IIM Mumbai vs IIT Bombay SJMSOM: Two Powai CAT Doors, Rs 9.4 Lakh Apart

Mumbai’s two most selective MBA campuses sit in the same Powai neighbourhood, draw on the same CAT score, and price the same two years Rs 9,44,200 apart. IIM Mumbai’s gross fee is Rs 25.00 lakh; IIT Bombay’s SJMSOM prints Rs 15,55,800 — and half that for SC/ST/PwD students. This page maps the decision from both institutes’ official pages, opened on 27 September 2026.

The door: CAT-only at both, one steeper bar

Both MBAs admit through CAT followed by each school’s own selection stages — there is no second entrance and no quota door at either. The printed academic bars differ: IIM Mumbai’s admissions page, rendered today, asks 50% in graduation (45% for SC/ST/PwD); SJMSOM’s brochure asks 60% (55% for SC/ST/PwD), or a CPI of 6.5 out of 10 — the steeper floor, and a filter worth checking before you count either school into your list.

Two honest disclosures belong here. First, IIM Mumbai’s domestic admissions section still displays the completed Admission-2025 cycle on CAT-2024 — the 2027-29 domestic calendar was not printed on the page we opened today, though the page does print its standing structure, the Rs 2,000/1,000 application fee, and the international-candidate floors (CAT 85 percentile, GMAT 700 with IR 5-plus, GRE 310, test-centre scores only). Second, its separate MBA-through-GMAT track is marked closed — the last date was 31 March 2026. For the 2027 intake, CAT 2026 is the door at both, and its registration closed on 15 September 2026.

The money: the Rs 9.4 lakh gap, and the waiver that doubles it

IIM Mumbai’s fee structure lives behind a JavaScript modal on the admissions page — rendered today in a real browser, it prints: gross programme fee Rs 25.00 lakh for the two-year programme, plus a refundable Caution Money Deposit of Rs 50,000, with mess charges and the mess deposit separate and payable one year in advance.

SJMSOM’s tuition page prints the full arithmetic for 2026-28: Rs 15,55,800 total for General/EWS/OBC-NCL — Rs 3,82,450 a semester with every component itemised — against Rs 7,55,800 for SC/ST/PwD students, for whom the Rs 2,00,000-per-semester tuition is waived entirely. Admission fees are Rs 16,000, refundable deposits Rs 10,000, hostel and mess Rs 47,250 a semester cycle if availed, and the offer-acceptance deposit is Rs 4,28,700 (Rs 4,55,700 with the mess advance). The previous batch’s total, Rs 15,15,500, stands printed beside it — a Rs 40,300 one-year climb.

For an SC/ST/PwD candidate the comparison stops being close: Rs 25 lakh against Rs 7.56 lakh is a 3.3x multiple, the widest printed category gap we have mapped between two schools in the same city.

The outcomes: two printed blocks, one disclosed gap

IIM Mumbai’s MBA programme brochure (brochure-2026.pdf), read from the rendered scan today, prints its placement block in large type: highest CTC Rs 54.00 lakh, average CTC Rs 30.11 lakh, highest international AED 1,38,000, 198 companies — with the sector split led by consulting at 23% and manufacturing at 17%. The page does not state which batch the block describes; we print it as the institute’s current brochure figure and say so.

SJMSOM’s brochure prints its latest final placement table with the batch named: 2022-24 — highest Rs 53.8 lakh, average Rs 25.82 lakh, median Rs 25.25 lakh, average female CTC Rs 29.31 lakh, a 37% PPO rate and 52 recruiting companies, 27% of them new. The figures are one cycle older and one disclosure more honest. Read both with our placement-report methodology.

The quota question, answered by absence

Neither institute prints any management, institute-level, NRI or donation route — government schools simply do not carry the concept on their admissions pages, and the only priced concession anywhere in today’s documents is SJMSOM’s lawful SC/ST/PwD tuition waiver. For the searcher typing “IIM Mumbai management quota” or “IIT Bombay MBA direct admission”, the absence is the answer: CAT, the printed bar, the printed fee — nothing else exists to buy. Our Mumbai city guide maps which schools in the city do print institute-level routes, and which never will.

How to choose

If both shortlists call, the decision is brand-versus-arithmetic: IIM Mumbai carries the IIM charter and the bigger printed placement machine at Rs 25 lakh; SJMSOM answers with Rs 9.4 lakh back in your pocket, the IIT ecosystem, and placement medians within shouting distance of the IIM’s brochure block. If only one calls, the decision is made — both are outcomes a family can defend. And if you hold an SC/ST/PwD certificate, SJMSOM’s waiver makes it the single cheapest elite MBA door we have verified anywhere: Rs 7,55,800 for two years in Powai.