CAT 2025 email registrations were approximately 3.5 lakh. But not all appear for the test. The number of students who appear is always less by 20-30 thousand. Last year, 3.29 lakh registered and 2.93 lakh appeared. While 3.23 lakh students registered in 2023, and 2.55 lakh registered in 2022. The seats often remain limited with a huge number of applicants. Knowing this figure is crucial because it helps you plan your strategy and set realistic targets. Below, we have discussed the total seats available for IIMs, IITs, and Non-IIMs, including overall and general categories.
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Total Seats in IIMs
There are around 21 IIMs in the country. The old IIMs include IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, etc. The top colleges in the new IIMs are IIM Shillong. The overall seats in IIM Ahmedabad are 408, of which approximately 165 seats are reserved for the general category. Similarly, the total seats in IIM Bangalore are 530, of which nearly 215 seats are reserved for the general category. As per legal requirements, 27% of the seats are reserved for NC-OBC, 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 10% for EWS, and 5% for PwD. We have shared below the total seats in IIM across all the MBA programs, including general category seats, for reference purposes:
| IIM | Total Seats | General Category Seats (Approx) |
| IIM Ahmedabad | 408 | 165 |
| IIM Bangalore | 530 | 215 |
| IIM Calcutta | 480 | 194 |
| IIM Lucknow | 566 | 229 |
| IIM Indore | 487 | 197 |
| IIM Kozhikode | 484 | 196 |
| IIM Mumbai | 278 | 113 |
| IIM Shillong | 382 | 155 |
| IIM Rohtak | 399 | 162 |
| IIM Ranchi | 246 | 100 |
| IIM Trichy | 378 | 153 |
| IIM Udaipur | 361 | 146 |
| IIM Raipur | 377 | 153 |
| IIM Kashipur | 321 | 130 |
| IIM Nagpur | 267 | 108 |
| IIM Visakhapatnam | 383 | 155 |
| IIM Amritsar | 334 | 135 |
| IIM Bodh Gaya | 300 | 122 |
| IIM Sirmaur | 281 | 114 |
| IIM Jammu | 246 | 100 |
| IIM Sambalpur | 197 | 80 |
Total Seats in Non-IIMs
The top Non-IIMs colleges in India are FMS, SPJIMR, XLRI, JBIMS, IIFT, etc. The total seats in FMS Delhi is 314, of which 127 seats are reserved for the unreserved/open category. Similarly, the overall seats in SPJIMR are 240, of which nearly 240 seats are reserved for the general category. Have a look at the total seats in Non-IIMs, including the reservation/quota policy and the unreserved category.
| Institute | Total Seats | Reservation/Quota Policy | Unreserved/Open Seats Estimate |
| FMS, Delhi | 314 | Govt quota (SC/ST/OBC/EWS etc) | 127 |
| SPJIMR Mumbai | 240 | No govt reservation, merit-based | 240 |
| XLRI, Jamshedpur | 420 | No govt reservation, merit-based | 420 |
| JBIMS Mumbai | 150-160 | Maharashtra govt reservation norms | Depends on the category, the non-reserved part is proportionally less |
| IIFT Delhi | 480 | Follows the central govt reservation norms | 195 |
| SIBM Pune | 240 | Mostly merit-based, little info on caste quotas | 240 |
| NMIMS, Mumbai | 600 | Private/Deemed, limited public info on quotas | 600 |
| MDI, Gurgaon | 810 | No Institutional/management quota. merit-based | 810 |
| IMT Ghaziabad | 480 | Merit-based, little public info on reserved quotas | 480 |
| XIMB, Bhubaneswar | 360 | Merit-based, reserved quotas info is not clearly mentioned | 360 |
Total Seats in IITs
The top IITs for MBA are IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, etc. The total seats in IIT Bombay is 152, of which nearly 62 seats are reserved for the general category. Similarly, the overall seats in IIT Delhi is 91, of which around 37 seats are reserved for the general category.
| IITs | Seats | General Seats (=40.5%) |
| IIT Bombay (SJMSOM) | 152 | 62 |
| IIT Delhi (DMS) | 91 | 37 |
| IIT Kharagpur (VGSoM) | 170 | 69 |
| IIT Madras (DoMS) | 68 | 28 |
| IIT Roorkee (DoMS) | 95 | 38 |
| IIT Kanpur (DoMS) | 78 | 32 |
| IIT Dhanbad (ISM) | 62 | 25 |
Total Seats in IIMs, IITs, and Non-IIMs- Key Takeaways
- If we consider the top 8 IIMs (Blacki, IIM Mumbai and Shillong), there will be approximately 3615 seats, of which 1464 seats are reserved for the general category.
- Considering the top 10 Non-IIMs colleges, the total seats will be nearly 4094, of which 3532 seats are reserved for the general category.
- Talking about the top 7 IITs, the overall seats will be nearly 716, of which 290 will be reserved for the general category.
- The total seats of the top 25 institutes will be 8,425 seats, of which 5,286 seats are reserved for the general category.
Nearly 3.5 lakh students have registered for the CAT 2025 exam. Of which, it is anticipated that hardly 1 lakh students have completed their syllabus, and nearly 50,000 students take 20-25 mock tests. Remember that Tier 1 colleges have around 5,286 seats for the general category. If you have covered the entire syllabus and are targeting 25-30 mocks, you already stand among the top 30,000 aspirants. The real challenge now is moving from being in the top 30,000 to securing one of those 5,286 seats. To help, iQuanta has introduced the CAT 2025 daily targets tool for free. It offers daily practice sets for QA, LRDI, & VARC. This helps students to stay consistent and boost their overall scores. It showcases total attempts, daily & weekly progress, leaderboard ranking, your weak areas, etc. If you stay consistent with this tool, you will be able to solve 350 good-quality quant questions in the next 70 days. Similarly, you will be able to practice 70 high-quality sets each for LRDI and VARC. This can maximise your chances of securing a 99+percentile in the exam.
