CAT Registration 2026 Closes September 15: Steps to Apply, Fee and Correction Window Explained

Candidates planning to sit the Common Admission Test have eleven days left. CAT registration 2026 closes on September 15, 2026 at 5:00 PM on the official website, iimcat.ac.in. IIM Indore, the convening institute for this cycle, opened the application window on August 3 following the notification issued on July 26.

The deadline is a hard stop at a stated minute, not a date. Once 5:00 PM passes on September 15, the portal stops accepting new registrations, fee payments and edits. Unless IIM Indore announces an extension — and none has been announced — there is no alternate route to apply.

Why the last 48 hours are the worst time to apply

A disproportionate share of applicants file in the final two days every year, and that is when payment gateway failures, session timeouts and upload errors cluster. A failed transaction that debits your account but does not register on the portal typically takes days to reconcile, and those days may not exist if you are applying on September 14. Applying with a week in hand gives you room to re-upload a rejected photograph or retry a failed payment without losing the cycle.

How to apply for CAT 2026: step by step

1. Go to iimcat.ac.in and click "New Candidate Registration".

2. Enter your name exactly as printed on your Class 10 certificate, along with date of birth, email ID and mobile number. These fields cannot be changed later.

3. Generate and verify the OTP sent to your registered mobile number.

4. Note down the user ID and password sent to your email. Use these for every subsequent login, including admit card download.

5. Log in and fill the application form: personal details, academic record from Class 10 onward, work experience if any, and category details.

6. Upload the passport-size photograph and signature in the prescribed dimensions and format.

7. Select your test city preferences in order of priority.

8. Select the IIM programmes you wish to be considered for.

9. Pay the application fee online and download the confirmation page.

Save both the payment receipt and the submitted application PDF. If a dispute arises later, these are the only proof you hold.

CAT 2026 registration fee

Rs 2,700 for General, EWS and NC-OBC candidates.
Rs 1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates.

The fee is non-refundable and is not charged again for the correction window.

Documents and details to keep ready

• Class 10 certificate and mark sheet, for name and date of birth

• Class 12 mark sheet

• Graduation mark sheets, or details of the current year if you are in the final year

• Passport-size photograph meeting the specified size and background requirements

• Scanned signature, clear and uncropped

• Category certificate for SC, ST, NC-OBC or EWS in the prescribed central government format

• PwBD certificate where applicable

• A working email ID and mobile number that will stay active until admission season ends

Test city preferences and programme selection

Candidates choose their preferred test cities in order of priority during registration. Allotment is subject to seat availability in each city, and there is no guarantee of the first preference. Once the correction window closes, city preference is locked.

On programme selection, candidates may opt in to be considered by IIM campuses across the country, and there is no fee-linked cap on how many programmes you select. The practical advice here is to combine older IIMs with newer ones rather than restricting yourself to the top few — a shortlist from a newer IIM is still an IIM shortlist, and the marginal cost of selecting more programmes is zero.

The correction window: what it can and cannot fix

Going by past CAT cycles, a short correction window opens after registration closes, usually for three to four days in the final week of September. IIM Indore has not yet notified the exact CAT 2026 correction window dates, and candidates should not plan around unofficial dates circulating on social media.

What is typically editable: the uploaded photograph, the uploaded signature, and test city preferences.

What is not editable: name, date of birth, category, contact details and academic data. These are locked at submission.

This distinction matters more than most candidates realise. If your category is entered wrongly, the correction window will not save you — the only recourse is the CAT helpdesk, and a resolution is not guaranteed. Verify category, name spelling and date of birth against your Class 10 certificate before you hit submit, not after.

Equally, the correction window is not a second registration window. Candidates who miss September 15 cannot use it to apply.

Eligibility recap

Applicants need a bachelor's degree with at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA, relaxed to 45 per cent for SC, ST and PwBD candidates. Candidates in the final year of their degree, and those awaiting results, may apply and would be admitted provisionally subject to submitting proof of completion within the deadline set by the admitting institute. There is no upper age limit and no cap on the number of attempts.

What comes after September 15

CAT 2026 admit cards are scheduled for release on November 4, 2026. The exam is on Sunday, November 29, 2026, conducted in three sessions across test cities. Results are expected in the last week of December. The exam pattern remains unchanged, with sections on Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability.

Candidates should rely only on iimcat.ac.in for dates, forms and notices. In past cycles, outdated schedules from earlier years have circulated widely on messaging apps during exactly this window.