CAT 2021 Eligibility Criteria Relaxed Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Final year candidates can mention “promotion/pass” in their CAT 2021 application form. This facility is only for candidates completing bachelor's degree in the COVID-19 pandemic years.

CAT eligibility criteria has been tweaked for 2021 registrations due to disruption in Bachelor’s degree result announcement in universities caused by COVID-19 pandemic. In an official circular released on CAT 2021 website, the examination authority has said that the candidates who received “promotion/pass” certificate instead of the “marks” certificates in the last two years of their course can mention the same in the CAT 2021 application form.

CAT 2021 registration cum application process started on August 4 and the CAT Centre received several queries from candidates due to the “promotion/pass” certificate awarded instead of the “marks” certificates in the last two years of their bachelor’s programme due to the pandemic.

“The CAT Centre has received several queries from candidates regarding their candidature due to the “promotion/pass” certificate awarded instead of the “marks” certificates in the last two years (pandemic years) of their bachelor’s programme. Currently, CAT application requires candidates to meet eligibility criteria of at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA 45 per cent in the case of candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories]. This has raised queries in the application process for CAT 2021, “said the circular.  

“This eligibility relaxation is also applicable to final year students with “award” of marks,” it added.

Aspirants must note that this exception in CAT eligibility criteria is available only to candidates who are completing the bachelor’s degree this year or are in the final year bachelor’s programme (graduation years – 2021 and 2022).

The last date to apply for CAT 2021 exam is September 15 and the exam is scheduled on November 28. No change in the CAT exam pattern has been announced. Candidates will get two hours to solve 76 questions from VARC, DILR and Quantitative Ability topics. CAT exam will be conducted at various exam centres in 158 cities across India in three slots.

CAT Application Fee

Given below is the CAT application fee for students belonging to General and Reserved categories. Fee payment is to be done at the time of registration or later (before application submission deadline) via credit card/debit card/net banking/mobile wallets. 

Category	CAT Application Fee
General and NC-OBC	Rs. 2,200
SC, ST and PwD	Rs. 1,100

CAT 2021 Application Process

CAT form is available on iimcat.ac.in. Watch the video below for step-by-step CAT 2021 registration and application process.

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