How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2025? Registration, Attendance % and Year-Wise Trends

How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2025? Registration, Attendance % and Year-Wise Trends

Alen Tom ShajiUpdated on 13 Dec 2025, 01:07 PM IST

As per the recent notification, 2.58 Lakhs candidates appeared for the CAT 2025. This is almost 35 thousand less than that of previous years. At the same time, 2.95 lakh candidates were registered for CAT 2025 this year, which is also 34 thousand fewer candidates than last year. The overall CAT 2025 attendance was approximately 87.46%. MBA aspirants who wish to do management courses in the top reputed B-schools like IIMs, IITs, or any other private and public universities were required to appear for the CAT exam on November 30. The CAT is one of the most important MBA entrance exams every MBA aspirant attends. Explore the article to learn more about how many students take the CAT exam every year.

This Story also Contains

  1. How Many Students Gave the CAT 2025 Exam?
  2. Previous CAT Exam Trends: CAT 2024 vs CAT 2023 vs CAT 2022 vs CAT 2021 vs CAT 2020
  3. MBA colleges accepting the CAT 2025 exam
How Many Students Appeared for CAT 2025? Registration, Attendance % and Year-Wise Trends
How Many Students Give CAT Exam Every Year

How Many Students Gave the CAT 2025 Exam?

The total number of students successfully registered for CAT 2025 is 2.95 Lakhs. The CAT 2025 was conducted by IIM Kozhikode on November 30, 2025. The number of CAT registrations 2025 and the total count of students participating in the CAT exam are mentioned here.

Total CAT 2025 Registrations

2. 95 Lakh

Number of students attending the CAT 2025 exam

2.58 Lakhs
% of students attended CAT 202587.46%

Also Read: How Many Students Clear the CAT Exam Every Year?

Previous CAT Exam Trends: CAT 2024 vs CAT 2023 vs CAT 2022 vs CAT 2021 vs CAT 2020

Last year, IIM Calcutta conducted the CAT 2024 entrance, and 2.93 lakh candidates appeared for the CAT out of 3.29 lakh registrations. Check out the last five years' CAT exam attendance to understand how the trends have changed this year.

How Many Students Took the CAT Exam: Previous Years' Data

Year

CAT Conducting IIMs

Total CAT registrations

Total Students Appeared for the CAT exam

2024IIM Calcutta3.29 Lakhs2.93 Lakhs

2023

IIM Lucknow

3.28 lakhs

2.88 lakh

2022

IIM Bangalore

2.55 lakhs

2.22 lakh

2021

IIM Ahmedabad

2.30 lakhs

1.90 lakh

2020

IIM Indore

2.30 lakhs

1.90 lakh

MBA colleges accepting the CAT 2025 exam

The total number of colleges accepting CAT scores is around 1000+. There are 21 IIMs, 8 IITs, and other premium B-schools run by public or private. Candidates will be called for a written test, GD, or PI for the final selection, based on their performance in the CAT exam. Top MBA colleges accepting CAT results are mentioned in the tables below.

List of IIMs, Number of Seats, and Fee

Table below contains the list of IIMs along with their fees and number of seats for the MBA admissions 2026. The seats and fees are subject to change as per the latest admission policy of each IIM.

IIMs Accepting CAT

Number of Seats

IIM Fee

IIM Ahmedabad

402

Rs. 25 lakh

IIM Bangalore

535

Rs. 24.50 lakh

IIM Calcutta

475

Rs. 31 lakh

IIM Lucknow

576

Rs. 14.16 lakh

IIM Kozhikode

375

Rs. 20.50 lakh

IIM Indore

489

Rs. 16 lakh

IIM Trichy

-

Rs. 21 lakh

IIM Amritsar

262

Rs. 17.30 lakh

IIM Rohtak

257

Rs. 17.9 lakh

IIM Bodhgaya

326

Rs. 8.85 lakh

IIM Sambalpur

316

Rs. 10 lakh

IIM Sirmaur

297

Rs. 10.34 lakh

IIM Jammu

-

Rs. 11.5 lakh

IIM Ranchi

250
-

IIM Raipur

314

Rs. 14.20 lakh

IIM Kashipur

463

Rs. 13.15 lakh

IIM Shillong

395

Rs. 19 lakh

IIM Udaipur

330

Rs. 13.25lakh

IIM Nagpur

356

Rs. 12.10lakh

IIM Visakhapatnam

344

Rs. 12 lakh

List of IITs Accepting CAT Scores

Apart from IIMs, IITs are also known for their MBA courses, IIT colleges with their number of seats for management course are mentioned in the following table.

IITs Offering MBA Admission

Total Seat Intake

IIT Delhi

115

IIT Bombay

152

IIT Kharagpur

200

IIT Madras

70

IIT Roorkee

95

IIT Dhanbad

92

IIT Kanpur

78

Top Colleges Accepting CAT Score between 90-100 Percentile

Apart from IIMs and IITs, the list of colleges accepting the 90-100 percentile of CAT scores is listed below.

Best MBA colleges accepting CAT percentile 90-100

Course Fees

Faculty of Management Studies

Rs. 2.45 Lakhs

MDI Gurgaon

Rs. 24.16 lakh

Institute of Management Technology (Ghaziabad)

Rs. 19.53 lakh

IMI Delhi

Rs. 20 lakh

JBIMS Mumbai

Rs. 2 lakh

SPJIMR, Mumbai

Rs. 24 lakh

SDA Bocconi Mumbai

Rs. 20 lakh

How many seats are there in the CAT exam?

The total number of seats available at IIMs is around 7500 and for IITs, it is 760. The majority of the MBA colleges in India accept the CAT marks for management course admissions. The total number of MBA seats available in India is 15000+. Candidates who achieve CAT cutoff marks above the 90 percentile can join any of the top B-schools in India.

Check out: IIM vs IIT MBA: Which one to choose?

What is the success rate of CAT?

Around 2 to 3 lakh candidates appear for the CAT exam every year. The difficulty level of the CAT exam is higher to select the eligible candidates based on their logical, analytical, mathematical, and language skills. So, the success rate of the CAT exam is only 2 percent. This means only 2 candidates out of 100 will clear the CAT exam with decent scores.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How many students fill the CAT 2025 form?
A:

Around 2. 95 lakh applicants who completed the 3 year's bachelor's degree from an approved university have applied for the CAT 2025 exam.

Q: What is the success rate of the CAT exam?
A:

The success rate of the CAT exam is nearly 2%, which means only 2 out of every 100 students clear the CAT exam.

Q: How many candidates appeared for CAT 2024 exam?
A:

Around 2.93 lakh candidates appeared for CAT 2024 out of 3.29 lakh registered candidates.

Q: How many candidates appear for the CAT exam every year?
A:

Looking at past years' trends, approximately 2 to 3 lakh candidates appear for the CAT exam every year.

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

Hello,

Here are some top colleges accepting XAT and CAT exams :

Top colleges accepting CAT:

  • IIMs (All Indian Institutes of Management)

  • FMS Delhi

  • SPJIMR Mumbai

  • MDI Gurgaon

  • IIT Bombay (SJMSOM)

  • IIT Delhi (DMS)

  • IIFT

  • IMT Ghaziabad

  • JBIMS Mumbai

Top colleges accepting XAT:

  • XLRI Jamshedpur

  • XIMB Bhubaneswar

  • IMT Ghaziabad

  • Great

Hi there,

A female candidate with a CAT percentile of 67.97 and low sectional scores should target private and tier-2/3 B-schools that accept overall CAT scores in the 60–70 percentile range and have flexible sectional criteria.

Some suitable options include AIMS Institute Bangalore, Doon Business School Dehradun, Christ Institute of

Hi there,

Yes, you are eligible for XISS Ranchi with a CAT percentile of 67.60.

According to recent admission trends, the CAT cutoff for the PGDM in Human Resource Management for the general category has been around 60 percentile. For other programs such as Marketing, Finance, and Rural Management, the

Hi there,

Careers360 offers a wide range of eBooks and study materials to assist with CAT preparation. You can access past CAT question papers with solutions to understand the exam pattern and difficulty level. Additionally, there are quantitative aptitude handbooks, cheat sheets, and section-specific practice sets for arithmetic, algebra, and

Hi there,

The minimum eligibility criteria for a general candidate to receive a call from IIM Sambalpur are as follows:
VARC: 65%ile
QUANTS: 65%ile
LRDI: 65%ile
Overall: 90%tile
Keep practising and aim to improve your score. You can also focus on other management exams where you may secure a strong