CAT 2013 applications expected to cross 2.5 lakh, says CAT Convenor

With more than 30 days yet to go for CAT 2013 registration, number of sold CAT vouchers has already crossed 50 per cent mark of last year’s total applications even as CAT officials expect the final figure to hit a record high of 2.5 lakh applications this year.

"The response to the CAT vouchers sale has been very encouraging so far. Nearly 1.20 lakh CAT aspirants have already bought CAT vouchers and we expect the CAT numbers to grow well above 2.50 lakh this year,” said Dr Rohit Kapoor, Convenor, CAT 2013.

The last date for CAT 2013 voucher sale is September 24. The on-line registration for CAT, however, is open till September 26.

With the number of CAT applicants likely to increase this year, the competition might get tougher for entry to IIMs and other top B-schools. The number of CAT takers dipped significantly since the year 2008 and only showed a sign of revival last year when the number grew to 2.14 lakh. In 2010 and 2011 the number of CAT applicants was 2.04 lakh and 2.05 lakh respectively.

Dr Kapoor said that online sale of CAT vouchers which has been introduced from this year itself, has received a huge response with the online vouchers sales outsmarting the offline sale.   “The online voucher sale has received a good response from the MBA candidates. The online voucher sale has more than 55 per cent share of the total CAT vouchers sold so far,” he said, adding, the new mode of voucher sale is adding a lot more convenience to the Aspirants.

According to the CAT Convenor, a special technical team at IIM Indore is handling the online sale operation and the sale of online vouchers has been “very smooth” so far except the first-day heavy traffic on August 5. “The online sale of vouchers is being controlled and monitored by a special technical cell of our internal technical team,” said Dr Kapoor. 

IIM Indore, which is conducting CAT 2013 on behalf of all IIMs, has set up its own team for CAT registrations unlike the past years where external agencies had been involved in different operations. 

The gateway to the prestigious IIMs and many other top B-schools in India, CAT is scheduled to be conducted in a 20 days window between October 16 and November 11, 2013. Prometric is the testing partner for this prestigious MBA entrance exam.

The early trend of voucher sales for CAT 2013 indicates to a continued revival in CAT applications. While this may be a welcome trend for the B-schools which are struggling to fill their seat capacity, the growing applications will make the exam more competitive for MBA Aspirants.

Simultaneously, the IIMs have also increased capacity to accommodate more students from this year. The 13 Indian Institutes of Management have altogether added 115 more seats for admission year 2014. “This year’s CAT Aspirants will have greater opportunity for admission into the IIMs,” Dr Kapoor said, adding, “Across all IIMs, 115 seats have been added for B-School admissions this year, taking the total number of seats in IIMs to 3,335.”