CAT 2026 Notification Is Out: Exam Date, Eligibility, Fees and Everything Else You Need to Know
The CAT 2026 notification is officially out. If you're planning to write CAT this year, or you're a CAT 2027 aspirant wanting to see how the exam is structured well ahead of time, this is the one post worth bookmarking. Everything below is taken directly from the official CAT 2026 Information Bulletin, exam date, eligibility, fees, reservation policy, and the full registration timeline, organized in one place instead of scattered across a 20-page PDF.
CAT 2026 Key Dates
- Registration opens at 10:00 AM on August 3, 2026, and closes at 5:00 PM on September 15, 2026.
- The admit card download window runs from November 4 to November 29, 2026.
- The CAT 2026 exam date itself is Sunday, November 29, 2026, held in three sessions.
- Results are likely to be declared in the first week of January, 2027, and the score stays valid until December 31, 2027.
CAT 2026 is a computer-based test conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management, held across roughly 170 test cities in three sessions on the same day. It's the entry point for admission to management programmes at 22 participating IIMs, IIM Guwahati was added to the list last year, and several non-IIM institutions also accept CAT scores, though IIMs have no role in how those non-IIM institutions run their own selection.
Eligibility Criteria
You need a Bachelor's Degree with at least 50% marks or the equivalent CGPA, 45% for SC, ST and PwBD candidates, from a university recognized under Indian law or an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of Education. If your CGPA needs converting to a percentage, that conversion follows your own university's certified procedure, and if no such scheme exists, the standard formula applies, your CGPA divided by the maximum possible CGPA, multiplied by 100.
You qualify if you meet any one of these three conditions. You've completed a Bachelor's degree with the required percentage, or you've completed a professional degree, CA, CS, ICWA (CMA), or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India, with the required percentage, or you're currently in the final year of a Bachelor's degree and meet the required percentage so far.
If you're in your final year or awaiting results, you can still apply, but admission is provisional until you submit a certificate from your Principal or Registrar confirming you've completed all degree requirements, by whatever date the admitting IIM sets. Meeting minimum eligibility gets you in the door, it doesn't guarantee a shortlist, and IIMs can verify your eligibility at multiple stages of the process.
Reservation Policy
Seats are reserved as follows. Scheduled Caste (SC) gets 15%, Scheduled Tribe (ST) gets 7.5%, Other Backward Classes Non-Creamy Layer (NC-OBC) gets 27%, Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) gets up to 10%, and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) gets 5%.
The applicable Central Government reservation list, as it stands on the last date of CAT registration, is the one that's binding, no changes after that point apply to CAT 2026 or later selection processes. Reserved category candidates still have to meet minimum eligibility and performance standards, reservation status doesn't waive those. Once you select your category at registration, it can't be changed afterward, so it's worth being careful at that step specifically.
If you're applying under SC, ST, NC-OBC, EWS or PwBD, you need to upload the relevant certificate at the time of registration itself, skipping this gets your registration rejected outright. NC-OBC certificates need to be issued on or after April 1, 2026, and EWS certificates need to be valid for 2026 to 2027 and specifically assessed for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. If your certificate application is still pending, there's a provision for that too, you can upload a single PDF containing a filled undertaking, your older certificate from before April 1, 2026, and proof that you've actually applied for the new one.
Registration and Fees
The registration fee is Rs. 1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates, and Rs. 2,700 for all other candidates.
This fee is paid once, regardless of how many institutes you apply to, and it's non-refundable once paid, no exceptions. At registration, you'll select five preferred test cities, one gets allotted to you after the registration window closes, based on availability, and if none of your five preferences works out, you'll be allotted whatever's nearest instead.
Test Centres
CAT 2026 will run across roughly 170 test cities. The list of cities goes up on the official CAT website, and your specific test centre shows up on your admit card once that's released. Worth knowing, IIMs reserve the right to add, remove or change any test centre or city, and even shift the test date or time, entirely at their own discretion.
Admission Process
Each IIM sets its own eligibility criteria, its own academic cutoffs, and runs its own independent selection process, so your CAT score is an important factor but never the only one. Prior academic performance, relevant work experience, and other inputs can all factor into shortlisting depending on the specific IIM. The right move is checking each IIM's own admissions policy directly on its website, since requirements genuinely vary institute to institute.
A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Register
Any incorrect information or process violation discovered at any point leads to immediate disqualification, and can bar you from appearing for CAT in future years entirely, even if it's only discovered after the fact. You're required to declare and maintain a valid, unique email address and mobile number for the entire selection process, this gets mentioned multiple times in the official bulletin because it genuinely matters, that's how you'll be contacted at every stage. And any dispute related to CAT 2026 falls specifically under the jurisdiction of courts within Indore, worth knowing if it's ever relevant to you.
Start Preparing Now
With registration opening August 3 and the exam itself on November 29, there's real time on the table right now, and how you use it matters more than how much of it there is. GRADSKOOL's FYQ Challenge is releasing 792 original CAT-level questions between now and CAT, one every 3 hours, so there's genuinely no better time to start than today.
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This summary is based on the official CAT 2026 Information Bulletin. Always cross-check exact dates, fees and eligibility on the official CAT website, iimcat.ac.in, before making any decisions, since official updates or corrections take precedence over any third-party summary, including this one.
Abhishek Leela Pandey
Founder of GRADSCALE and the educator behind GRADSKOOL, where he has taught CAT, IPMAT and XAT preparation directly to thousands of aspirants. GRADSCALE's daily execution structure comes directly from that classroom experience.
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