The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) was established as the first national institute for Post-Graduate studies and Research in Management by the Government of India in November 1961 in collaboration with Alfred P. Sloan School of Management (MIT), the Government of West Bengal, The Ford Foundation and Indian industry. During its initial years, several prominent faculty formed part of its nucleus, including Jagdish Sheth, J. K. Sengupta, among others.

Every year, thousands of aspiring management professionals aim to secure a seat in this prestigious institution. However, gaining admission to IIM Calcutta is no small feat, as the selection process is highly competitive. In this blog, we will explore the IIM Calcutta selection criteria, providing valuable insights to help you navigate the application process successfully.

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IIM Calcutta 2023-25 Final Converts

IIM Calcutta Selection Criteria – An Overview

IIM Calcutta takes a holistic approach to selection, focusing not only on academic excellence but also on various other attributes and qualities. The selection criteria consist of multiple stages, including:

1. CAT (Common Admission Test) Scores: The first hurdle for any candidate is to excel in the CAT examination, which is a common entrance test for all IIMs. IIM Calcutta shortlists candidates based on their CAT scores. A high percentile score is essential for securing an interview call.
2. Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI): Once shortlisted, candidates must participate in a Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) process. These stages assess your communication skills, knowledge, and personality. Preparing for WAT and PI is crucial to stand out in this competitive phase.
3. Academic Background: IIM Calcutta considers your academic performance, including your 10th, and 12th. While academic achievements are important, they are not the sole determining factor in the selection process.
4. Work Experience: If you have work experience, it is taken into account. IIM Calcutta values diversity, and candidates from various professional backgrounds can showcase their skills and contributions during the PI.
5. Gender Diversity: IIM Calcutta also strives to maintain gender diversity in its batches, and this can play a role in the selection process.
6. Academic and Gender Diversity Weightage: In the final selection, points are awarded for academic diversity and gender diversity to ensure a balanced cohort. These points are added to the overall score.

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IIM Calcutta Expected* CAT 2023 Score Calculator for WAT PI

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Preparing for IIM Calcutta Selection

1. CAT Preparation: Your journey begins with rigorous preparation for the CAT examination. Join a reputable coaching institute or opt for self-study, but be sure to dedicate enough time and effort to mastering the test.
2. WAT and PI Preparation: Work on your written communication skills and practice for interviews. Research commonly asked questions, refine your resume, and prepare stories that highlight your achievements, leadership, and teamwork.
3. Academic Excellence: If you're still an undergraduate student, focus on achieving high grades and mastering your coursework. For those with work experience, emphasize your achievements and contributions at your workplace.
4. Showcase Diversity: If you have a unique academic background, professional experience, or can contribute to gender diversity, make sure to highlight these aspects during the application process.

Admission Policy for the MBA Programme (Batch 2024-26) *

MBA Programme

The MBA Programme is a two-year full-time post-graduate degree course.

The MBA Programme has a two-tier structure: it consists of a core curriculum (compulsory credit courses and compulsory non-credit courses), a summer internship (compulsory industry training between first and second year) and elective courses (optional courses in the second year). The first year is committed to developing business fundamentals through compulsory courses spanning the areas of economics, finance, marketing, operations, systems, organizational behaviour, human resources, strategy and public policy. The second year offers a plethora of electives in different functional areas that students can choose based on their desired area of pursuit. Students aspiring to delve deeper into topics can undertake term papers under faculty supervision.

Please visit: https://www.iimcal.ac.in/programs/MBA for more information on the MBA Programme of the Institute.

Minimum Academic Eligibility for Admission to MBA Programme

A candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories], awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the bachelor’s degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the college/institution/university from where the candidate has obtained the degree. In case a candidate is awarded grades/CGPA instead of marks, the conversion of grades/CGPA to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the college/institution/university from where bachelor’s degree has been obtained. In case the college/institution/university confirms that they do not have any scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100.

For candidates who have completed an integrated masters or dual degree directly after their 12th/HSC, the percentage of marks obtained as per the college/institution/university which is considered as equivalent to the bachelor’s degree will be considered. In case the dual degree for UG and PG marks are not separated by the college/institution/university, the PG marks shall be considered as a UG marks for eligibility and used for deriving composite scores in any stage of admission process.

Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed the degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if he/she submits a certificate latest by June 30, 2024 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her college/institute/university (issued on or before June 30, 2024) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate. For candidates yet to complete the integrated masters or dual degree directly after the 12th/HSC, the aggregate percentage of marks obtained in all the years/semesters till Aug 3, 2023 will be considered.

Candidates who graduated in the years 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023, for whom the university did not conduct the exams or did not award marks or CGPA but awarded only pass or pass marks or promotion in one or more years/semesters of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification, can also apply. Such candidates will have to submit a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of his/her college/institute/university stating that they did not conduct the exams or did not award marks or CGPA but awarded only pass or pass marks or promotion in one or more years/semesters, as the case may be.

A candidate who has not received his/her graduation results at the time of registration will have to produce certificates and mark sheets in original along with the photocopies as soon as the respective college/institution/university publishes the results, but NOT LATER THAN DECEMBER 31, 2024, failing which his/her registration as a student of IIM Calcutta will be automatically cancelled and he/she will be required to withdraw from the MBA Programme forthwith. Any candidate who submits the mark sheets which do not clearly indicate that he/she has passed the Bachelor’s Degree course or equivalent, and also submits Provisional Certificate from an affiliated College/Institute would, in addition, be required to produce an authorization certificate from the University stating that such an affiliated college/institute is authorized/empowered to issue such a certificate on behalf of the University.

IIM Calcutta reserves its right to verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process. Applicants should note that mere fulfilment of minimum eligibility criteria will not ensure shortlisting by IIM Calcutta at the various stages of the admissions process.

Criteria for short listing and final selection for the MBA Programme

A. Shortlisting for Personal Interview (PI) and Writing Ability Test (WAT)

Candidates will be shortlisted based on CAT 2023 score and other parameters like academic performance and gender diversity.

Stage I: Minimum CAT percentile cut-offs to be considered for PI and WAT

In Stage I, candidates meeting the minimum requirements on both section-wise and overall percentiles in CAT 2023 as given in Table 1 will be shortlisted for consideration in Stage II, subject to securing non-negative raw scores in all sections of CAT 2023:

Table 1: Minimum requirements of CAT percentiles for Stage I

Category	Section – I Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)	Section – II Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR)	Section – III Quantitative Ability (QA)	Overall Percentile
OPEN	≥80	≥80	≥75	≥85
EWS	≥70	≥65	≥65	≥75
NC-OBC	≥70	≥65	≥65	≥75
SC	≥65	≥60	≥60	≥70
ST	≥55	≥55	≥55	≥65
PwD	≥45	≥45	≥45	≥55

Please note that the actual section-wise and overall percentile cut-offs may be much higher than the above-mentioned minimum percentiles as it will depend upon the number of candidates to be called for personal interview (PI) in each category.

Stage II: Shortlisting for PI and WAT

From the candidates satisfying the criteria of Stage-I, shortlisted candidates will be called for Personal Interview (PI) and Writing Ability Test (WAT) based on the composite score derived using the parameters and the corresponding weights as specified in Table 2.

Table 2: Parameters and corresponding weights for deriving composite scores for PI and WAT

Parameters	Weight	Method of Calculation
CAT 2023 Score*	56	(A/B) x 56
Class 10 marks	10	As per Table 3 below
Class 12 marks	15	As per Table 3 below
Gender Diversity Factor	4	4 points will be awarded for female and transgender candidates only.
Total	85
*A = Candidate’s CAT 2023 Total Overall Scaled Score & B = Maximum possible CAT 2023 Total Overall Scaled Score

IIM Calcutta has a highly inclusive academic environment and welcomes LGBTQ+ candidates.

Points for the marks secured in Class 10 and Class 12, respectively, will be allotted as per Table 3 below:

Table 3: Points for marks secured in Class 10 and Class 12

Class 10 Marks (in %)	Points	Class 12 Marks (in %)	Points
≥80	10	≥80	15
≥75 and <80	8	≥75 and <80	12
≥70 and <75	6	≥70 and <75	9
≥65 and <70	4	≥65 and <70	6
≥60 and <65	2	≥60 and <65	3
<60	0	<60	0

Computation of marks (in %) secured in Class 10 and 12

For computing the marks (in %) secured in Class 10 and Class 12, the aggregate marks of all subjects that appear in the mark sheet/grade sheet would be considered irrespective of whether the Board considers them for calculation of percentage or not.

After deriving the composite scores, composite cut-offs will be decided in each category for shortlisting candidates for Stage II of the selection process. The number of candidates to be shortlisted for PI and WAT in each category depends upon the size of the in-coming batch and would be at the sole discretion of the Institute.

Stage III: Criteria for Final Selection for the MBA Programme

For the candidates who have appeared for the PI and WAT, a composite score for final selection will be derived using the parameters and the corresponding weights listed in Table 4. This composite score will be used for preparation of category-wise merit list.

Table 4: Parameters and weights for final selection for the MBA Programme

Parameters	Weights
CAT 2023 Score*	30
Personal Interview (PI)	48
Writing Ability Test (WAT)	08
Points awarded for Academic Diversity at Bachelor’s and Master’s level for non-engineering degrees and professional qualifications as per Table 5.	06
Work Experience (as per the formula provided in the section on Work Experience)	08
Total	100
* As specified in Table - 2

Academic Diversity

The points for academic diversity shall be awarded as per the unique category in Table 5 that the candidate is identified as belonging to. These categories are intended to be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

Table 5: Points for Academic Diversity

Category ID	Academic Categories	Points
1	Bachelor's degree in engineering stream OR Master’s degree in engineering stream OR Integrated Master’s degree in engineering stream	0
2	Bachelor's degree in non-engineering stream	4
3	Dual bachelor’s degree in Law (e.g. BA LLB, BSc. LLB, B.Com LLB, BBA LLB).	5
4	Bachelor's degree in engineering stream and Masters in non-engineering stream	2
5	Bachelor's degree in non-engineering stream and Masters in non-engineering stream	5
6	Dual/Integrated degree where bachelors is non-engineering and masters is in non-engineering stream	5
7	Dual/Integrated degree where Bachelors is engineering stream and Masters is non-engineering stream	1
8	CA/ICWA/CS or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI) without having a bachelor’s degree.	5
9	CA/ICWA/CS or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI) with a bachelor’s degree.	6
10	CA/ICWA/CS or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI) with or without a bachelor’s degree, and with Masters in non-engineering stream.	6
11	Integrated bachelor’s degree in Law and Masters in non-engineering stream.	6

Category ID 4, 5, 9, 10, 11: Points will be awarded to only those candidates who have uploaded their relevant degree/course mark sheet at the time of filling up the MBA application form for personal interview. The mark sheet must clearly indicate that the candidate has passed the relevant degree/course.

Category ID 2, 3, 6, 7, 8: Points will be awarded to the candidates who have completed or are in the final year of the relevant degree/course. However, the candidates who are in the final year of their degree/course must submit a certificate latest by June 30, 2024 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her University/College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2024) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the degree/equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate. Such a candidate will have to produce certificates and mark sheets in original along with the photocopies as soon as the respective University/Institute publishes the results, but NOT LATER THAN DECEMBER 31, 2024, failing which his/her registration as a student of IIM Calcutta will be automatically cancelled and he/she will be required to withdraw from the MBA Programme forthwith.

Work Experience

For work experience, a maximum of eight points will be awarded based on the length of service, represented as x, (in completed months) as on January 31, 2024 as per the formula below. Only work experience after the completion of the bachelor’s degree will be considered for this calculation. Internship/apprenticeship/articleship/training/project/work done as an integral part of curricular requirement or any type of unpaid work will not be considered. The work experience claimed by the candidate must be supported by a letter from the employer(s) with authorized signatory on company letterhead stating the start date, end date, position/designation, and a brief description of the role/responsibility. It is necessary to submit the payslip(s) from each employer(s). For self-employed and family businesses, proof of company registration/relevant licenses/taxes paid are to be furnished in case payslip is not available.

Points for Work Experience

B.Final Selection for MBA Programme

The final selection list will be based on merit in each category; minimum eligibility in any of the above mentioned stages or criteria would not automatically qualify the candidate for admission into IIM Calcutta. Any misrepresentation of information by the candidates shall disqualify the application and any further action is at the sole discretion of IIM Calcutta.

Reservation Policy:

IIM Calcutta will apply the Government of India reservation policy for admission to Central Educational Institutions (CEIs).

Kindly note that as per the provisions of The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act 2016), 5% seats are reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD). “Person with Benchmark Disability” means a person with not less than forty percent (40%) of a specified disability where a specified disability has not been defined in measurable terms and includes a person with disability where the specified disability has been defined in measurable terms, as certified by the certifying authority. “Specified disability” means the disabilities as specified in the Schedule of the RPwD Act 2016. The categories of disability are: (a) Blindness and low vision (b) Deaf and hard of hearing (c) Locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy. (d) Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness (e) Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d), (f) Other ‘specified disabilities’ mentioned in ‘The Schedule’ of the RPwD Act 2016.

For the purpose of being considered for reservations, a valid certificate as per the applicable Central Government list is to be furnished during the Personal Interview.

Any dispute concerning Admissions for the MBA Batch 2024-26 would be subject to jurisdiction of the competent courts within the territorial jurisdiction of the city of Kolkata only.

IMPORTANT
Any possible disruptions such as COVID-19 can impact the MBA admission process of IIM Calcutta. The information as specified in the Admission Policy is subject to the advisories and guidelines of Central and State  Governments during the admission process for 2024-26 Batch.

* Minor changes expected

The IIM Calcutta selection criteria are designed to identify individuals who possess not only strong academic backgrounds but also the skills and qualities needed to excel in the world of business and management. Success in this competitive process requires careful preparation, a commitment to excellence, and a well-rounded approach.

While the journey to securing a seat at IIM Calcutta may be challenging, it is a transformative experience that can open doors to a world of opportunities and personal growth. Remember, the admissions committee seeks individuals who can contribute meaningfully to the IIM Calcutta community and beyond. So, be yourself, present your best self, and let your unique qualities shine through.

Good luck on your journey to IIM Calcutta, and may you find success and fulfillment in your pursuit of a world-class management education!