NMAT Cutoff 2026
Cutoff
Your NMAT scaled score gets weighed against real institute cutoff estimates here. GMAC does not set one universal NMAT cutoff, so each institute decides its own. Every number below is a tracker's estimate, clearly labelled as one.
NMAT Cutoff 2026: Key Highlights
NMAT reports a scaled score, not a percentile. That score runs from 36 to 360, and it is what institutes actually shortlist you on.
Individual institutes decide their own cutoff or shortlisting threshold, and most have not made theirs public for 2026. What follows are independent estimates from trackers, not confirmed institute figures.
36-360
Total scaled score range
Sum of three sections, 12-120 each
Institute-set
Every institute figure below is an estimate
GMAC sets no universal cutoff; each institute sets its own
209-235+
NMIMS Mumbai estimated cutoff
Scaled score, trackers diverge, see table below
60
NMAT-accepting institutes in India
GMAC's official list, 2026 cycle
Sixty institutes accept this one score. Only a handful have usable cutoff estimates at all, and that is the field this page actually narrows.
| NMAT Exam Features | NMAT Exam Details |
|---|---|
| Conducting Body | Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) |
| Exam Level | National |
| Exam Frequency | Once a year (October-December window) |
| Exam Mode | Computer based |
| Exam Duration | 2 hours |
| Total Marks | 360 marks |
| Question Types | MCQs |
| Marking Scheme | +3 for correct answer, no negative marking |
| Languages | English |
| Exam Purpose | Admission to MBA and PGDM programmes |
| Official Website | www.nmat.org |
NMAT 2026 Expected Cutoff: Institute-Wise Scaled Score
Four institutes have independent cutoff estimates worth acting on. None of these numbers come from GMAC or the institute itself. Read them as a planning range, not a guarantee.
| Institute | Estimated Cutoff (Scaled Score) | Source-note |
|---|---|---|
| NMIMS Mumbai | 209-235+ | Independent estimate, trackers diverge (see note below) |
| K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai | 220-230 | Independent estimate, not institute-confirmed |
| TAPMI Manipal | 220-230 | Independent estimate, not institute-confirmed |
| XIM University, Bhubaneswar | 220-230 | Independent estimate, not institute-confirmed |
NMIMS Mumbai is the one to read carefully. Estimates dated May 2026 put its cutoff near 235+. Estimates dated August 2026 put it closer to 209. Both are current for this cycle, and they still do not agree. Treat NMIMS Mumbai's real range as 209 to 235+, since the institute may never publish its own number.
These are estimates, not official cutoffs
Institutes decide their own cutoff or shortlisting threshold, and most have not published theirs for 2026. Every figure here comes from an independent tracker, cross-checked but not institute-confirmed.
NMAT 2026 Cutoff: Category-Wise Details
NMAT is not a government-regulated exam. It carries no GMAC-mandated reservation-category cutoff system the way a state CET or an all-India government exam does. GMAC itself sets no category-wise cutoff at all.
You will often see a 45% bachelor's-marks relaxation quoted for SC/ST/PwD candidates, against a general requirement of 50%. That figure is not a GMAC rule. It is a common eligibility norm. Many institutes apply it on their own, at the admission stage, not the exam stage.
Because GMAC leaves this entirely to each institute, category-based relaxation varies from one accepting institute to another. There is no single national structure to assume here. The NMAT registration process does not follow one common relaxation policy across all participating institutes.
Check the institute, not one general rule
NMAT itself has no reservation-category cutoff. Any SC/ST/PwD relaxation, where it exists, is set by the individual institute's own admission policy, so verify it on that institute's page directly.
NMAT 2026 Sectional Cutoff
No NMAT-accepting institute is confirmed to publish a sectional cutoff. If one exists at a specific institute, it has not surfaced in official or well-corroborated sources.
Your Score Card does show three sectional scaled scores: Language Skills, Quantitative Skills and Logical Reasoning, each out of 120. Institutes could, in principle, look at that split. Based on available information, though, your total scaled score out of 360 is what institutes primarily use for shortlisting.
If you see a claimed sectional cutoff for an institute elsewhere, treat it as unverified. Confirm it only on that institute's own admission page.
NMAT 2026 Scaled Score vs Percentile
Your official Score Card centers on scaled scores, sectional and total. GMAC also publishes a separate percentile-rankings table on mba.com that converts a total scaled score into a percentile.
The reason the two numbers work differently traces back to how NMAT is built. It is a computer-adaptive test taken across a seven-week rolling window, not one shared exam day. Question difficulty adjusts to each candidate in real time, and candidates sit the exam on different dates, drawing different question sets from a larger pool. GMAC's percentile-rankings table is built from its broader pool of NMAT test-takers, not a same-day rank against everyone who tested alongside you.
Institutes can shortlist on either the scaled score or the percentile from that table. Which one a given institute uses is that institute's own choice.
Independent trackers also back-estimate a rough percentile-equivalent, working backward from institute cutoff patterns. Treat that as a rough guide only, since GMAC's own percentile-rankings table is the one to check for an actual percentile. The NMAT answer key is not a substitute for this official percentile data.
GMAC's percentile-rankings table is the official conversion
For an actual percentile, check GMAC's own percentile-rankings table on mba.com. An independent tracker's percentile-equivalent estimate is a rough guide only, not a GMAC figure.
NMAT Cutoff 2026 for Top MBA Colleges
Here is the same estimate table again, with what each range actually means for where your score stands.
| Institute | Estimated Cutoff (Scaled Score) | What it likely means for you |
|---|---|---|
| NMIMS Mumbai | 209-235+ | A score near 210 keeps you in range by the lower estimate, but not by the higher one. Above 235 clears it by either tracker's reading. |
| K J Somaiya Institute of Management, Mumbai | 220-230 | A score below 220 realistically rules this out, going by these estimates. Above 230 clears it comfortably. |
| TAPMI Manipal | 220-230 | Same band as K J Somaiya. A score in the low 200s keeps this out of reach on current estimates. |
| XIM University, Bhubaneswar | 220-230 | Also in the 220-230 band. A score of 230 or higher clears all four institutes on this table. |
A score of 230 or above, by these estimates, keeps all four institutes open. A score under 210 narrows the field sharply. NMIMS Mumbai's own lower estimate is still worth checking before you rule it out. Remember, all four numbers are independent estimates, not confirmed cutoffs.
NMAT 2026 Cutoff: Previous Year Trends
There is no confirmed, year-by-year NMAT cutoff dataset behind this page. A multi-year cutoff trend table would need real historical figures, tracked the same way every year. That data was not verifiable here. Rather than build one, here is what is actually known.
NMAT's exam structure did not change between the 2025 and 2026 cycles. Same three sections, same 120-minute total time, same marking approach. That stability matters for how you read a cutoff estimate. Last cycle's cutoff pattern is still a reasonable reference point this year. There is just no official multi-year release to line it up against.
Your own NMAT score, once you have it, stays valid for one application cycle only. It is not carried forward the way some other exam scores are. Treat an older cycle's cutoff estimate as background context, not this year's number.
Factors Determining NMAT Cutoff 2026
A cutoff estimate is not a fixed number. It moves with a small set of factors. Knowing them helps you judge how much weight to put on any single figure.
Number of applicants
More candidates chasing the same seats pushes an institute's effective cutoff up. NMAT's exam window runs across seven weeks, 2 November to 20 December 2026, so the applicant pool builds up gradually rather than arriving on one single test day.
Seat intake
A smaller batch size at an institute naturally tightens its cutoff, since the same or a larger applicant pool is competing for fewer seats.
Sectional performance balance
NMAT reports three separate sectional scaled scores, not just the total out of 360. Some institutes may weigh whether your performance is balanced across Language Skills, Quantitative Skills and Logical Reasoning, though no institute in the confirmed data publishes a fixed sectional cutoff for this.
Institute's own selectivity
A more selective institute, by its own placement record, NIRF rank or reputation, sets a higher cutoff regardless of that year's applicant pool. NMIMS Mumbai, ranked 24 nationally in NIRF Management 2025, sits at the higher end of the estimate ranges here largely for this reason.
Commonly asked questions
Answers to what readers ask most often.
Q: What is a good NMAT score for 2026?
A scaled score of 220 or higher, out of the 36-360 range, opens most of the institutes tracked here, going by independent cutoff estimates. NMIMS Mumbai's own estimated range runs wider, from 209 to 235+, depending on which estimate you read. Data Sources: mba.com/exams/nmat/nmat-schools.
Q: Is 220 a good NMAT score for NMIMS?
A 220 sits above the lower estimate of 209 for NMIMS Mumbai and below the higher estimate of 235+. NMIMS has not published an official cutoff. NMIMS also uses your first valid attempt only and runs its own Stage 2 after shortlisting, so the NMAT score is one part of the final result. Data Sources: mba.com/exams/nmat/nmat-schools.
Q: Is there a percentile-based cutoff for NMAT?
The institute cutoff estimates here are set against the scaled score, not a percentile. GMAC does separately publish a percentile-rankings table, but the shortlisting estimates here use scaled scores. Data Sources: support.mba.com, mba.com/exams/nmat/scores/percentile-rankings.
Q: Does NMAT have a sectional cutoff?
No NMAT-accepting institute is confirmed to publish a sectional cutoff. Institutes primarily use the total scaled score out of 360 for shortlisting, based on available information. Data Sources: mba.com/exams/nmat/nmat-schools.
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