IIM Shortlist 2026 refers to the process of shortlisting candidates for the interview round. Each IIM may have an individual selection criteria but the shortlisting process may be conducted jointly. One can predict an IIM Call based on their CAT percentile. BLACKI IIMs shortlist based on your sectional and overall CAT percentile cutoffs. The official IIM Shortlist 2026 for admission to MBA courses at top IIMs will be released between January 1st week to February 1st week, 2026.
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How to Get Shortlisted and Receive IIM Calls for PI
Getting called for the PI round is not easy given the intense competition and limited number of MBA seats in India. Top management colleges like IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad consider your CAT section wise and total scores both. You need to score at least 85, 90 or 95 percentile marks in CAT 2025 to clear the IIM Shortlist round and receive IIM calls for the interview rounds.
IIMs also consider your class 10th, 12th and graduation marks. It is important to have scored good marks in your higher education studies and graduation level education. Your actual CAT scores are not considered for the shortlist or PI call. Instead, your scores are scaled using the CAT score normalization process and such scaled scores are converted to percentile ranks which are used for the shortlist and further admission calls.
- You must have a high CAT percentile in the range of 85, 90, or 95 for admission to top IIMs.
- Your academic history must be strong with good grades in classes 10th and 12th.
- Graduation percentage must be above average or at least above 50% aggregate marks.
- To get IIM Calls, you need a good overall profile.
- Few years of valid work experience along with academic and gender diversity are also additional factors which help receive IIM Calls.
IIM Shortlist 2026 for MBA Admissions
IIM Shortlist for admission to MBA programmes in 2026 is released on the official website of each IIM separately. The IIM shortlist is made for the PI round. The admission process for IIMs has been grouped through CAP, JAP and SAP 2026.
- IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Jammu and IIM Sirmaur will shortlist candidates for MBA through CAP 2026.
- IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Trichy and IIM Kashipur will shortlist candidates via JAP 2026.
- IIM Shillong, IIM Rohtak, IIM Amritsar, IIM Nagpur, and IIM Visakhapatnam will release individual shortlists on their official websites.
- IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, and IIM Kozhikode will release individual shortlists soon.
- IIM Nagpur may participate in CAP 2026 for WAT/PI rounds.
- IIMs ABC (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta), IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, and IIM Kozhikode may use CAP for later admission batches as the initial cutoffs are high.
IIM Shortlist Release Date
The overall timeline for the release of IIM Shortlists is January 1st week to February 1st week. Few IIMs are yet to announce the IIM Shortlist release dates. Check the table below to know the IIM Shortlist release date for all the 12 IIMs as per official website updates.
| IIMs PI Shortlist Based on CAP/JAP/Individual Process 2026 | |
| Name of the IIM | PI Shortlist Release Date |
| IIM Bodhgaya | Second Week of January 2026 |
| IIM Jammu | January 2026 |
| IIM Kashipur | January 2026 |
| IIM Nagpur | 3rd week of January 2026 (Expected) |
| IIM Ranchi | Mid-January 2026 (Expected) |
| IIM Sirmaur | January 2026 |
| IIM Trichy | January 2026 |
| IIM Udiapur | To be Announced |
| IIM Sambalpur | January 2026 |
| IIM Vizag | January to February 2026 |
| IIM Amritsar | To be Announced |
| IIM Rohtak | January 2026 |
| IIM Raipur | Last Week of January 2026 (Expected) |
| IIM Shillong | Mid-January 2026 |
| IIM Mumbai | To be Announced |
| IIM Indore | January 2026 |
| IIM Kohzhikode | To be Announced |
| IIM Lucknow | January 2026 (Tentative) |
| IIM Calcutta | To be Announced |
| IIM Bangalore | To be Announced |
| IIM Ahmedabad | Second Week of January 2026 (Tentative) |
IIM CAP 2026 Cutoff for PI Shortlist
IIM Bodhgaya will conduct the Common Admission Process 2026. CAP 2026 is a single window for admission into new IIMs through a common form, a common shortlist and a common PI/WAT round. 3 new IIMs will participate in CAP 2026. IIM Bodhgaya, IIM Jammu and IIM Sirmaur admissions will take place through CAP 2026.
Category | IM CAP 2026 Sectional Cutoff for PI Shortlist | Total Cutoff Percentile for PI Shortlist | ||
| VARC %ile | DILR %ile | QA %ile | ||
| General | 75 | 75 | 75 | 95 |
| EWS | 55 | 55 | 55 | 81 |
| NC-OBC | 52 | 52 | 52 | 81 |
| SC | 45 | 45 | 45 | 66 |
| ST | 25 | 25 | 30 | 42 |
| PwD | 25 | 25 | 30 | 42 |
JAP 2026 Cutoff for PI Shortlist
The table below shows the minimum cutoff marks required in each section of the CAT 2025 exam as well as your academics prior to CAT. You must clear these cutoffs which are set category wise for admission into IIM Kashipur, IIM Raipur, IIM Ranchi and IIM Tiruchirappalli.
Student Category | Minimum Marks Required in Academics for IIM PI Shortlist | CAT 2025 Section-wise Cutoff %ile for PI Shortlist | Total Percentile for PI Shortlist | ||||
| 10th Std | 12th Std | Graduation | VARC | DILR | QA | ||
| General | 60 | 60 | 50 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 90 |
| EWS | 60 | 60 | 50 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 75 |
| NC-OBC | 60 | 60 | 50 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 75 |
| SC | 55 | 55 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 50 |
| ST | 55 | 55 | 45 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 |
| PwD | 45 | 45 | 45 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 30 |
Qualifying CAT Cutoff for BLACKI IIMs
The CAT qualifying cutoff for the first round of IIM shortlist for IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Kozhikode, and IIM Indore have been announced. To take admission into the BLACKI IIMs, you need a CAT scaled score between 85 to 90 percentile for the general category students.
IIM Bangalore
Check the minimum section wise cutoffs required for IIM Bangalore for admissions to the 2026-28 MBA batch.
| IIM Bangalore PI Shortlist Minimum Eligibility Criteria | ||||
| Category | VARC | DILR | QA | Aggregate |
| General | 80 | 75 | 75 | 85 |
| NC-OBC | 70 | 65 | 65 | 75 |
| EWS | 70 | 65 | 65 | 70 |
| SC | 65 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
| ST | 55 | 55 | 55 | 65 |
| PwD | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
IIM Lucknow
Below table outlines the CAT 2025 sectional cutoffs required for admission to the MBA 2026-28 batch at IIM Lucknow.
| Category | VARC | DILR | QA | Total |
| General | 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 |
IIM Ahmedabad
If you dream of the Number 1 MBA college in India which is IIM Ahmedabad, then you need to attain at least 85% minimum percentile in each section of the CAT exam and overall 95%ile in CAT 2025 for the general category.
Category | Non-PwD CAT Cutoff | PwD CAT Cutoff | ||
| Overall %ile | Sectional %ile | Overall %ile | Sectional %ile | |
| General/EWS | 95 | 85 | 85 | 75 |
| NC-OBC | 90 | 80 | 80 | 70 |
| SC | 85 | 75 | 75 | 65 |
| ST | 75 | 65 | 65 | 55 |
IIM Calcutta
IIM Calcutta is one of the best management colleges in India and the competition to get MBA seats in the open category is high. Students need at least 85 or more CAT over percentile in scaled score range for admissions in 2026.
| Category | VARC | DILR | QA | Overall %ile |
| Open | ≥80 | ≥80 | ≥75 | ≥85 |
| EWS | ≥70 | ≥65 | ≥65 | ≥75 |
| NC-OBC | ≥70 | ≥65 | ≥65 | ≥75 |
| SC | ≥65 | ≥60 | ≥60 | ≥70 |
| ST | ≥55 | ≥55 | ≥65 | ≥65 |
| PwD | ≥45 | ≥45 | ≥45 | ≥55 |
IIM Kohzhikode
Check the table below to know if you are eligible to apply for MBA admissions at IIM Kohzhikode for admissions for the MBA 2026-28 batch based on CAT 2025 percentile.
| Category | CAT Cutoff %ile | Sectional %ile | Class 10th | Class 12th |
| General | 85 | 75 | 60 | 60 |
| OBC-NCL | 75 | 65 | 60 | 60 |
| SC | 65 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
| ST/PwD | 55 | 45 | 55 | 55 |
IIM Indore
The section-wise CAT 2025 cutoff as well as the overall cutoff percentile required to get shortlisted and receive calls for IIM Indore PI round are mentioned in the table below.
| Category | QA | DILR | VARC | Overall |
| General | 80 | 80 | 80 | 90 |
| EWS | 80 | 80 | 80 | 90 |
| NC-OBC | 70 | 70 | 70 | 80 |
| SC | 55 | 55 | 55 | 60 |
| ST | 40 | 40 | 40 | 45 |
| PwD | 40 | 40 | 40 | 45 |
