CAT 2026 Application Form: Last Date, Fees, Steps to Fill

Updated 13 September 2026. Facts below are as published on the official CAT website; always confirm on iimcat.ac.in before you pay.

CAT 2026 is conducted by IIM Indore. Registration opened on 3 August 2026 and closes on 15 September 2026 at 5:00 PM. IIMs have extended the deadline in some earlier years, but nothing has been announced for 2026, so treat 15 September as final. The exam is on 29 November 2026.

Register on the official CAT 2026 portal (iimcat.ac.in) →

CAT 2026 application form: key facts

Dates marked "expected" follow the official tentative schedule and can move. The registration deadline and fee are confirmed.

Who can fill the CAT 2026 form

• A bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% for SC, ST and PwD candidates).
• Final-year students can apply. You get provisional admission and must submit proof of completing the degree with the minimum marks by the date the IIMs specify, usually mid-2027.
• No upper age limit and no cap on the number of attempts.

Not sure which category or percentage rule applies to you? Read the full CAT 2026 eligibility guide and the reservation rules for CAT.

How to fill the CAT 2026 application form, step by step

1. Register. On iimcat.ac.in click "New Candidate Registration". Enter your name exactly as on your Class 10 certificate, date of birth, email and mobile. You receive a user ID and a one-time password on both. Use an email you check daily; every CAT communication goes there.
2. Log in and fill personal details. Category (with certificate details), PwD status, nationality and communication address. Category cannot be changed after submission, so pick carefully.
3. Academic details. Class 10, Class 12 and graduation percentages (or CGPA with the conversion your university uses), plus discipline and year of passing. Final-year candidates select "final year" and leave the graduation percentage as aggregate till date.
4. Work experience. Months of full-time experience after graduation, if any. Internships do not count. Several IIMs give weightage here, so enter the correct figure and be ready to show relieving letters at the interview stage.
5. Programme selection. Tick every IIM programme you may want. There is no extra fee per programme and you cannot add IIMs later.
6. Test-city preferences. Choose five cities in order of preference. Allotment is first-come, first-served within capacity, which is one more reason not to wait for the last day.
7. Upload photograph and signature. Specifications are in the next section. The portal rejects files outside them.
8. Pay the fee. ₹2,700 (General, EWS, NC-OBC) or ₹1,350 (SC, ST, PwD), online only, through net banking, debit or credit card, or UPI. Wait for the confirmation page; do not press back or refresh mid-payment.
9. Download the confirmation. Save the PDF of the submitted form and the payment receipt. You will need the application number for the admit card and later for every IIM's admission portal.

Documents and upload specifications

Keep these ready before you open the form. Most rejected forms fail at this step.

• Photograph: recent passport-style colour photo, plain background, no cap or sunglasses, 1,200 × 1,200 pixels or higher at a minimum of 150 pixels per inch.
• Signature: signed in black or blue ink on white paper, scanned at 80 mm × 35 mm, file size 80 KB or less. Do not sign in capital letters and do not use a digital font.
• Category certificate (SC, ST, NC-OBC, EWS) in the format the IIMs prescribe. NC-OBC and EWS certificates must be current for the year.
• PwD certificate and scribe details, if applicable.
• Class 10, Class 12 and graduation marksheets for the percentages you enter. Nothing is uploaded, but the numbers are verified at admission.
• Work-experience letters for the months you declare, again verified later.

Mistakes that get CAT forms rejected or corrected late

• Name spelt differently from the Class 10 certificate. The admit card and photo ID must match at the centre.
• Photo or signature outside the size and pixel limits. The form may accept the upload but the admit card will carry a distorted image.
• Wrong percentage-to-CGPA conversion. Use the formula your university publishes, not a generic 9.5 multiplier.
• Selecting only one or two IIM programmes to "focus". You lose calls you cannot add later.
• Waiting for the last day. The portal slows down and city capacity in metros fills up.
• Not saving the application number and password. Recovery takes days you may not have before the admit card.

CAT 2026 timeline after the form

You have registered. Now what?

Seventy-seven days remain between the registration deadline and the exam. That is enough to move two to three percentile bands if the time is structured. Start with the free CAT readiness assessment to see where you stand, build a schedule with the daily study planner, and take full-length mocks from the CAT test series every week from October. Use the CAT percentile predictor to convert mock scores into a target percentile, and check what that percentile buys you in the IIM cutoff guide.