IIM Ahmedabad vs Bangalore vs Calcutta: The 2027-29 Decision, From Print

The “IIM A, B or C?” question is the oldest premium decision in Indian management education — and the least documented, because each institute publishes its own policy in its own format and nobody reads all three side by side. This page does exactly that for the 2027-29 cycle, from the official policy pages, admissions PDFs and fee documents opened on 17 September 2026. One thing before the detail: all three admit only through CAT, and none publishes any quota route of any kind — so this comparison is about bars, formulas, fees and fit, never about buying a way in.

The bars: who can realistically enter

IIM Ahmedabad’s freshly posted PGP 2027-29 policy prints the hardest numbers of the three: 95 overall percentile plus 85 sectionals for General and EWS candidates, with the bachelor’s-degree bar at 50% (45% for SC/ST/PwD). IIM Bangalore’s 2026-28 first-shortlist table (on CAT 2025, opened today) sat at 85 overall with 80/75/75 sectionals for General. IIM Calcutta’s Stage-I open-category minimums were 85 overall with 80/80/75 sectionals. The printed floor is not the real shortlist — actual calls go well above it — but the floors tell you which door is even open, and Ahmedabad’s is the narrowest.

The formulas: three different ways to weigh you

This is where the decision gets personal. IIM Ahmedabad (2027-29 policy): shortlist on 65% CAT percentile + 35% application rating; final score 50% interview, 10% writing test, 40% composite. IIM Bangalore: CAT at 55 of 100 before the interview (with academics, work experience and gender diversity filling the rest), the interview at 40 and WAT at 10 after it — and two online reference letters are mandatory before the application submits at all. IIM Calcutta: the personal interview carries 48 of 100 final points against CAT’s 30, with WAT 8, academic diversity 6 and work experience 8. The same candidate is stronger at one campus and weaker at another purely because of these weights — a strong interviewee prefers Ahmedabad or Calcutta’s shape, a strong test-taker prefers Bangalore’s front-loaded CAT.

The money: two printed totals and one deliberate gap

IIM Bangalore: Rs 26,00,000 for the two-year PGP 2026-28 (covering tuition, library, hostel room rent, insurance and more), plus a Rs 30,000 caution deposit — financial-aid page opened today. IIM Calcutta: the currently linked fee structure prints Rs 27,00,000 across six terms (Batch 2024-26, official PDF opened today); the 2026-28 figure is not separately published, so treat it as the reference point, not the invoice. IIM Ahmedabad: publishes no PGP fee on its current website — the figure arrives with the offer letter; budget roughly Rs 25-27 lakh plus deposits and confirm in writing. The full 17-campus fee table is on our IIM fees compared page.

The timing trap all three share

CAT 2026 registration closed on 15 September; the test is 29 November 2026 and results are due in the first week of January 2027 (tentative, per the official advertisement). What candidates miss every year: the institutes’ own registrations cluster around the results window, and each campus runs its own. Our after-CAT registration map tracks the windows as they are announced — if you wait for a reminder in January, the window is already half gone.

Which one fits you

There is no honest ranking here, only fit. IIM Ahmedabad is the narrowest door and the strongest print on audited outcomes (2025: average Rs 35.22 lakh, median Rs 34.53 lakh). IIM Bangalore’s formula most rewards a high CAT score and a documented profile, and publishes its fee cleanly at Rs 26 lakh. IIM Calcutta’s formula most rewards the interview itself, at 48 of 100 final points. The right shortlist is built from your percentile expectation against the printed bars, your profile against the printed weights, and your budget against the printed totals — in that order.

How Udaan helps with this decision

We will not tell you which of these three is “best” — we will show you, in writing, which printed bar your profile can clear, which formula rewards your profile’s strengths, and what the realistic total cost is at each. If the honest answer is that all three are a reach this year, we say so and map what your actual score still opens. That is the whole job. Start with a conversation on our contact page.

All figures on this page come from official policies, admissions PDFs and fee documents, each with its read date beside it in the sources list. Institute policies change between cycles — reconfirm the current criteria on the official pages before applying.