CAT 2026 Notification Released — Official Dates, Fees, Eligibility & Everything That’s Changed

The wait is over. The CAT 2026 notification is officially out, confirming the exam date, registration window, revised fees, and a few policy changes worth knowing before you apply. Here’s everything the CAT 2026 notification actually says, from the Quantifiers team.

1. The CAT 2026 Notification Is Officially Out

After weeks of projected dates and planning estimates, the CAT 2026 notification has been released by the Indian Institutes of Management, confirming the exam will be conducted on Sunday, 29th November 2026, across three sessions in approximately 170 test cities nationwide. Every date, fee figure, and policy detail below comes directly from this notification — nothing here is a projection any longer.

If you were tracking the earlier “expected” timeline circulating before this release, a few things have shifted slightly, most notably the registration fee and the number of test city preferences allowed. The sections below walk through exactly what’s confirmed and what’s changed.

2. CAT 2026 Notification — Confirmed Dates

Table 1 — CAT 2026 Official Schedule

3. CAT 2026 Eligibility Criteria

The core eligibility structure remains consistent with previous cycles, with professional degree holders explicitly named as eligible alongside standard bachelor’s degree holders.

• Educational qualification: A bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA from a recognised university (45% for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates).
• Final-year students: Eligible to apply, including those awaiting results, provided the required completion certificate is submitted at the time of admission as specified by the respective IIM.
• Professional degree holders: Chartered Accountants (CA), Company Secretaries (CS), Cost and Management Accountants (CMA/ICWA), and Fellows of the Institute of Actuaries of India (FIAI) are explicitly eligible to apply.
• Age limit: None — there’s no upper age restriction for CAT 2026.

4. What’s New in the CAT 2026 Notification This Year

A handful of changes in this year’s notification are worth flagging specifically, since they differ from what recent cycles led most aspirants to expect.

• Registration fee revised upward. The fee now stands at ₹2,700 for General/EWS/NC-OBC and ₹1,350 for SC/ST/PwBD — a modest increase from the prior cycle’s ₹2,600/₹1,300.
• Test cities expanded to around 170, with candidates now able to select five preferred cities during registration, up from four previously.
• New NC-OBC certificate guideline: the certificate uploaded must be issued on or after 1st April 2026.
• New EWS certificate guideline: the certificate must be valid specifically for 2026–27 and based on financial year 2025–26. Candidates who’ve applied for a fresh certificate but haven’t received it yet can upload a prescribed undertaking along with supporting documents in the interim.
• Score validity extended to 31st December 2027, giving CAT 2026 test-takers a defined window that spans into the following admission cycle.

5. CAT 2026 Registration Fee

Table 2 — CAT 2026 Confirmed Registration Fee

6. How to Access the Official CAT 2026 Notification PDF

• Visit the official CAT website at iimcat.ac.in directly, rather than a search result or a saved link from earlier in the season.
• Locate the “CAT 2026 Notification” or “Information Bulletin” link on the homepage.
• Open the PDF in your browser and use the download option to save a copy to your device for reference through the registration window.
• Read the full bulletin yourself — registration process, eligibility, reservation policy, fees, test cities, participating institutes, admit card details, and exam guidelines — before starting your application, not after.

7. What to Do Now That the Notification Is Out

• Gather your documents immediately — mark sheets, category certificates (checking the new NC-OBC and EWS dating requirements specifically), photograph, and signature — so registration on or after 3rd August is a quick process rather than a scramble.
• Finalise your institute preference list before registration opens, since preferences typically can’t be added once the form is submitted.
• Set your own internal deadline a few days before 15th September, not on the day itself — payment and document upload issues cluster heavily in the final 24 hours of any registration window.
• Shift your prep into a dated countdown now that 29th November is confirmed — a fixed date on the calendar tends to sharpen focus more than an approximate “sometime in November” ever did.