{"id":2857,"date":"2026-06-25T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catmock.com\/blog\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2026-06-25T17:20:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:50:05","slug":"reservation-policies-in-iim-admissions-complete-breakdown-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catmock.com\/blog\/reservation-policies-in-iim-admissions-complete-breakdown-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Reservation Policies in IIM Admissions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Complete Breakdown 2026<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Table of Contents: –<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 2. IIM Reservation Policy: Quick Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 3. Category-wise Reservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 4. How the Admission Funnel Works for Each Category<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 5. Category-wise CAT Cutoffs Across IIMs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 6. Eligibility, Certificates & Documentation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 7. EWS Reservation: Rules and Common Confusions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 8. PwD Reservation: How the 5% Horizontal Quota Works<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 9.  Changes & Trends in IIM Reservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every year, lakhs of students from different regions of India take the Common Admission Test (CAT) in order to get admission to one of the 21 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). However, percentile does not entirely determine the path to an IIM seat.. India’s constitutionally mandated reservation system, which reserves seats for candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backwards Classes-Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL), Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), and Persons with Disabilities (PwD), governs a major number of seats at each IIM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IIMs follow the central educational reservation rules and the Indian government’s reservation policy because they are centrally sponsored technical and management institutions. This implies that a candidate’s category can directly affect the required CAT percentile, the composition of the merit list, and ultimately the seat offer itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is crucial for candidates from reserved categories to comprehend this structure in order to plan their CAT strategy, as well as for candidates from general categories who wish to see an accurate representation of the number of seats they are competing for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article breaks down the IIM reservation policy in detail \u2014 percentages, eligibility, documentation, reservation, cutoff trends, and the most common doubts aspirants have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IIM Reservation Policy: Quick Overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Category<\/strong><\/td>Reservation %<\/strong><\/td>Basis<\/strong><\/td>Certificate Required<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
General (Unreserved)<\/td>~40.5%<\/td>Open merit, no reservation<\/td>Not applicable<\/td><\/tr>
OBC-NCL<\/td>  27%    <\/td>Central List of Backward Classes, non-creamy layer<\/td>OBC-NCL certificate (govt. format)<\/td><\/tr>
SC<\/td>15%<\/td>Scheduled Castes as per Presidential Order<\/td>Caste certificate<\/td><\/tr>
ST<\/td>7.5%<\/td>Scheduled Tribes as per Presidential Order<\/td>Tribe certificate<\/td><\/tr>
EWS<\/td>10%<\/td>Family income below \u20b98 lakh\/year; not covered under SC\/ST\/OBC<\/td>Income & Asset Certificate<\/td><\/tr>
PwD (horizontal)<\/td>5%<\/td>Benchmark disability \u2265 40% under RPwD Act, 2016<\/td>Disability certificate<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*Table 1: Category-wise reservation overview applicable across all IIMs (2026 admission cycle).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approx. 40.5% of IIM seats are available for general category students to compete on open merit, with the remaining 59.5% allocated for SC, ST, OBC-NCL, and EWS groups. A horizontal 5% PwD reserve on top of this vertical reservation spans all categories, thus the system counts a PwD candidate from, say, the OBC category within the OBC quota itself rather than as a separate block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Category-wise Reservation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each reservation category at the IIMs roots itself in a specific government policy or constitutional provision as:-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Scheduled Castes (SC) \u2014 15%<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

SC reservation serves as a constitutional provision aimed at ensuring representation for historically disadvantaged caste groups. A valid SC certificate, issued by a competent authority (District Magistrate, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Tehsildar, etc.) in the candidate’s state of residence, is mandatory at the time of CAT registration and again during document verification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheduled Tribes (ST) \u2014 7.5%<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

ST reservation applies to communities notified as Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution. As with SC candidates, the tribe and the candidate’s state\/district of residence must match the Presidential Order list for that state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OBC \u2014 Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) \u2014 27%<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

This is the single largest reservation block. It applies only to candidates from the Central List of OBCs who fall outside the \u201ccreamy layer\u201d income\/status threshold defined by the National Commission for Backward Classes. The OBC-NCL certificate must be recent (typically issued within the validity window specified in the CAT notification) since family income can change OBC status, unlike SC\/ST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) \u2014 10%<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The authorities introduced it recently to extend reservation benefits on economic grounds to candidates not covered under SC\/ST\/OBC; EWS reservation requires an Income & Asset Certificate confirming the family’s gross annual income is below \u20b98 lakh, along with limits on land and property holdings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persons with Disabilities (PwD) \u2014 5%, horizontal<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

PwD reservation remains horizontal rather than vertical \u2014 stakeholders carve it out within each category (General, OBC, SC, ST, EWS) rather than creating a separate sixth block.A PwD candidate must have a benchmark disability of 40% or more as certified under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the Admission Funnel Works for Each Category?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A common misunderstanding among candidates is that reservations only apply to the final seat allotment. In reality, category influences several stages of the IIM admissions process, from the qualifying cutoff to the final merit list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the CAT exam stage, all candidates, regardless of category, write the same paper under the identical conditions. Reservation becomes relevant only after the results are announced, when each IIM publishes separate qualifying cutoffs and creates separate merit lists for General, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS, and PwD students. This ensures that a candidate from a reserved category is evaluated inside their own category pool rather than throughout the whole applicant pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) stages, the process is mostly consistent across categories, however academic and diversity score components may interact in subtle ways (for example, gender diversity bonuses are independent of caste\/economic category). Each IIM again does the final selection category-wise, filling its General, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and EWS quotas separately from their respective merit lists, with PwD candidates drawn proportionately from within each of those lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Category-wise CAT Cutoffs Across IIMs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


Category-wise cutoff relaxations vary yearly with CAT difficulty, applicant numbers, and IIM policies, though overall trends remain broadly consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      *Indicative qualifying CAT percentile cutoffs by category (recent admission cycle trend).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few trends are highlighted here as First, older and more selective IIMs such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Lucknow maintain relatively high cutoffs even for reserved categories, owing to the candidate pool’s greater competitiveness. Second, because the proportional number of reserved-category applicants for those institutes is lower, there is a significantly bigger difference between General and ST cutoffs at newer IIMs. Clearing the qualifying cutoff is merely the first step; the percentile at which a candidate receives a WAT-PI call is often greater than the minimum cutoff listed in admission brochures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also important to remember that nearly every IIM enforces sectional cutoffs in VARC, DILR, and QA in addition to the overall percentile. A candidate from a reserved category who clears the relaxed overall cutoff but misses a sectional cutoff will still not be shortlisted, regardless of category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eligibility, Certificates & Documentation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The IIMs do not guarantee reservation benefits as they totally depend on the candidate submitting valid, properly organized certificates at the appropriate stages of the admission procedure. Missing or improper documentation is one of the most common reasons candidates lose their reserved-category advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Category<\/strong><\/td>Min. Graduation %<\/strong><\/td>Certificate Issuing Authority<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
General \/ EWS<\/td>50%<\/td>Not applicable (EWS: Tehsildar \/ Revenue Officer)<\/td><\/tr>
  OBC-NCL<\/td>50%<\/td>District Magistrate \/ Tehsildar (Central List format)<\/td><\/tr>
SC \/ ST<\/td>45%<\/td>District Magistrate \/ SDM \/ Tehsildar<\/td><\/tr>
PwD<\/td>45% (if also SC\/ST) or 50%<\/td>Government medical board \/ authorised certifying authority<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*Minimum graduation marks and certificate authorities by category.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documentation rules apply uniformly across IIM\u2019S: –<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n