IIMs may tweak admission process following changes in CAT 2021 eligibility criteria – Times of India

Revised criteria

Taking note of difficulties being faced by some of the aspirants, CAT Committee on August 18 announced some exceptional changes in eligibility criteria for CAT 2021.

According to the revised criteria, candidates with ‘promotion/pass’ instead of ‘award of marks’ certificates in any of the last two years of the bachelor’s programme can enter the ‘promotion or pass’ option in the application form. This will allow the candidate to complete and submit the application form despite the requirements of minimum eligibility criteria of 45% and 50% or equivalent CGPA for reserved and general category candidates, respectively.

The decision taken by CAT Committee, says IIM Udaipur admission officer, is aimed to address the difficulties being faced by students who have passed or about to finish their undergraduate degree in 2020 and 2021. “Though, post the revision in CAT 2021 eligibility criteria, each IIM should mould their admission policy,” says IIM Udaipur admission officer.

On why admission policy should be changed, IIM Udaipur admission officer reasons that while preparing final merit, list candidate’s academic performance in class X, XII and undergraduate is also given weightage. “In the absence of score obtained by a candidate, it will be difficult for us to ensure parity between candidates with and without marks,” he adds.

“To devise a new admission policy for better parity among the candidates with award of marks and with promotion or pass certificate, IIM Udaipur needs at least one or two months time to come to a conclusion,” he adds.

Present policy


Currently, IIM Udaipur prepares the final merit list based on CAT score (60%), personal appearance (15%) and profile (25%). Under the 25% component, the Institute gives 9% weightage to academic profile followed by work experience and diversity at 9% and 7% respectively.

For the academic profile, following is the maximum weightage – 2% for class X, 2% and 4% for class XII and undergraduate, respectively. Also, there is a 1% component for CA/CS/ICWA completed.


No impact on admission


Despite a minor change in CAT eligibility, Vinita Sahay, director, IIM Bodh Gaya, says that the latest change will not have a significant impact on admissions for the 2022 batch.

“To our understanding, no institution has given a pass or promoted certificate, instead of marks obtained to students. Irrespective of the formula followed, we have full respect for the marks given by the university or institute. IIM Bodh Gaya will continue to follow the same admission process,” says Sahay.