IIM Bangalore Cutoff 2026

IIM Bangalore's General category needs an 85 aggregate CAT percentile for the first shortlist, and its EWS category needs 75, the same as NC-OBC, not 85. Applicants who expect EWS to sit close to General read that pairing wrong. Both figures come from one table inside the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore's own PGP admission process document. It labels these as the IIM Bangalore cutoff for the batch of 2026-28, based on CAT 2025. The 2027-29 document carries the same table forward as a reference.

See the IIM Bangalore overview for the full admission picture beyond the cutoff. Will your percentile clear the bar? A percentile is not a raw score. It measures how many test-takers you outscored, not how many marks you scored. A 90 percentile means you outscored 90 of every 100 CAT candidates that year.

IIM Bangalore's cutoff table sets the floor for the first shortlist, not a seat. Clearing it earns you a place in that shortlist. The Personal Interview and the Written Ability Test still decide the final outcome.

IIM Bangalore's own PGP admission process document lists these cutoffs for the batch of 2026-28, based on CAT 2025. Its 2027-29 admission document carries them forward as a reference table, so the same percentile bar has now appeared across two published cycles.

What percentile do you need for IIM Bangalore, section by section? Clearing the aggregate alone is not enough. A General candidate needs 80 in VARC, 75 in DILR and 75 in QA simultaneously, alongside the 85 aggregate. Falling short on even one section, even with a strong aggregate, keeps a candidate out of the first shortlist under this table.

The gap between categories is the single biggest factor in whether a given percentile clears IIM Bangalore's first shortlist. A 75 aggregate percentile clears NC-OBC or EWS comfortably. It sits ten points above the ST bar, and ten points short of the General bar. The same test score produces four different outcomes, purely based on category. A percentile with no category attached tells a reader nothing useful about their own chances.

Will a 78 percentile get you into IIM Bangalore? Under General, no. Under NC-OBC or EWS, yes, since both clear comfortably above the 75 aggregate mark. Under SC, ST or PwD, yes as well, each clearing their own lower bar. The same number produces a different verdict for every category. That is exactly why IIM Bangalore, like every IIM, sets a category wise cutoff instead of one shared bar. IIM Bangalore also does not publish a closing rank the way an engineering seat allocation does. It works entirely in CAT percentile terms, not rank, so a "closing rank" question does not translate directly onto this admission process.

This is a labelled expectation, not a confirmed cutoff. IIM Bangalore's PGP 2027-29 admission process document, published in August 2026, reuses the 2026-28 batch's CAT 2025-based table above purely as a worked reference. CAT 2026 had not been held as of September 2026. Across the two published cycles, the General aggregate cutoff held at 85 and every category cutoff held at the figures above. Plan for a similar range, and treat it as an expectation rather than a published number.

Treat this table as a planning guide only. IIM Bangalore's actual CAT 2026-based cutoff for the 2027-29 batch will appear on its own official admissions page once shortlisting begins. That figure, not this reused reference table, is the one to act on.