CAT 2026 Registration Extended: New Last Date and What to Do Now
IIM Indore has pushed back the application deadline. With CAT 2026 registration extended, aspirants who missed the original 15th September cut-off get another window to apply — but the exam date itself hasn’t moved an inch.
CAT 2026 Registration Extended: The New Deadline
The application window for the Common Admission Test now stays open until 22nd September 2026 at 5:00 PM. The original deadline was 15th September 2026 at the same cut-off time, meaning candidates have gained roughly a week of additional time to complete and submit their forms.
With CAT 2026 registration extended, anyone who was stuck on document uploads, payment failures, or simply hadn’t started yet now has a second chance. Verify the live deadline yourself on the official CAT website before you plan around it — extensions are announced on the portal first, and a notice can be updated at short notice.
Don’t Wait for Another Extension
A second extension is not something to plan around. In past cycles, the conducting IIM has explicitly stated that no further extension would follow an initial one. Treat 22nd September as final and submit well before the 5:00 PM cut-off, since payment gateways and upload servers slow down noticeably in the final hours.
Why IIM Indore Extends the Deadline
Deadline extensions for CAT aren’t unusual — they’ve happened in most recent admission cycles, typically announced on or just before the original last date and usually adding about seven days. The reasons are practical rather than dramatic: a portion of applicants run into trouble procuring documents in time, others hit payment or upload failures in the final-day rush, and the conducting institute has an interest in maximising the applicant pool rather than losing eligible candidates to avoidable technical friction.
The pattern is consistent enough that many aspirants gamble on it. That’s a poor strategy — the extension is a discretionary decision, not a guaranteed feature of the cycle, and there’s no mechanism to apply late once the window genuinely shuts.
What Hasn’t Changed
Although CAT 2026 registration extended the application window by a week, everything downstream of it stays exactly where it was.
Table 1 — CAT 2026 key dates after the extension
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration opened | 3rd August 2026, 10:00 AM |
| Original last date | 15th September 2026, 5:00 PM |
| Extended last date | 22nd September 2026, 5:00 PM |
| Form correction window | Expected early October 2026 |
| Admit card release | 4th November 2026 |
| CAT 2026 exam date | 29th November 2026 |
Key Takeaway
An extra week to register is not an extra week to prepare. The exam is still on 29th November, which means your study runway hasn’t grown at all — only your paperwork deadline has. Use the extra days for the form, not as an excuse to delay revision.
Registration Fees
Having CAT 2026 registration extended does not change what you pay, and there is no late fee or surcharge for applying within the extended window.
Table 2 — CAT 2026 registration fee by category
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| General / EWS / NC-OBC | ₹2,700 |
| SC / ST / PwD | ₹1,350 |
How to Apply Before the Extended Deadline
- Register on the official CAT portal to generate your login credentials.
- Complete the personal, academic, and work-experience sections — work experience is counted in completed days up to 31st July 2026, and internships, articleships, part-time roles, and pre-graduation work don’t qualify.
- Select the management programmes offered by participating IIMs that you want to be considered for.
- Choose five test cities in order of preference.
- Upload your photograph, signature, and any category or PwD certificates in the specified formats.
- Review every field carefully, then pay the fee and submit.
Mistakes That Cost Candidates Their Application
Every cycle, a number of applications fail for reasons that had nothing to do with eligibility — and having CAT 2026 registration extended only helps if you avoid these in the extra week.
- Assuming that creating a login counts as a completed application — it doesn’t, until the fee is paid and the form submitted.
- Leaving payment until the last hour, when gateway traffic is heaviest.
- Uploading images outside the prescribed size or format, then not checking whether the upload actually went through.
- Miscounting work experience, or including internships and articleships that aren’t valid.
- Losing the application number and password generated during registration.
What Happens After the CAT 2026 Registration Extended Window Closes
Once the 5:00 PM cut-off on 22nd September passes, the portal stops accepting new registrations and fee payments entirely. There is no provision in the official guidelines for late registration with a penalty fee — candidates who haven’t paid and submitted by then cannot appear for the exam this cycle.
What does remain is the form correction window, expected in early October. That window lets candidates who already submitted amend certain details, so a small error in your submitted form isn’t necessarily permanent. It is not, however, a second chance to register.
Registration Done? Preparation Starts Now
The exam date hasn’t moved — 29th November is still 75 days away. Quantifiers CAT Academy’s Sangharsh 2.0 CAT Crash Course covers live and recorded classes, 1000+ sectionals, and full-length mocks for exactly this window.
Explore the Crash CourseFrequently Asked Questions
What is the new last date now that CAT 2026 registration is extended?
The application window now closes on 22nd September 2026 at 5:00 PM, extended from the original deadline of 15th September 2026.
Has the exam date changed along with the extension?
No. CAT 2026 is still scheduled for 29th November 2026, conducted by IIM Indore. Only the registration deadline moved.
Is there a late fee for applying in the extended window?
No. Fees stay at ₹2,700 for General, EWS, and NC-OBC candidates and ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwD candidates, with no surcharge for applying after the original date.
Will the deadline be extended a second time?
There’s no indication of that, and it isn’t something to count on. In previous cycles the conducting IIM has stated that no further extension would follow, so treat the current date as final.
Can I edit my form after submitting it?
A form correction window is expected in early October 2026, letting candidates who already submitted amend certain details. Note that this is separate from having CAT 2026 registration extended — the correction window does not allow new registrations.
