CAT 2020 observes a significant drop in the number of applicants

There has been a significant drop in the number of students who have applied for the CAT 2020. The national level entrance exam is a step for admission into IIMs and other management institutes. They have all witnessed a significant slump of about 5% over last year’s figure. This comes at a time when there has been an agonizing surge in job losses pertaining to the formal/professional sector.

Facts and figures

After the extension of the last date of registration for about a week, CAT 2020 has seen a total registration of 2.3 lakh candidates. However,  the lowest number of registrations remain in CAT 2015.

Highlights of the examination

India has about twenty IIMs which include nearly five thousand MBA seats. CAT 2020 will be held by IIM Indore this year on November 29th, 2020 in 155 cities. September 16th, 2020 was the last date for registration initially but the deadline was extended to September 23rd, 2020.

For a two-year MBA programme, the institutes charge about INR 12 lakh to INR 23 lakh. Most students generally take education loans to pursue their management course which they repay after securing a job. 

According to a recent data-report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India has lost about one-third of its white-collar jobs between the months of May and August. An estimated 32.6 percent of people, who make about 5.9 million out of the 18.1 million white-collar jobs in the country lost their employment in these four months.

For more stories on CAT, read:

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• How to prepare for CAT in one month or less? -By Praneeth Allada, 99.78 percentile, IIM Calcutta
• How 2-3 hours of CAT preparation on weekdays helped me land IIM Lucknow -By Nishi Agrawal, 99.62 percentile