CAT 2026 registrations at 2.84 lakh, minor dip from last year’s 3.29 lakh

For the 2026 Common Admission Test (CAT), the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore has reported that 2.84 lakh candidates have registered, a slight decrease from the 3.29 lakh registrations in the previous year. CAT 2026 will be conducted in three slots, and the exam results are utilized for admissions to postgraduate management programs offered by IIMs and various other business schools.

In the 2025 exam, administered by IIM Kozhikode, 2.58 lakh candidates registered, with 1.10 lakh female, 1.85 lakh male, and nine transgender applicants. The gender distribution for CAT 2025 was similar to that of the 2024 exam conducted by IIM Calcutta, where 0.97 lakh women, 1.61 lakh men, and nine transgender candidates appeared.

The highest number of registrations in CAT history occurred in 2023, with 3.3 lakh candidates signing up, followed by 2.88 lakh participants in the 2023 exam. Over the past few years, the registration numbers for CAT have consistently stayed above the two-lakh mark. Post CAT 2025, individual IIMs release shortlists for further admission rounds based on CAT scores and other admission policy criteria.