MBA Admissions · Ahmedabad
MBA Colleges in Ahmedabad 2026: IIM Ahmedabad to the ACPC Route
Ahmedabad stacks four distinct MBA layers along one 75-kilometre axis: India's most selective IIM, a marketing specialist with its own exam, a development-management university with the widest exam menu in the country, and a state-aided Gujarat University school at Rs 6,500 a year. This guide maps every layer with official documents — and where Gujarat's ACPC counselling fits instead.
Last updated 28 August 2026 · Latest change: Initial publication with four individually verified school profiles (IIM Ahmedabad, MICA, IRMA/TSU Anand, BK School); every fee, exam menu, deadline line and placement figure opened on official pages or PDFs today. IIMA's PGP fee honestly marked unverified — the redesigned site publishes none
The short answer
As of August 2026, Ahmedabad's MBA map runs in four verified layers: IIM Ahmedabad's CAT-only ceiling, MICA's CAT/XAT/GMAT-plus-MICAT route at Rs 28 lakh, IRMA (now Tribhuvan Sahkari University) in Anand accepting nine exams at Rs 8,70,000 total, and BK School's CMAT-plus-ACPC grant-in-aid MBA at Rs 6,500 a year. Gujarat's ACPC counselling serves the state-college layer separately.
Details below are indicative and compiled from public sources. Always confirm the latest fees, eligibility, seats and deadlines with each college and the official authorities before applying.
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Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
IIM Ahmedabad MBA admission 2027-29: printed CAT cut-offs (General/EWS 95 + 85 sectionals), the 65/35 composite and 50/10/40 final formula, 50% degree bar, IPRS-audited 2025 placements (avg Rs 35.22 lakh).
View details - 02
MICA, Ahmedabad
MICA Ahmedabad admission: CAT/XAT/GMAT plus MICAT, GE-PI rounds, Rs 28 lakh fee for 2025-27, official 2026-27 placements (avg Rs 20.12 LPA, 197 placed).
View details - 03
Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA — “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University)
IRMA Anand (now Tribhuvan Sahkari University) MBA in Development Management: nine accepted exams, online interview, Rs 8,70,000 total fee for 2026-28, audited placements (avg Rs 15.72 lakh).
View details - 04
B K School of Professional and Management Studies, Gujarat University
BK School of Management Ahmedabad MBA: CMAT via ACPC counselling, grant-in-aid fee of Rs 6,500 a year at Gujarat University — the honest budget route, verified on the official page.
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The routes, explained
The merit ceiling — IIM Ahmedabad (CAT only)
The two-year PGP admits domestic applicants through CAT alone, then an analytical writing test and personal interview, on a 50% degree bar (45% reserved). The redesigned iima.ac.in publishes no cutoff table and no PGP fee page — the fee arrives with the offer letter — but its 2025 placements are externally audited under IPRS: mean Rs 35.22 lakh, median Rs 34.53 lakh, 395 accepted offers. There is no second door, and the institute's supernumerary international category is a published route, not a purchasable one.
The specialist — MICA (CAT/XAT/GMAT + MICAT)
MICA's PGDM-C and PGDM require a CAT, XAT or GMAT score plus MICA's own MICAT — two sittings, better score counts — then Group Exercise and Personal Interview. The published fee is Rs 28 lakh (2025-27) with 25-30 real scholarships a year at 25-100% of tuition. The official 2026-27 brochure records 197 students placed, 91 recruiters, average Rs 20.12 LPA, median Rs 19.57 LPA. The 2026 intake is closed; the 2027 schedule was unannounced as of 28 August 2026.
The multi-exam door — IRMA, now “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University (Anand)
Seventy-five kilometres away in Anand, IRMA's MBA in Development Management and Cooperation accepts CAT 2025, XAT 2025/26, CMAT 2026, CUET PG 2025/26, GATE 2025/26, GMAT or GRE — the widest published exam menu among India's serious B-schools — with an online personal interview. The 2026-28 fee totals Rs 8,70,000 with refund rules published to the rupee, and the audited 2023-25 placements average Rs 15.72 lakh (median 15.80, highest 31.84). The university's own line: there is no management quota for MBA at TSU.
The state-aided floor — BK School, Gujarat University (CMAT + ACPC)
B K School of Professional and Management Studies runs a grant-in-aid, two-year MBA at Rs 6,500 per year — the lowest verified fee of any serious option in the city — admitting through CMAT and Gujarat's ACPC central counselling, with in-person confirmation at the campus office. The school publishes no salary statistics; its recruiter list (Reliance, Torrent, HDFC Bank, TCS, Asian Paints, Bajaj, Zomato) is descriptive. The route is the state machinery, not a campus-side arrangement.
Verified figures, with sources
| Item | Figure | Cycle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IIM Ahmedabad two-year MBA (PGP) fee | confirm on the official page ↗ | 2026-28 batch; the site carries no PGP fee page as of 28 August 2026 | IIMA MBA admissions, domestic candidates (official) ↗ checked 28 Aug 2026 |
| MICA PGDM-C / PGDM fee | Rs 28 lakh for the 2025-27 batch, financial aid available; 25-30 merit-cum-means scholarships a year worth 25-100% of tuition | 2025-27 batch (next-cycle fee announced with the 2027 intake) | MICA Admissions 2026 (official) ↗ checked 28 Aug 2026 |
| IRMA (“Tribhuvan” Sahkari University) MBA fee, 2026-28 | Rs 8,70,000 total — Rs 8,00,000 tuition across two years plus Rs 70,000 refundable deposits; mess, ~Rs 20,000 fieldwork, Rs 4,500 convocation extra; full refund minus Rs 1,000 on withdrawal by 23 June 2026 | 2026-28 batch, official brochure | TSU MBA in DMC 2026-28 brochure (official PDF) ↗ checked 28 Aug 2026 |
| BK School (Gujarat University) MBA fee | Rs 6,500 per year — the grant-in-aid fee published on the official admission page; textbooks, university charges and living costs extra | As published on the official How-to-Apply page | BK School admission page (official) ↗ checked 28 Aug 2026 |
Ahmedabad’s MBA map is a study in extremes: within 75 kilometres sit India’s most audited placement report, a marketing school with its own exam, a development-management university that accepts nine different entrance tests, and a state-aided MBA priced like a semester’s worth of textbooks elsewhere. Four layers, four verified fee documents, zero sellable seats.
Which Ahmedabad layer fits your profile?
Start with the honest question — not “which college is best” but which published door your actual exam score, budget and career shape fit. IIM Ahmedabad is the CAT-only ceiling: no published cutoff to plan against, an externally audited Rs 35.22 lakh average, and no side door of any kind. MICA trades a point of selectivity for specialisation — MICAT’s creative-analytical balance suits brand-and-media careers that a pure-CAT profile does not guarantee. IRMA — now Tribhuvan Sahkari University is the pragmatist’s door: nine accepted exams, an online interview, Rs 8.7 lakh all-in, an audited Rs 15.72 lakh average, and a written no-quota promise. BK School is the floor: ACPC counselling on CMAT, Rs 6,500 a year, and an unpublished placement record you must weigh with open eyes.
The fee ladder, sourced to the rupee
Rs 6,500 a year (BK School, grant-in-aid) → Rs 8,70,000 total (IRMA/TSU, 2026-28 brochure) → Rs 28 lakh (MICA, 2025-27) → unpublished, offer-letter, band-calibrated Rs 25-35 lakh (IIMA). Every rung above links the document it came from. Note what the ladder teaches: in this city the state-aided route costs a fortieth of the private specialist, and the audited-outcome option sits in the middle — price and quality do not move together here, which is exactly why the map matters more than the rankings.
The Gujarat quota boundary
The question we are asked most about Ahmedabad is the management-quota question, and the state has a clean answer: the seats that move outside pure entrance merit do so through ACPC’s published counselling rules — the state machinery our Gujarat quota page maps end to end, including how vacancy rounds genuinely work. None of the four institutes on this page publishes a quota of its own; TSU writes the sentence itself. Read the red-flags guide before paying anyone who says otherwise.
Planning your next twelve months
For the 2027 intake: CAT 2026 registration runs to 15 September 2026 and the test is 29 November — that is the IIMA clock. MICA’s MICAT I historically sits in December; watch the official page, which closed the 2026 intake in April. IRMA/TSU’s brochure is live now for 2026-28 — the multi-exam menu means a CMAT or CUET PG plan does not disqualify you. BK School follows ACPC’s calendar after CMAT results. Layer them honestly: one ceiling attempt, two parallel doors, and a floor you can already afford — that is a plan no agent needs to improve on.
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MBA admission in Ahmedabad, answered
- Which entrance exams do I need for an MBA in Ahmedabad?
- It depends entirely on the layer. IIM Ahmedabad takes CAT only. MICA needs CAT, XAT or GMAT plus its own MICAT. IRMA (TSU, Anand) accepts any of CAT, XAT, CMAT, CUET PG, GATE, GMAT or GRE — the widest menu in the country. BK School takes CMAT through ACPC. A CAT-plus-CMAT combination keeps every door on this page open; CMAT alone opens IRMA and BK School.
- What is the cheapest credible MBA in Ahmedabad?
- BK School's grant-in-aid MBA at Rs 6,500 a year via ACPC is the lowest verified fee in the city — with the honest caveat that the school publishes no salary statistics. The cheapest option with an audited outcome is IRMA (TSU) in Anand at Rs 8,70,000 total, whose 2023-25 placements were externally audited at a Rs 15.72 lakh average.
- Is there a management quota in Ahmedabad's MBA colleges?
- Not one published by any of the four institutes here. TSU's eligibility page states it outright: there is no management quota for admission to MBA at TSU. IIMA and MICA publish complete merit processes, and BK School's seats flow through ACPC's central counselling. Gujarat's genuine vacancy-seat mechanics are mapped on our state quota page — that is the only 'vacant seat' conversation worth having.
- What are realistic Ahmedabad options with a moderate entrance score?
- Two honest ones. IRMA (TSU) accepts CMAT, CUET PG, GATE and XAT alongside CAT — a genuine multi-exam door with an online interview — and BK School's ACPC route prices the degree at Rs 6,500 a year. MICA is score-flexible but MICAT-selective; IIM Ahmedabad is not a moderate-score option and no counsellor can make it one.
- What is the IRMA institution now called?
- IRMA's Anand programmes now run under “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University — an Institution of National Importance under the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, per the university's own audited placement report and 2026-28 brochure. The IRMA brand, campus and alumni network continue; admissions pages exist on both irma.ac.in and tsu.ac.in, so check both during a cycle.
- Where does ACPC fit into MBA admission in Ahmedabad?
- ACPC is Gujarat's central counselling body for the state-college layer — BK School's MBA seats are allotted through it on CMAT merit, with published rounds and vacancy mechanics. The three own-process institutes on this page (IIMA, MICA, TSU) sit outside it. When an agent blurs the two — quoting an ACPC rule at an own-process school, or vice versa — that confusion is the product being sold.
Keep reading
- Management admissions hubStart here — the complete picture this page belongs to.
- Management quota in Gujarat: the legal map
- MBA colleges by percentile band
- MBA without CAT: every real route
- MBA fees by budget band
- Direct MBA admission in Ahmedabad 2026
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