured at any particular overall percentile. Various parameters like composite score, academic performance, work experience, diversity and much more are considered by the college while shortlisting students.
Below is the table depicting sectional and overall CAT cutoff criteria of 30 MBA colleges.
| S.No | College | Sectional Cutoff (VARC / DILR / QA) | Overall Cutoff | CAT Year | Status |
| 1 | IIM Sambalpur | No sectional cutoff (positive score in all 3 sections) | 90 | 2025 | Reported |
| 2 | IIT Delhi (DMS) | No sectional cutoff | Composite score | 2025 | Reported |
| 3 | IIT Kharagpur (VGSoM) | No sectional cutoff | 90 | 2025 | Reported |
| 4 | IIT Kanpur | None stated | 80 | 2025 | Official |
| 5 | IIT Mandi (MBA DS&AI) | None stated | 80 | 2025 | Official |
| 6 | IIM Rohtak | No sectional cutoff | 97 | 2025 | Reported ⚠️ |
| 7 | IIT Madras (DoMS) | No sectional cutoff | Not published | 2025 | Reported ⚠️ |
| 8 | IIT Jodhpur | 55 / 55 / 55 | 80 | 2025 | Official |
| 9 | IIM Bodh Gaya | 65 / 65 / 65 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 10 | IIM Jammu | 65 / 65 / 65 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 11 | IIM Sirmaur | 65 / 65 / 65 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 12 | IIFT | 65 / 65 / 65 | Not published | 2025 | Reported |
| 13 | IIM Nagpur | 70 / 70 / 70 | 95 | 2025 | Reported |
| 14 | IIM Visakhapatnam | 70 / 70 / 70 | 82 | 2025 | Reported |
| 15 | IIM Kashipur | 75 / 75 / 75 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 16 | IIM Raipur | 75 / 75 / 75 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 17 | IIM Ranchi | 75 / 75 / 75 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 18 | IIM Trichy | 75 / 75 / 75 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 19 | IIM Kozhikode | 75 / 75 / 75 | 85 | 2025 | Official |
| 20 | IIM Udaipur | 75 / 75 / 75 | 94 | 2025 | Official |
| 21 | IIM Shillong | 75 / 75 / 75 | Not stated | 2025 | Reported |
| 22 | IIM Guwahati | 75 / 75 / 75 | 85 | 2025 | Reported ⚠️ |
| 23 | SPJIMR | 75 / 75 / 75 | 85 | 2025 | Reported |
| 24 | IIM Bangalore | 80 / 75 / 75 | 85 | 2025 | Official |
| 25 | IIM Amritsar | 80 / 75 / 80 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 26 | IIM Calcutta | 80 / 80 / 75 | 85 | 2026 | Reported |
| 27 | IIM Mumbai | 80 / 80 / 75 | 85 | 2025 | Official |
| 28 | IIM Indore | 80 / 80 / 80 | 90 | 2025 | Official |
| 29 | IIM Ahmedabad | 85 / 85 / 85 | 95 | 2026 | Official |
| 30 | IIM Lucknow | 85 / 85 / 85 | 90 | 2025 | Reported |
How to Use CAT Cutoffs While Shortlisting MBA Colleges?
The CAT cutoff could provide students with a realistic shortlist of MBA colleges depending upon the expected overall percentile and section-wise scores. Yet, the aspirants should not depend solely upon the overall cutoff condition while making a choice.
If you have been preparing for the CAT 2026 exam, then the first step that should be taken is the identification of your strong and weak areas. In case your VARC, DILR, or QA percentiles do not meet the sectional requirements of any specific institute, then it would be better to look whether that institute has specified sectional eligibility criteria in the concerned admission year.
Moreover, candidates need to differentiate between the minimum qualifying cutoff percentile and the percentile from which they get selected for admission. The former makes one eligible for admission consideration but fulfilling all the admission criteria.
Further, meeting the cutoff percentile alone would not mean that you will be called for the interview. The selection process at some institutes depends upon the composite percentile score consisting of CAT score, academic records, professional experience, and other selection criteria.
Conclusion
Choosing MBA colleges from sectional and overall CAT cut-off scores is one of the steps which is crucial to be taken during the process of CAT exam preparation as well as admissions. The top 30 colleges presented above can serve as the initial basis for comparison of admission conditions at IIM, IIT and other management colleges.
When forming your preferences, you should take into consideration the latest admission conditions for the particular college, especially if it has been marked as reported or if overall cut-off has not been disclosed yet. Your main goal should be improvement of VARC, DILR and QA sections and achieving a good percentile score.
