CAT 2026 Admit Card From 4 Nov, Exam 29 Nov

CAT’s exam day is late November, which is further out than most of the dates on this desk, but the next confirmed public step is closer. IIM Indore’s press release of 26 July 2026 says CAT 2026 is on Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three sessions, and the information bulletin says candidates can download admit cards from 4 November 2026 until 29 November 2026. Registration has already closed: 10:00 on 3 August to 17:00 on 15 September 2026. The only official site is iimcat.ac.in. This note is for people who will open that site in the first week of November, and for everyone else who needs the real exam date rather than a coaching poster.

Verification note: IIM Indore press release, 26 July 2026, and the CAT 2026 information bulletin. Prof. Aditya Billore is named as convener; Prof. Himanshu Rai, director of IIM Indore, is quoted in the release announcing that IIM Indore is conducting the test. Session start times were not stated as three clock hours in the press release we reviewed. They belong on the admit card and in the bulletin’s test-day section. IIMs reserve the right to change the date. Fees below are from the bulletin.

The dates that are actually printed

• Registration opened: Monday 3 August 2026, 10:00
• Registration closed: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 17:00
• Admit card download: Wednesday 4 November 2026 through Sunday 29 November 2026
• Test: Sunday 29 November 2026, three sessions, computer-based
• Conducting body: Indian Institutes of Management, with IIM Indore as the 2026 host institute
• Site: https://iimcat.ac.in only

4 November is the near-term event. 29 November is the test. A page that mentions only one of them will be wrong for half its readers. Both are IST; the test is held in India. Cities were chosen from five preferences at registration, and the bulletin says a candidate who cannot be placed in any of the five is allotted a nearby city. The allotted city is on the admit card, not in a guess.

What the admit card is for

From 4 November the card carries the session, the centre address, and the instructions for that session. Download it from iimcat.ac.in and check the name, the photograph, and the session. The bulletin says cards remain available until test day, which is a backup, not a reason to wait until dawn on 29 November. Centre gates follow the reporting time on the card. That time is earlier than the test start. Missing it is not repaired by a later session unless the card itself places you in that session.

The press release warns that no other website is authorised for CAT 2026. A look-alike domain that asks for a fee to “release” the card is not the IIMs. The registration fee was paid once, during the August window: the bulletin lists ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates and ₹2,700 for other candidates, paid once regardless of how many IIMs the form named. Fees were not refundable. Nobody legitimate is collecting a second fee in November to show you the card.

Three sessions, not one national morning

The test is in three sessions on the same Sunday so that centres can rotate candidates. You write the session on your card. You do not choose a more convenient one at the gate. Question papers differ by session. After the test, the IIMs scale scores across sessions; candidates do not do that arithmetic themselves. Until the official scorecard exists, a raw-score screenshot is incomplete. The release also says information on iimcat.ac.in can change if governments or the IIMs direct a change. If the date moves, the bulletin will move. A coaching app will move later, or incorrectly.

Who the test is for

CAT is the prerequisite the IIMs use for their management programmes. Other institutes use the score as well, under their own cutoffs, which are not IIM policy. The bulletin’s eligibility line is a bachelor’s degree with at least 50 percent marks, or 45 percent for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates, from a recognised university, or an equivalent qualification the Ministry of Education recognises. Final-year rules, if you need them, are in the bulletin’s eligibility section and should be read there rather than summarised from memory. This page is not an admissions consultancy and does not estimate a percentile.

The convener for 2026 is Prof. Aditya Billore of IIM Indore. Operational questions go through the official helpdesk on iimcat.ac.in, not through a social-media reply that claims to be the convener.

How to follow the week of 4 November

On 4 November, open iimcat.ac.in and download the card if the link is live. If the link is late, the delay belongs in a notice on that site. Do not treat a late link as a cancelled exam. On 29 November, follow only your session. Results and the scorecard come later, on a date the IIMs will announce. That date is not 29 November night. Shortlisting for interviews is a later, institute-by-institute step. A CAT score is not an admission.

See how an official result PDF should be read, another date people mis-copy, and a public-rules explainer. High-traffic application portals are a software problem when the admit-card morning arrives; website development is where that load gets designed.

4 November is a download, 29 November is a test

Treat them as different events in any calendar. On 4 November the bulletin says the admit card becomes available and stays available through test day. The card is the session, the centre, the reporting time, and the photograph you must match. Reporting time is not test time. Three sessions exist so centres can turn over, and you attend the one printed on the card. Papers differ. Scaling is the IIMs’ job after the fact. A raw score shared on Sunday night is not a percentile and not an admission. Institute shortlists come later, one campus at a time, under cutoffs those campuses set. CAT is the common test. It is not a common offer.

Registration closed at 17:00 on 15 September 2026. The fee — ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates, ₹2,700 for others, paid once — is not collected again for the card. Any site other than iimcat.ac.in that asks for money in November is not the convener’s office. Prof. Aditya Billore is the convener named in the 26 July release; operational contact is the helpdesk on the official site. The IIMs have reserved the right to move the date. A move, if it happens, will be on that site first. Coaching posters are downstream.

Eligibility details, including final-year conditions, belong in the bulletin rather than in a shortened memory. This page is not estimating a safe percentile and not ranking IIMs. The useful act on 4 November is to download the card, read the session, and ignore every other domain. The useful act on 29 November is to take the session you were allotted. The useful act afterward is to wait for the scorecard date the IIMs announce, which will not be the same night as the test.

City allotment is the other November surprise. The bulletin says candidates named five cities and are placed in one of them, or in a nearby city if none of the five can take them. The nearby-city case is rare and real. It is printed on the card. Arguing with a centre on 29 November will not move you back to a preference that had no seat. The three sessions exist so that the same centre can host more than one group. You do not sit a later session because traffic was bad, unless the card already says that later session. Photograph, name, and session are the three fields to check on 4 November, in that order, while there is still time to raise a mismatch with the official helpdesk. A mismatch noticed at the gate is a worse day.

FAQ

When can I download the CAT 2026 admit card?

From 4 November 2026 until 29 November 2026, according to the information bulletin, on iimcat.ac.in.

When is the exam?

Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three sessions. Your session is on the admit card. A single start time for all candidates was not in the 26 July press release.

Is registration still open?

No. The bulletin closed registration at 17:00 on 15 September 2026.

What did registration cost?

The bulletin lists ₹1,350 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates and ₹2,700 for others, paid once. It was not refundable.

Can the date change?

The press release says the IIMs reserve the right to change the test date and time if the situation warrants. Any change will be on iimcat.ac.in.

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