IIFT 2025 Exam: Dates, Registration, Syllabus, Pattern, Question Paper, Preparation, Result, Cut Offs

IIFT 2025 application form was released on October 17, 2024. The registration process will go on till November 22, 2024. The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi announced the registration schedule online at its offiical website. Candidates interested in pursuing MBA International Business and MBA Business Analytics from IIFT, will have to fill the IIFT 2025 application form by creating a login ID. The process will include online registration, filling up of application form, uploading relevant documents and fee payment. Candidates will have to qualify CAT to get admission into IIFT.

In 2023, the IIFT did not conduct the entrance exam. MBA admission was based on CAT 2023 score. Candidates had to apply for CAT 2023 before September 13, 2023, for admission to IIFT's MBA admission 2024.

Till 2024, the IIFT exam used to be conducted in the third week of December. IIFT is a computer based test mode exam wherein candidates have to solve 110 questions in 2 hours. The exam is held in one shift in about 60 plus cities across India. Sectional difficulty level of the IIFT entrance exam is usually as follows:

• Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning section – moderate questions
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section – difficult questions
• Quantitative Aptitude – difficult questions
• General Knowledge section – moderate questions

IIFT has negative and differential marking both so candidates need to handle the exam in such a way that they don’t lose marks for wrong selection of question.

The IIFT selection criteria includes Writing Skill Assessment (WSA), Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI). These activities will be conducted in March-April 2025. Since, the admission to 2025 batch will be based on CAT score, candidates who will clear the CAT exam were shortlisted for WSA, GD and PI which is conducted in at several cities. The shortlist will be prepared on the basis of cut offs and the final selection will be done on the basis of candidate's overall performance in all the selection rounds. Certain points out of 100 are attributed to the parameters for selection of candidates for WSA, GD and PI. Check the table below:

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.

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.

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 scores are accepted for admission to MBA International Business and MBA Business Analytics. The latter has been introduced in 2023 academic year. 

Candidates who wish to pursue MBA from IIFT only, apply to the institute. About 30,000 to 50,000 candidates apply for IIFT-MBA every year.

However, it is to be noted that for admission to the 2024-26 MBA batch, IIFT entrance exam will not be conducted. The institute will select candidates on the basis of CAT 2023 score.

For 2024 admission, IIFT did not conduct the entrance exam,. Earlier, the National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the IIFT entrance exam on behalf of the institute. In the IIFT exam, about 110 questions were asked from Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Ability and General Awareness. The exam was held in computer based test mode and the exam duration is 2 hours. There was no sectional time limit. The questions were in MCQ and non-MCQ format carrying 3 marks each. The wrong answers had negative marking of -1.5. In General Awareness section, each question carried 1.5 marks for correct attempt and -0.5 for incorrect attempts. The IIFT exam was an annual test and there was no option of retest.

IIFT exam has four sections - Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Ability and General Awareness. Among all the four sections, Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension has the maximum weightage as it has 35 questions. Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning section has 30 questions, Quantitative Ability has 25 questions and General Awareness has 20 questions. Check the table below for IIFT sectional weightage which includes total number of questions and total marks.

Yes, there could be some e non-MCQs in IIFT exam, most likely in the Quantitative Aptitude section. However, the number of non-MCQs will be lesser than MCQs. The candidates will have to type in the answer with the help of computer keyboard. For doing calculation and rough work, candidates will be given rough sheet that will have to be submitted at the end of the test. The non-MCQs are usually of low difficulty level and have simple calculations. So, candidates will not face a lot of difficulty in solving the non-MCQs. Solving all the questions is not mandatory so one can skip the non-MCQ questions too if they find it difficult.

Yes, IIFT Delhi offers scholarships to postgraduate students. Those students who have filled the IIFT entrance exam application form can look for the university fee and if they find the fee a little high, they can apply for scholarships after they get admission. Some of the scholarships provided by the university are Need-Based Scholarship Scheme, Scholarships offered by the Government of India, Scholarships offered by Other Organizations, and others. 

No, there is no age bar on appearing in IIFT entrance exam. Any candidate with a bachelor's degree from a recognised university having scored a minimum of 50 per cent aggregate can appear for IIFT entrance exam. The minimum score criteria for SC/ST/PwD candidates is 45 per cent aggregate. Final year graduation students can also appear in the exam. The exam is for MBA degree so a fresh graduate as well as a working professionals of junior, middle or senior levels can also appear for the exam. In fact, candidates with work experience are given preference over fresh graduates during the selection rounds. Candidates can appear for the IIFT entrance exam multiple times as well.

The IIFT exam application form is released in online mode only at the IIFT website. Candidates have to submit their online application form before the deadline in order to be eligible to appear in the exam. Here's the process to access the IIFT application form online:

• Go to IIFT website
• Click on 'new candidate registration'
• Enter basic details to create a login
• Use application number and password which has been generated to log in
• Access the IIFT application form 2024 online
• Fill personal and academic details
• Upload passport size photo and scanned signature
• Complete the IIFT form filling process by making fee payment through debit/credit card or net banking

The application submission acknowledgement slip will be generated and mailed to candidates in registered email ID after the fee payment transaction is successful.

The IIFT 2025 registration process began from October 17, 2024 and will end on November 22, 2024. The institute announced the registration schedule via an online notification at its website Applicants arerequired to fill the online application form during this phase.. Given below are IIFT application form highlights:

• IIFT 2025 application form is available at the IIFT website 
• The IIFT applications had to be filled online only
• The fee was to be paid via debit card/credit card or net banking 
• Fee amount was INR 3000 (for Unreserved categories), INR 1500 (reserved categories)
• Passport size photo and scanned signature had to be uploaded at the time of application submission

The IIFT entrance exam is conducted in about 63 cities across India. Candidates can select up to four cities in the application for test centre allotment. The IIFT test centre will be allotted to every candidate in the first city of preference. The IIFT exam is held in Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati, Patna, Bhilai, Bilaspur, Raipur, Delhi, Panaji, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hissar, Shimla, Jammu, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bengaluru, Hubli, Mangaluru, Mysore, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Thane, Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puducherry, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Patiala, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Vellore, Hyderabad, Agra, Allahabad, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Noida, Dehradun, Haldwani, Durgapur, Kolkata and Siliguri.

Both exams are of same difficulty level. While, CAT has higher difficulty level VARC, IIFT's Quantitative Aptitude is tougher. In CAT VARC, the weightage of RC based question is higher than in IIFT. Also, the RC passages of CAT are a mix of both inference-based and fact-based types. However, the RC passages in IIFT are fact-based. IIFT focuses more on vocabulary and verbal ability than reading comprehension. Sharing key highlights of both exams here:

No, you can’t rely only on the recommended books for IIFT syllabus coverage. You need to invest time in secondary readings and guidebooks to have a better understanding of chapters and topics. Along with books, notes and study material, you need to join online study groups where you can join video lectures for various topics of IIFT. These video lectures will help you in understanding the topics better with examples. Apart from that, to cover the IIFT syllabus, you need to practice sample papers and mock tests. These sample test papers and mocks will help you in improving your problem solving skills in limited time and help you gain knowledge of which formula to apply on which type of questions. There is no particular limit to practicing mock tests for IIFT preparation as it depends on each candidate's ability and grip on the topics. However, on an average the candidates must practice at least 25-30 IIFT mock tests and sample papers for preparation. 

Quantitative Aptitude section of IIFT entrance exam comprises all the topics of Geometry, Algebra, Number System, Arithmetic, Mensuration, Trigonometry and Modern Math, etc. that include Percentages, Number System, Binomial Expansion, Arithmetic Progression, Simple Interest, Ratios, HCF & LCM, BODMAS, Median, Compound interest, Arithmetic Mean, Co-ordinate geometry, Standard Deviation, Vectors, Set Theory, Instalments/ payments, Permutation & Combination, Mode, Trigonometry, Mensuration, Probability, Clocks & Calendar, Time, Speed, Distance, Logarithm, Geometric Progression, Averages, In- equations Quadratic, Profit & Loss, Venn Diagram, Geometric Mean, Ratios & Proportions, Linear Equations, Algebra, Geometry, Work & Time, Harmonic Mean.

Candidates must start preparation of IIFT Quantitative Aptitude section about 6-8 months in advance so as to be able to have enough time to complete the syllabus and practice sample questions.

This section also requires practice of sample questions as mere theoretical understanding is not enough. The need for speed and accuracy is critical for IIFT exam so candidates must focus on gaining conceptual clarity of every topic and correct application for the theorems and formulae. Having a mentor or guide will be helpful so join a coaching institute or online study groups.

Yes, it is not mandatory to answer all the questions in the IIFT exam and no marks will be deducted for skipping questions. If you are not sure of the right answer to a particular question, skip it to avoid negative marking. Candidates should solve only those questions in the IIFT exam which they can solve accurately and minimum time. However, candidates must keep in mind that they need to meet a minimum cut off in every section so they should not skip too many questions. Meeting the sectional cut off will ensure that their overall IIFT score is high enough for selection in the personal interview and group discussion round of MBA admission.

The Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section of IIFT entrance exam has the maximum weightage. There are 35 questions in this section and total marks is 105. Each question carries 3 marks for correct attempt and -1 for incorrect attempt. This section is usually of moderate difficulty level. The questions are asked from Reading Comprehension passages, Identify the Synonym, Identify Grammatically Correct/Incorrect Sentence, One Word Substitution, Jumbled Paragraphs, etc. The Reading Comprehension passages are simple and fact based so there's not much pressure on candidates to get the gist right. Verbal Ability and Grammar questions are usually easy and can be completed within minutes.

Ideally, a candidate must prepare for the IIFT exam for at least six to nine months. They must study for the exam diligently for six to eight hours every day and the daily plan should include studying a chapter, solving related sample questions and memorising formulae. The first few months should be spent in covering the IIFT syllabus. An important aspect of IIFT preparation is practicing sample questions that are based on the important topics of IIFT syllabus. After that candidates must spend about two months in solving practice questions and mock tests. In the last month before the exam, candidates must make time for revision of all the important chapters and have problem solving sessions to tie up the loose ends. In the last month, keep the focus on important topics from which maximum questions are asked.

The Pearson Guide to Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning by Nishant Sinha and Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Aggarwal, are highly recommended for IIFT exam’s Verbal Ability preparation. Candidates must study from books which are recommended by experts and toppers only as this exam requires focused preparation and you can't afford to waste time.

The Verbal Ability section of IIFT includes Reading Comprehension. The Reading Comprehension passages of IIFT are long and tough so it is important that you have a good control over English comprehension and reading speed. For this, you need to start preparations early on by reading books, novels, magazines and newspapers. Target reading about 20 pages of a book every day. Do it for six months.

This year, the institute will not conduct the IIFT entrance exam. Admissions will be based on CAT 2023 score. So, there will be no announcement of IIFT entrance exam result. The final result of MBA admission will be announced in May 2024. The final admission result will be released as a merit list containing the list of selected candidates and their final scores.

Once the result announcement is made, candidates will be required to complete the admission process by accepting the offer and paying the admission fees. There can be waitlist as well which will be released for reserve candidates incase some candidates do not accept the admission offer.

Yes, the IIFT result cum scorecard will include sectional scores along with the overall score of the candidate. Other details that will be mentioned in the IIFT scorecard includes:

• Name of the candidate
• Gender of the candidate
• Date of birth
• Photo of the candidate
• Signature of the candidate
• Date and year of exam
• Exam conducting body
• Exam date and timings
• Registration number
• Roll number
• Parent’s name
• Candidate’s address

The IIFT scorecard is the main document of proof of candidate’s appearance in the exam and clearing it. Candidates should download a copy of their scorecard immediately after its release and check the information. In case of name and other details misprint, they should reach out to exam helpdesk and get it rectified.

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade offers placement assistance to various course students. The top companies taking part in the placement drive at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade are L&T, Amazon, Amul, EY, and others. The key highlights of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade MBA placements in 2023 as compared with 2022 are presented below:

The highest package offered at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in 2023 was INR 75.6 LPA. This was the doemstic package.

Check Other Top Executive MBA Colleges in India

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade offers various facilities to postgraduate students. Currently, over 60 students are residing in the newly constructed hostel. IIFT has computer centres and offers various other facilities to the students. One of the major USPs of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT Delhi) is its Foreign Trade library which is a knowledge bank for several resources in the field of WTO-related issues, Foreign Trade, Management, and others. IIFT's library has 84,000 volumes and subscribes to around 800 journals. There are 17,581 bound periodicals and 255 periodicals. 

Yes, the candidates are required to clear the sectional cut offs of IIFT entrance exam as well for selection to second round of IIFT admission process, which is group discussion or extempore, essay writing and personal interview. The sectional cut offs play an important role in assessing the abilities of a candidates in all subjects – Data Interpretation, Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and English Comprehension. That is why the institute releases sectional cut offs as well for shortlisting of candidates for the personality assessment round of the MBA admission process. Those who do not meet the sectional cut offs, may not get selected for the group discussion or extempore, essay writing and personal interview round.

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.

The IIFT exam is usually conducted in about 63 cities including Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati, Patna, Bhilai, Bilaspur, Raipur, Delhi/New Dehi, Panaji, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hissar, Shimla, Jammu, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bengaluru, Hubli, Mangaluru, Mysore, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Aurangabad, Mumbai/Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Thane, Shillong, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Puducherry, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Patiala, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Vellore, Hyderabad, Agra, Allahabad, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Noida/Greater Noida, Dehradun, Haldwani, Durgapur, Kolkata and Siliguri. Candidates can choose up to three cities in the IIFT application form for test centre allotment. The exam authority strives to allot a test centre in the city of first preference, depending upon availability.

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.

Yes, the IIFT syllabus is similar to CAT syllabus. The topics included in English, Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Aptitude section of IIFT exam are same as CAT. The topics included in these sections of IIFT are same as that of CAT. In VARC section, one has to study reading comprehension, verbal ability, vocabulary and grammar. In Quantitative Aptitude section of both exams, there are questions from Arithmetic, Mensuration, Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra, Modern Math, etc. In Data Interpretation, one has to study Tables, Charts, Graphs and Venn Diagrams. The Logical Reasoning section of both exams has questions from Sequence, Number System, Coding-Decoding, Family Tree, Blood Relations, Series, etc.

However, IIFT aspirants have to study General Awareness too as it is one of the four sections of IIFT question paper. The General Awareness section is memory based and can be prepared in the last month before the IIFT exam. Candidates can prepare for both CAT and IIFT simultaneously.  Read more: Is IIFT tougher than CAT exam?

IIFT exam fee for candidates of different categories is different. Check category-wise IIFT application fees below. 

• General/OBC candidates: INR 2,500
• SC/ST/PH candidates: INR 1,000
• Foreign National/NRI/Children of NRI candidates: US $200 (INR 15,000)
  

The IIFT application fee is to be paid at the time of application form filling. Candidates can fill the application form on a particular day and pay the fee later. However, they need to pay the fee before the form submission deadline to be eligible for the IIFT exam. Applications for which fee is not paid, will not be accepted and the candidates will not be eligible to appear in the exam. The exam fee is non-refundable so candidates must not expect fee refund in case of not appearing for the exam or filling the form again due to errors in first one.

IIFT result 2024 was announced in May. For admission to 2024 batch, the entrance exam was not conducted. Selection was done on the basis of CAT 2023 score. The result of final selection for admission was released on May 28, 2024, Check the steps to download IIFT result cum scorecard below:

• Log on to NTA-IIFT website
• Click on IIFT-MBA 2024 selection list
• The PDF file opens
• Check your name and details for admission status