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The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) reserves seats for candidates belonging to SC, ST, OBC, PwD, and EwS categories. The IIM reservation policy is made for those talented candidates who lack the resources to complete their education. As per the IIM Reservation Policy 2026, OBC is 27%, SC is 15%, ST is 7.5%, PwD is 5%, and EwS is 10%. Continue reading this article to learn the number of seats reserved for candidates from the reservation category and their cutoffs for IIM admission.
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Candidates can check out the percentage of IIM reservation seats for MBA admission given below:
| IIM Reservation Categories | IIM Reservation Percentage |
| IIM reservation for OBC (Non-creamy layer) | 27% |
| IIM reservation for SC (Schedule Caste) | 15% |
| IIM reservation for ST (Schedule Tribe) | 7.5% |
| Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) | 10% |
| PwD reservation in IIM (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) | 5% |
A “person with benchmark disability” means a person with not less than forty per cent (40%) of a specified disability where the specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms. Whereas a person with disabilities has a specified disability defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority.
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IIMs accept the CAT exam for admission to their MBA programmes. The CAT cut-off set by IIMs for MBA/PGDM admission varies from college to college. Candidates belonging to the reserved category can have a look at the range of IIM reservation cut-offs given below:
Category | CAT cut off (Percentile) |
OBC | 70 - 80 |
SC | 45 - 70 |
ST | 35 - 65 |
PwD | 30 - 60 |
EWS | 70 - 85 |
Candidates belonging to the IIM reservation quota category must upload their certificates as proof while filling out the CAT registration form.
The IIM admission policy does not revolve around a single exam or metric. Instead, it involves multiple stages, and the reservation policy applied at each step, which are mentioned below:
These are the first cut-offs that are released after CAT results and are roughly similar for all the IIMs. Each IIM will release their own shortlist based on minimum CAT percentile cutoffs. However, one must note that the cutoff is lower for reserve categories as compared to the General category.
Take a look at the following cutoffs, which we have listed for all the categories:
Category | Cutoff (Approx.) |
General | 98+ percentile |
NC-OBC | 90-92 percentile |
SC | 80-85 percentile |
ST | 70-72 percentile |
PwD (depends on the horizontal category) | 60-70 percentile |
Post the completion of the WAT-PI rounds, all IIMs will calculate the composite score for each category. It will include CAT percentile, academic scores, work experience, performance in WAT-PI and diversity factors. Each category will have its own merit list, meaning that candidates are only competing with others in their own reservation group.
The IIM seat allotment and waitlist movement will be based on the caste-based reservation policy as per the government-issued reservation policy. Post the release of the final offers, all candidates will need to either accept or reject the offer. Additionally, seats that remain empty due to rejections will then be offered to the next candidates on the category-wise waitlists. This will be done to maintain the reservation percentages.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes, IIMs provide IIM reservation quota for SC ST, OBC, PwD and EWS categories.
The minimum qualifying CAT cut off for reserved categories falls between 30 to 85 percentile.
As compared to general category and other few categories, IIM cut off for SC is between 40 to 70 percentile. So, it is easier for SCs to clear the minimum CAT cut off and get into IIMs.
The IIM reservation quota cut off for SC is 40-70 and ST is 35-65 percentile. The IIM Cut offs cary depends on the college.
No, IIMs do not provide any home state quota.
All IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) follow the government's reservation policy quotas for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backwards Classes (OBC), Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Persons with Disabilities (PwD). Specifically, 15% of seats are reserved for SC candidates, 7.5% for ST candidates and 27% of OBC candidates.
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