Admission Procedure for Overseas Candidates

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT CALCUTTA

Admission Procedure for Overseas Candidates

MBA Programme (Batch 2025-27)

MBA Programme

The MBA Programme is a two-year full-time post-graduate degree course.

The MBA Programme has a two-tier structure: it consists of a core curriculum (compulsory credit courses and compulsory non-credit courses), a summer internship (compulsory industry training between first and second year) and elective courses (optional courses in the second year). The first year is committed to developing business fundamentals through compulsory courses spanning the areas of economics, finance, marketing, operations, systems and organizational behaviour. The second year offers a plethora of electives in different functional areas that students can choose based on their desired area of pursuit. Students aspiring to delve deeper into topics can undertake term papers under faculty supervision.

This document provides the definition, eligibility criteria, scoring requirements and other relevant details of the admission procedure which are specifically applicable only for Overseas candidates. For all other aspects, Overseas candidates should refer to the Admission policy of the institute available at the link below:

https://iimcal.ac.in/programs/pgp/admission/admission-policy/admission-procedure-for-domestic-candidates

Definition of ‘Overseas Candidate’:

Foreign citizens, or Indian citizens living, working or studying outside India during the period December 15, 2023 to February 1, 2025 and should for that reason not be in a position to appear for CAT 2024 scheduled on November 24, 2024, will be considered as ‘Overseas Candidate’ for admission to MBA Programme of IIM Calcutta for 2025-27 Batch.

Eligibility for MBA Programme:

1. A candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the Indian citizen candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Persons with Disability (PwD) categories], awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. The equivalence of the foreign degree needs to be certified by the Association of Indian Universities.

   For candidates who have completed an integrated masters or dual degree directly after their 12th/HSC, the percentage of marks obtained as per the college/institution/university which is considered as equivalent to the bachelor’s degree will be taken into account for eligibility. In case the dual degree for UG and PG marks are not separated by the college/institution/university, the PG marks shall be considered as the relevant marks for eligibility.

2. Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply. If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if he/she submits a certificate latest by June 30, 2025 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her University/College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2025) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date of issue of the certificate. For candidates yet to complete the integrated masters or dual degree directly after the 12th/HSC, the completion status in the years/semesters till August 3, 2025 will be considered.

   Candidates who graduated in the years 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023, for whom the university did not conduct the exams or did not award marks or CGPA but awarded only pass or pass marks or promotion in one or more years/semesters of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification, can also apply. Such candidates will have to submit a certificate from the Principal/Registrar of his/her University/College/Institute stating that the university did not conduct the exams or did not award marks or CGPA but awarded only pass or pass marks or promotion in one or more years/semesters, as the case may be.

   A candidate who has not received his/her graduation results at the time of registration will have to produce certificates and mark sheets in original along with the photocopies as soon as the respective University/Institute publishes the results, but NOT LATER THAN DECEMBER 31, 2025, failing which his/her registration as a student of IIM Calcutta will be automatically cancelled and he/she will be required to withdraw from the MBA Programme forthwith. Any candidate who submits University Mark sheets which do not clearly indicate that he/she has passed the Bachelor’s Degree course or equivalent, and also submits Provisional Certificate from an affiliated College/Institute would, in addition, be required to produce an authorization certificate from the University stating that such an affiliated College/Institute is authorized/empowered to issue such a certificate on behalf of the University.

   IIM Calcutta reserves its right to verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process. Applicants should note that mere fulfilment of minimum eligibility criteria will not ensure shortlisting by IIM Calcutta at the various stages of the admissions process.

3. The candidate must have a valid GMAT score with an overall total score of at least 735. Additionally, the candidate must have a score of at least 89 in Verbal Reasoning Section, at least 89 in Quantitative Reasoning Section and at least 89 in the Data Insights Section.
   
   The GMAT exam has to be administered at a test centre and an Online GMAT Score (exam taken at home) shall not be considered for the MBA 2025-27 Batch.

GMAT taken before February 1, 2024 is not valid.

How to Apply:

Overseas candidates will have to apply online through the Institute website. The link is provided below: 
https://www.iimcal.ac.in/programs/mba/instructions-overseas-application-for-mba

The link will be activated soon 

All related documents as mentioned below will have to be uploaded as per the instructions while filling-in the on-line application form.

Documents to be uploaded

1. Scanned copy of the latest GMAT score report
2. Scanned copies of all academic mark-sheets/certificates (Class 10, 12, Bachelor’s level, Masters and Professional Courses)
3. Scanned copy of passport pages indicating official entries towards your stay outside India from the period December 15, 2023 to February 1, 2025.
4. For the purpose of being considered for reservations, a valid certificate is to be furnished by Indian citizens during the Personal Interview.

The application fee for overseas candidate is USD 150 (or an equivalent amount in Indian currency).

The last date for applying to the MBA Programme for overseas candidates is  February 1, 2025.

GMAT Institution Code Number

The GMAT Institution Code Number for Indian Institute of Management Calcutta is 7003.

Short-listing for Personal Interview (PI):

Candidate’s GMAT score in Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights sections will be used to compute the candidate’s equivalent CAT 2024 score as per the formulae and steps given below.

QR, VR and DI represent the candidate’s GMAT score in the Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights sections, respectively. QRmax, VRmax and DImax represent the maximum possible GMAT scores in the Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights sections, respectively. Min_C represents the minimum of the sum of scores in the CAT sections of Quantitative Analysis (QA), Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) sections of those scoring 100 percentiles in CAT 2024.

Candidate’s equivalent CAT 2024 score = average of the total score of those securing a sum of EQ_QVD in QA and VARC in CAT 2024 
In case of no exact match for EQ_QVD, linear interpolation will be used to determine the candidate’s equivalent CAT 2024 score. 
Candidate’s equivalent CAT 2024 score is then used to determine the candidate’s Composite Score using the same criteria as used for the candidates applying through CAT 2024. The details of determining the composite score of a candidate applying through CAT 2024 are provided in the Stage II (Table 2 and 3) of Admission Policy available at: 

https://www.iimcal.ac.in/programs/pgp/admission/admission-policy/admission-procedure-for-domestic-candidates

Shortlisted candidates will be required to appear for Personal Interview (PI) tentatively scheduled between February and April, 2025. The mode of interview will be communicated once the exercise of shortlist for PI is complete. The candidate will have to bear all the expenses made, if any, for attending the interview.

The above cutoffs and scoring scheme are subject to change based on information received from GMAC from time to time.

Final Selection: 
The final selection of the candidate would be based on equivalent CAT 2024 score, performance in the PI, academic diversity and work experience. The details of the weights of these components are provided in Stage III (Table 4 and Table 5) of the admission policy available at: 

https://iimcal.ac.in/programs/pgp/admission/admission-policy/admission-procedure-for-domestic-candidates

Fees and Expenses:

The total fee for the overseas student for the last batch was USD 65,000 (Sixty five thousand only) for a period of two years, including hostel fees. The fee is payable, phase-wise, in six terms over two years. In addition to the course fees, the overseas student is required to pay one-time refundable caution deposit of INR 20,000 (Twenty thousand only). Living, medical insurance and other expenses during the period of his/her stay are payable in Indian rupees which are extra and will depend upon choice of food and other preferences and can vary from INR 6,000/- to 7,000/- per month.

Availability of loans from banks and financial institutions:

Financial Institutions and Commercial Banks provide loans to students at a concessional rate of interest. Details will be available at their websites. Students who desire to avail of the loan facility should contact banks directly. Although the Institute endeavors to facilitate the process of availing of loan from financial institutions and banks, it is not directly involved in this process.

©This document was released by Chairperson, Admissions, IIM Calcutta, on behalf of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. This is applicable only to the MBA admission procedure for overseas candidates of the 2025-27 batch. IIM Calcutta reserves the right to amend the document at any point if it deems necessary.