IIFT 2025 Selection Criteria and Admission Process: WAT-GD-PI Dates, Check Criteria, Process, Cut Off, Merit List and Fees

Apart from the IIFT entrance exam score, only GMAT score is accepted for admission to the MBA-International Business programme. The GMAT score is accepted from international /NRI/PIO students only. For domestic students applying for MBA International Business course, appearing in IIFT entrance exam is mandatory. However, for the 2024-26 batch admission, the institute has decided to not conduct the IIFT entrance exam and instead accept CAT 2023 score for domestic candidates. Which means, domestic candidates have to appear for CAT 2023 exam to be eligible for IIFT-MBA admission.

IIFT shortlist for MBA admission 2024 was announced in the last week of April 2024. The shortlist process was announced at the IIFT Delhi website and candidates who will meet the cut off, will be required to fill the shortlist form for participating in the Writing Skill Assessment (WSA), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI).

The WAT-GD-PI round will be conducted in person at various cities. Selected candidates will be intimated about the same via email. The final admission process will be completed by May so that the classes can commence by June-July.

IIFT may conduct the WAT-PI and GD in online mode for 2024 admissions as in 2023, the institute gave option to candidates to appear for this round of shortlisting of candidates for MBA-International Business and MBA-Business Analytics admissions in person or online. Most of the candidates opted for the online mode thus, the institute conducted the personality assessment round online via video conferencing.

The IIFT WAT-PI and GD round was conducted online in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic in which WAT and GD were replaced by Extempore. Before that, the selection round was conducted face to face every year.

No, the minimum eligibility criteria to be selected for Group Discussion/Extempore and Interview round of IIFT is meeting the admission cut off released after the declaration of IIFT entrance exam result. Candidates have to clear the both the sectional and overall cut offs to be eligible for extempore and PI shortlisting. Apart from the cut offs, candidates also have to meet the academic eligibility criteria which is minimum 50 per cent aggregate for General students and 45 per cent aggregate for Reserved category students.

Candidates must note that the minimum academic criteria is only the eligibility criteria and may not ensure selection for Group Discussion/Extempore and Interview round of IIFT MBA admission.

Candidates who have score a minimum of 50 per cent in aggregate in graduation are eligible to apply (45 per cent forSC/ST/PwD candidates). The graduation degree should be from a universityrecognisedby the UGC. If you are in the final year of your bachelor’s degree programme and wish to appear for IIF then you need to have scored a minimum 50 per cent in aggregate in first two years of your Bachelor's degree (45 per cent for Reserved category candidates). However, your admission will be provisional until you submit your Graduation certificate before the last date of document submission fixed by the institute.

 Aspirants must note that there is no age limit to appear in the IIFT entrance exam. The only eligibility criteria for IIFT exam is graduation with required score. Fresh graduates as well as individuals having work experience can also appear for the IIFT entrance exam which is held for admission to MBA-International Business and MBA-Business Analytics.

Since the IIFT entrance exam was not held this year, only the final result was announced after the PI-WAT round. The final result or the final selection list was released on May 28, 2024. The merit list was released online at the institute website. It was released in the form of downloadable PDFs. The merit list contains selected candidates’ names and roll numbers.

Once the IIFT result is announced, candidates have to fulfill the admission requirement within the deadline which includes accepting of offer, completing admission formalities and paying the admission fees.

Yes, IIFT cut offs for MBA-International Business and Business Analytics admission differ category wise. For General category students, the IIFT cut off is higher than that for Reserved category students. For example, the IIFT 2022 cut off for General category candidates was 52.75 but for SC/ST candidates, it was 42.75. in 2023, the qualifying cut off was 35 percentile for General-EWS and NC-OBC categories, it is 35 percentile. For SC/ST/PwD/KashmiriMigrants/Non-Migrants, the IIFT cut offs 2023 was 30 percentile. Selection for the personal interview round is based on these cut offs.

The Reserved category students also get the benefit of Reservation quota fixed by the Government of India. A certain number of seats are available for Reserved category candidates in the management programmes.

Yes, IIFT admission cut-offs for different categories will be different. For the SC category students, the cut offs are lower than that of General category students. Given below is the table indicating IIFT cut offs 2023 for each category. You can see that the cut off was the highest for General category, followed by General-EWS / OBC-NCL category students and SC / ST / PwD.

This year, IIFT MBA admissions will be based on CAT 2023 scores. The CAT cut offs for IIFT will be released in March 2024. It is expected that CAT cut offs for SC category students will be low as well.

No, meeting both sectional and overall IIFT cut offs is mandatory to make it to the interview round of IIFT admission. If a student is unable to meet any of the criteria, he/she will not be shortlisted for the interview round. Similarly, they will have to meet the academic eligibility criteria of a minimum score of 50 per cent in graduation (45 percent for reserved categories) to be eligible for shortlisting for the personality assessment round. For 2024-26 batch admission, the institute will consider CAT score instead of the IIFT entrance exam score. Even in CAT, they will need to meet overall as well as sectional score.

IIFT 2024 registration process commenced in November 2023 and ended on December 2023. The registration schedule was announced by the institute at the offiical website. The process of IIFT form filling was online and the IIFT application form 2024 was available at the institute website only and not at the NTA website as the exam was not conducted this year. The admission criteria for 2024 batch is CAT 2023 score and not the IIFT exam score. Candidates who registered for CAT exam were eligible to fill the MBA admission form of IIFT.  

The National Testing Agency or the NTA was the official agency for IIFT entrance exam. The NTA has been conducting the IIFT entrance exam on behalf of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trae Delhi since 2019. The NTA’s role in conducting the IIFT exam includes scheduling the exam, registration and application process, release of IIFT admit card, preparation and release of answer key, answer key objection and announcement of result. The syllabus and pattern is prescribed by the institute. NTA conducts the exam in over 60 cities across India in computer based test mode. Its role ends with announcement of the exam result, final answer key and date of number of applicants and test takers. It has no role in IIFT cut off determination or selection process for MBA admission at IIFT. However, since 2024, the IIFT does not conduct the entrance exam.

IIFT exam score is valid only for one year. For example, IIFT 2024 exam score will be valid for 2024 academic session only. If one wishes to drop a year, then they will have to appear for IIFT entrance exam next year again which will include fresh registration and payment of application fees. The selection criteria for IIFT MBA exam includes personality assessment and if a candidate does not clear that round, they will not be selected for admission. Thus, candidates must keep in mind that only a good entrance exam score is not enough for IIFT MBA admission.

IIFT exam score is valid for admission to IIFT Institutes only – IIFT Delhi, IIFT Kolkata and IIFT Kakinada. No other MBA/PGDM institute accepts IIFT exam score for admission. The exam scores are accepted for admission to MBA International Business and MBA Business Analytics. The latter has been introduced in 2023 academic year. 

For, 2024-26 batch, the IIFT score will not be accepted by the institute itself too as it has decided to shortlist candidates on the basis of their CAT 2023 score. In fact, the institute will not conduct the IIFT entrance exam for admission to the 2024-26 batch.

IIFT conducts the Writing Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) round for IIFT admission in March and April. The WAT round is a 20-minute essay writing session in which a candidate is given a topic to write. The topic can be from any field like economics, society, philosophy, life, politics, international event, etc.

In 2021 and 2022, the WAT and GD rounds were not conducted and only the PI was conducted online due to COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the institute had planned to conduct WAT-GD-PI face to face, but most of the candidates opted for online assessment, thus the PI was conducted through video call and GD was replaced with extempore. The institute will announced admission process for 2024 batch in February 2024.

IIFT cut off for admission to 2024-2026 batch was declared in February 2024. The cut offs was released by the institute on its official website along with shortlist criteria and admission process details. Since, for admission to the batch of 2024-2026 will be based on CAT 2023, the cut offs are based on the same. For 2024-2026 batch:

Sectional cut off for General category is 55 and and composite cut off is 30%.

For Gen-EWS/OBC-NCL, the sectional cut off is 50 and the composite cut off is 25%.

For, SC/ST/PwD/Kashmiri Migrants, Kashmiri Pandits, the sectional cut off is 30 and composite cut off is 20 %. 

For the previous batch of MBA International Business programme, the IIFT cut offs for General category was 40 percentile, whereas for General-EWS and NC-OBC categories, the cut off was 35 percentile. For SC/ST/PwD/KashmiriMigrants/Non-Migrants, the IIFT cut off 2023 was 30 percentile. 

IIFT is a PG entrance exam thus the minimum qualification required is graduation. Check below the eligibility criteria:

• Any candidate who has completed graduation with minimum 50 per cent aggregate or equivalent (45 per cent for SC/ST candidates)
• Any candidate who is in the final year of graduation, can also apply for IIFT exam.
• Any candidate having other professional PG degrees can also apply for IIFT entrance exam.
• Apart from fulfilling the academic criteria, candidates also have to fulfill the entrance exam criteria which is CAT exam. For the batch of 2024-26, IIFT accepted CAT 2023 score for shortlisting candidates.

The candidate must start preparing for IIFT exam at least six months in advance. They should complete the IIFT syllabus in first three months and then practise a good number of mock tests and sample papers in the remaining time along with regular revision. The IIFT exam is a high difficulty level test, thus it is important for candidates to plan way ahead and start preparations at the early stage. Since the exam is held in December, candidates need to take the decision of preparing for it the latest my May-June so that they have at least 6 months for preparation.