IIM Waitlist Movement: How Far the List Really Moves, From Published Tables

Every May, the same anxious question lands in counselling calls: “I’m waitlist 180 at an IIM — will it move?” Most institutes answer with silence, which is exactly the gap agents fill with invented “inside information”. One IIM answers in print. IIM Tiruchirappalli publishes its entire waitlist movement, category by category, round by round — and two consecutive years of those tables tell candidates more than any consultant can.

The published numbers, both years

For the 2026-28 batch, the merit list came on 7 May 2026: 832 General-category offers with the lowest CAT percentile at 95.25 — the printed shortlist floor holding exactly. Then eleven dated waitlist rounds ran to 23 June 2026. By the end, the General list had reached waitlist 405, EWS 94, NC-OBC 206, SC 197 and ST 54.

For 2025-27, the shape repeats almost eerily: the merit list on 9 May 2025 carried 880 General offers at a 95.01 floor, and eleven rounds to 25 June 2025 moved the General list to waitlist 403.

	2025-27	2026-28
Merit list date	9 May 2025	7 May 2026
General merit offers	880	832
Lowest CAT percentile in merit offers (General)	95.01	95.25
Waitlist rounds	11, to 25 June 2025	11, to 23 June 2026
General waitlist reached	403	405
NC-OBC reached	121	206
SC reached	movement ended earlier	197
EWS reached	45	94
ST reached	movement ended earlier	54

Two years, two near-identical General outcomes. A candidate at General waitlist 150 reading these tables in May is not “hoping” — they are holding a position that has converted two years running. That is what published data does to anxiety.

What actually moves a list

The mechanics are printed in the same documents. Offers exceed seats because every serious candidate holds several; the first waitlist round moves the moment the merit-list payment deadline passes. Each later round moves on withdrawals. And the CAT percentile range printed inside every round makes the discipline visible — the final General movement of 2026-28 (waitlist 383-405) still carried 95.79 as the lowest percentile. The list moves within the qualified pool, never beneath the bar. Category movement differs by pool depth: NC-OBC travelled to 206 in 2026-28 against 121 the year before, while ST moved only to 54 — small pools exhaust quickly.

A “no movement” round is also printed when no vacancy exists — the DAP list carried exactly that line in the final 2026-28 rounds. Nothing moves because someone made a call; everything moves because a higher-ranked candidate signed elsewhere.

The red flags this table kills

• “I can hold your seat while you decide.” Seats convert only on published deadlines; nobody holds anything.
• “Pay to jump the waitlist.” Movement is category-rank-ordered and printed publicly, round by round. A paid jump would be visible in the institute’s own PDF.
• “The list is closed, but I have a channel.” The printed 2026-28 calendar closed on 23 June 2026; after that, the only seats are next year’s — through CAT 2026, whose registration closes 15 September 2026.

The broader lesson is about which institutes deserve your trust: the one that publishes its movement tables treats candidates as adults, and the ones that stay silent leave the market to rumour. While you wait on a list, hold one confirmed admission in hand — our offer-comparison worksheet is built for exactly that decision, and a short conversation costs nothing: MBA admissions guidance.