IIM Nagpur vs IIM Kozhikode: The Hard 95 Against the 60/60/60 Academic Floor

Two solo IIM doors, two philosophies of filtering. IIM Nagpur’s printed MBA 2026-28 fee is Rs 21,00,000. IIM Kozhikode’s signed fee table reads Rs 23,50,000. Both documents were re-read today, 11 October 2026. Nagpur bets on the CAT percentile; Kozhikode bets on the whole transcript. Which one is harder depends entirely on which part of your record is weak.

The two bills, side by side

	IIM Nagpur (MBA 2026-28)	IIM Kozhikode (PGP 2026-28)
Two-year total	Rs 21,00,000	Rs 23,50,000 (Rs 11,75,000 x 2, signed table)
Scope	Excludes mess/food; Rs 50,000 refundable caution extra	Rs 25,000 caution + Rs 2,000 welfare fund at admission; mess on a refundable Rs 40,000/term deposit outside
Year split	Year one Rs 10,80,000, year two Rs 10,20,000	Rs 4,75,000 + 3,50,000 + 3,50,000 per year
Term-I payable	Rs 4,50,000 including caution	Rs 4,75,000 (Term I)
Offer acceptance	Rs 1,00,000, adjusted into Term I	Rs 1,00,000 offer acceptance
Assistance	10 Merit + 10 Need-cum-Merit scholarships (Rs 8 lakh income line)	Per institute schemes
Document	Official fees page + signed fee scan (17 December 2025)	Signed fee PDF, read by OCR

The honest label on the gap: Rs 2,50,000 in Nagpur’s favour before scopes are matched. Kozhikode’s mess runs on a refundable deposit model outside the total; Nagpur’s mess bill is simply extra. Neither figure is the full two-year cost — but Nagpur’s starts lower and its scholarship block (twenty full-tuition waivers) is printed in numbers.

The gates: a higher percentile against a deeper floor

Nagpur’s Table 2 asks General candidates for 95 overall with 70 in every section — the highest overall bar in this pair — stepping down through EWS/NC-OBC 85 with 55s to DAP 40. There is no academic floor beneath it.

Kozhikode’s Table 1 asks 85 overall with 75 sectionals — lower overall, higher per-section — and then adds the filter that makes this comparison exist: 60% in Class X, 60% in Class XII, and 60% in graduation, the 60/60/60 floor (OBC-NCL/EWS carry the same 60s at a 75/65 CAT bar; the CA/CMA/CS route asks 50% in those examinations). A candidate can clear 85/75 on the CAT and still be ineligible on a transcript line from years earlier. Our low-graduation-percentage map tracks every printed floor of this kind.

The formulas: both read the score, not the percentile — then diverge

Both institutes compute their final lists on the CAT score, not the percentile — rare enough to be the pair’s shared spine. After that, they want different candidates.

Nagpur’s Final Score = CAT 45% (the candidate’s total divided by the maximum among stage-1 eligibles, times ten) + PI 25% + past academics 6% + work experience 9% + academic diversity 5% + gender diversity 10%. The 10% gender block is the heaviest printed in our series; the PI is a quarter of the final, with an extempore round inside it.

Kozhikode’s final = CAT Index 35% + PI 35% + WAT 20% + resume 10%. It is the only formula in the pair with a Written Ability Test and a scored resume inside the final list, and it leans on the interview a third again harder than Nagpur’s. Its Stage-2 shortlist (the Aggregate Index Score) weights CAT 50%, Class X 15%, Class XII 20%, diversity and up to 5% work experience.

The quota question, answered from print

Neither institute prints any management, institutional or discretionary route — no IIM does. Nagpur’s policy puts the anti-fraud line in writing: all admission communication comes solely from its admissions office, no individual or organisation is authorised to manage admissions, and a fraud attempt means immediate disqualification. An agent quoting a priced seat at either campus is selling the thing that sentence names.

The placement evidence, stated honestly

Kozhikode is the older, larger brand; Nagpur is the newer institute still building its track record. Neither side’s current audited salary table was re-opened for this page, so no package figures are quoted here. When an official report reaches you, run it through the five checks in our placement-report methodology before it settles a Rs 21-24 lakh decision.

Who should pick which

• Pick Nagpur if your CAT clears 95 with 70s, your academic record has a weak line that Kozhikode’s floor would catch, and the lower printed bill matters. Its formula rewards gender and academic diversity in print.
• Pick Kozhikode if your transcript is uniformly 60-plus, your CAT sits in the 85-95 band with strong sectionals, and you interview and write well — the WAT and resume are a third of its final. Pay the Rs 2.5 lakh premium knowingly, for the older brand.
• Either way — both doors open by the institutes’ own emails and portals after the CAT result. Watch your registered email; the windows are short and neither institute waits.