CMAT is one of India’s most prominent national-level management entrance exams and its scorecards are accepted by more than 850 colleges and universities within the country. Recent trends have shown a rise in the number of students taking CMAT. For the year 2021, it is expected that more than 1 lakh students will take CMAT to start their management journey!
Post the declaration of CMAT results, a minimum CMAT score requirement or ‘Cutoff’ will be released individually by each of the participating colleges. It is important to note that the candidates who will meet the minimum CMAT cut-off percentile for the institutes they have applied to, will further be called by each one of them for an individual selection process (including group discussion, personal interview and written tests) to confirm their admission in the desired MBA program.
In this article, we look at some of the important information related to the CMAT cutoff. You also get to know about the colleges that ask for higher scores than others and how much marks/percentile you need to ensure admission in a top college.
CMAT Counselling – Factors that affect the Cut-off score
The cutoff marks for any exam are decided by a number of factors. Some of these factors are:
- Number of applicants vs the number of seats in participating institutes – If the number of students sitting for the exam is higher than the number of available seats in the management colleges, it will naturally result in stiffer competition.
- Difficulty level of the question paper – The level of difficulty of an exam is also a deciding factor for the cutoff score. If the exam paper is difficult, applicants will score lesser than expected and hence, the cutoff score will also be at the lower side.
- Number of candidates who qualified CMAT – Last but not least, if the number of candidates who take the exam are higher, the cut off will also be higher.
CMAT Cut-off – Important Dates in 2021
While preparing for CMAT 2021, it is important to keep a check on important dates. Here, we have shared a few tentative important dates like exam date, declaration of result, answer key and cutoff, based on the previous years’ patterns. The confirmed dates are yet to be announced by NTA which they will do through their official website.
| Events | Dates |
| CMAT 2021 – Exam day | Last week of January |
| Release of question paper and response sheet | Soon after CMAT 2021 is conducted |
| CMAT Final Answer Key & Result 2021 | First week of February 2021 |
| CMAT Cutoff 2021 | February-March 2021 |
CMAT Cut off – When is the Cut-off Declared?
Declaration of cut off follows right after the declaration of result. After the results are out, participating institutes announce the cut off for the specific session, but you can get the idea of the cut off of the coming session by taking a look at the previous year’s cut off.
Here, we will take a look at the cut off marks declared by top institutes participating in CMAT 2020.
Previous year’s (2020) cut off list:
In the year 2020, CMAT awarded 95 to 99.99 percentile to a wide score range of 251 – 342 marks, compared to 282 to 361 last year. Most of the colleges consider overall cut-offs for giving admission to the students but some institutes also observe sectional marks while inviting the students for further selection rounds.
Top MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT 2020 Cut off: 90 Percentile & Above:
| MBA college | CMAT Cut off Percentile and Score |
| JBIMS Mumbai: Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies | 99.99 | 320 |
| SIMSREE Mumbai: Sydenham Institute of Management Studies And Research And Entrepreneurship Education | 99.96 | 310 |
| Great Lakes Chennai: Great Lakes Institute of Management – GLIM | 90 | 232 |
| GIM Goa: Goa Institute of Management | 90 | 232 |
| SIMSR Mumbai: K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies And Research | 90 | 232 |
| PUMBA: Department of Management Sciences University of Pune | 90 | 232 |
| IFMR Graduate School of Business at KREA University | 90 | 232 |
Top MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT 2020 Cut off: 80 Percentile & Above
| MBA college | CMAT Cut off Percentile and Score |
| Xavier Business School (XBS), St Xavier’s University, Kolkata | 85 | 216 |
| GLIM Gurgaon: Great Lakes Institute of Management | 85 | 216 |
| N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai | 85 | 216 |
| Prin L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research | 80 | 204 |
| BIMTECH Greater Noida: Birla Institute of Management Technology | 80 | 204 |
| IMT Nagpur: Institute of Management Technology | 80 | 204 |
| XIME Bangalore: Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship | 80 | 204 |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management Lucknow | 80 | 204 |
| KIIT School of Management – KSOM Bhubaneswar | 80 | 204 |
| IPE Hyderabad: Institute of Public Enterprise | 80 | 204 |
| ISBM Pune: International School of Business and Media | 80 | 204 |
| CIMP: Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna | 80 | 204 |
| SIES College of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai | 80 | 204 |
| AIMS Institutes Bangalore | 80 | 204 |
| Indus Business Academy – IBA Bangalore | 80 | 204 |
| JIMS Rohini Delhi: Jagan Institute of Management Studies | 80 | 204 |
| Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management – VJIM Hyderabad | 80 | 204 |
| SDMIMD Mysore: SDM Institute For Management Development | 80 | 204 |
| ITM Navi Mumbai: ITM Group of Institutions | 80 | 204 |
| WE School Bangalore: Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research | 80 | 204 |
| Chetana’s Institute of Management and Research – CIMR Mumbai | 80 | 204 |
Top MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT 2020 Cut off: 70 Percentile & Above
| MBA college | CMAT Cut off Percentile and Score |
| IES Management College And Research Centre, Mumbai | 75 | 190 |
| Jaipuria Institute of Management Noida | 75 | 190 |
| SCMS Cochin: SCMS Cochin School of Business | 75 | 190 |
| GBS Kolkata: Globsyn Business School, Kolkata | 75 | 190 |
| NIA Pune: National Insurance Academy | 75 | 190 |
| New Delhi Institute of Management – NDIM New Delhi | 75 | 190 |
| XIME Chennai: Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship | 75 | 190 |
| Christ University Bengaluru: Institute of Management | 75 | 190 |
| Calcutta Business School, Kolkata | 70 | 180 |
| DSIMS Mumbai: Durgadevi Saraf Institute of Management Studies | 70 | 180 |
| FIIB Delhi: Fortune Institute of International Business | 70 | 180 |
| VESIM Mumbai: Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Management Studies and Research | 70 | 180 |
| RSB Chennai: Rajalakshmi School of Business | 70 | 180 |
| DSB Delhi: Delhi School of Business | 70 | 180 |
| XISS Ranchi: Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi | 70 | 180 |
| MSRIM Bangalore: M S Ramaiah Institute of Management | 70 | 180 |
| BULMIM New Delhi: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Usha & Lakshmi Mittal Institute of Management | 70 | 180 |
| Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India – EDII Ahmedabad | 70 | 180 |
Top MBA Colleges Accepting CMAT 2020 Cut off: 60 Percentile & Above
| MBA college | CMAT Cut off Percentile and Score |
| IIMS Pune: International Institute of Management Studies | 65 | 170 |
| EMPI Business School, New Delhi | 66 | 170 |
| Jaypee Business School – JBS Noida | 67 | 170 |
CMAT Cut off – FAQs
Q. What are the names of the top 10 colleges participating in CMAT?
Following are the top 10 colleges participating in CMAT with the maximum cutoff score in 2020:
- SIMSREE, Mumbai: 99 + (Score 282-347)
- Goa Institute of Management, Goa: 98
- Pune University Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA DMS): 96
- K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (KJSIMSR), Mumbai: 94
- Asia Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi: 85
- Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida: 82
- Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi: 75
Q. What is the selection procedure of the colleges after announcing the CMAT cut off?
After the CMAT cut off score is announced, different colleges adopt different strategies to conduct admissions. Some of the steps taken in majority of the colleges are:
- Group Discussion (GD)
- Personal Interview (PI)
- Written Ability Test (WAT)
Note – Candidates must note that a call for the selection rounds of the participating institutes does not imply student’s final selection.
Q. What kind of programmes are the students eligible to apply for after CMAT?
Candidates can apply for the following programmes after giving CMAT:
- Management (PGDM,MBA and similar)
- Management (PGCM)
- Management (Executive PGDM)
Q. What is the minimum score required to score 99 percentile or above in CMAT?
Candidates must have a score between 282-347 to score 99 percentile or above in CMAT.
