CAT 2026 registration falls to 2.84 lakh, 3.7% down from last year; exam on Nov 29

The Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore) has closed the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2026 applications, with a total of 2.84 lakh candidates, registering for the MBA and management admissions at IIMs and other b-schools.

The CAT 2026 registration numbers are slightly lower than last year, when approximately 2.95 lakh candidates registered for the examination.

In 2025, around 2.95 lakh candidates registered for the CAT examination, of which 1.10 lakh were women, 1.85 lakh were men and nine were transfender candidates.

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CAT 2026 admit card on November 4

The computer-based CAT 2026 will be conducted on November 29 in three sessions. The CAT score will be used for admission to postgraduate management programmes at IIMs and other participating management colleges.

The college entrance test will be conducted for a duration of 120 minutes, and candidates will be given 40 minutes for answering questions in each section. Notably, students will not be allowed to switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section.

The CAT registration numbers have remained more than 2 lakh over the past several years. In 2024, IIM Calcutta conducted the CAT examination where 3.29 lakh candidates registered, while 2.93 lakh appeared.

Furthermore, the CAT 2023 recorded around 3.3 lakh registration, while 2.55 lakh applied for CAT 2022, and 2.31 lakh for 2021 edition.

In addition, IIM Indore is expected to issue the CAT 2026 admit card on November 4. Candidates will be able to download the exam hall ticket through the official website at iimcat.ac.in.