MDI Gurgaon vs IIM Lucknow: Rs 5.8 Lakh Apart on the Same CAT

Two CAT-only doors, two full placement reports, and a printed fee gap of Rs 5,79,690. MDI Gurgaon’s residential PGDM itemises a Rs 26,55,310 two-year grand total; IIM Lucknow’s official fee PDF prints Rs 20,75,000 across six terms. Both institutions publish everything — which makes this one of the cleanest comparisons in Indian management education. Mapped from official documents opened on 2 October 2026.

The door: one CAT, two calendars

Both schools admit Indian candidates through CAT alone. CAT 2026 closed registration on 15 September and tests on 29 November 2026 — that exam is the single key to both.

IIM Lucknow’s machine runs on the IIM calendar: CAT shortlist, then the Written Ability Test and Personal Interview, with final offers through the institute’s own process.

MDI’s own application window is now live — the watch ended on 4 October 2026. The 2027-29 cycle prints an application window of 24 September to 28 November 2026 (5 PM IST), fee Rs 3,000 (Rs 3,590 for MDI Gurgaon + MDI Murshidabad together; Rs 8,496 for NRI/Foreign/Gulf/OCI, all GST-inclusive) — followed by an offline GD, Written Analysis Test and PI plus behavioural assessment across Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Mumbai in February-April 2027. New this cycle: the selection arithmetic is printed (Stage-I shortlist CAT/GMAT 65%; final CAT/GMAT 35 with PI 20), and a test-centre GMAT taken 1 January-28 November 2026 opens PGDM-IB for exclusive-IB applicants. The trap: the form closes a day before CAT 2026 sits on 29 November — file before you know your score.

The money: Rs 5.8 lakh apart, residential against residential

MDI itemises its Rs 26,55,310 to the rupee: tuition Rs 9,61,505 a year, learning material Rs 62,000, student activities Rs 31,250, library Rs 37,700, alumni fee Rs 15,000 once, refundable security Rs 27,500 once, boarding Rs 1,04,200 and lodging Rs 1,09,750 a year — the whole table marked tentative and subject to revision. The printed relief is real: the AICTE tuition-fee waiver up to 5% over approved intake for EWS students, 12 merit-cum-means scholarships at 50% of tuition, the O.P. Jindal Rs 1,50,000 award, and eight Rs 40,000 merit scholarships at graduation.

IIM Lucknow’s fee PDF prints Rs 20,75,000 all-in: year one Rs 10,95,000 (admission fee Rs 1,00,000 + tuition Rs 6,30,000 + infrastructure Rs 3,45,000 + refundable deposits Rs 20,000) and year two Rs 9,80,000 (including the Rs 5,000 alumni fee), mess charges on actuals. The infrastructure line bundles computing, library, hostel maintenance and student welfare — this is the residential total, not a tuition-only teaser.

Placements: two full reports, a band apart

This is the rare comparison where both sides publish a complete placement report — denominators, medians, percentile ladders.

IIM Lucknow’s batch-of-2026 report, re-read today: 559 students, more than 580 offers; average Rs 33.2 lakh, median Rs 32.9 lakh; highest domestic Rs 1 crore, highest international Rs 65 lakh; percentile averages — top-5% Rs 59.7 lakh, top-10% Rs 52.6, top-20% Rs 48.7, top-50% Rs 42.2; domain means — consulting Rs 36.9 lakh, finance Rs 34.8, product/tech/analytics Rs 33.2, general management Rs 30.9, operations Rs 30.1, sales & marketing Rs 28.5; the batch was 35% women.

MDI’s 2024-26 report, re-read today: 586 students across four programmes (313 PGDM, 124 PGDM-HRM, 31 PGDM-Business Analytics, 118 PGDM-IB); 157 companies, 75 of them new recruiters; 189 pre-placement offers; highest Rs 97.50 lakh domestic and Rs 80.20 lakh international. Entire-batch averages — PGDM Rs 29.5 lakh (median Rs 29.0), PGDM-HRM Rs 24.8 (median Rs 23.0), PGDM-Business Analytics Rs 26.2 (median Rs 25.7), PGDM-IB Rs 26.3 (median Rs 25.0); the PGDM top-10-percentile average reads Rs 45.7 lakh. The published batch profile: average CAT percentile 96, average work experience 27 months, gender ratio 1:1.

The honest read: IIM Lucknow’s report is stronger on every headline — about Rs 3.7 lakh higher on the average, Rs 3.9 on the median — for Rs 5.8 lakh less in fees. MDI’s counters are its Gurgaon corporate corridor, its consulting depth (35.1% of PGDM offers) and the PGDM-IB dual degree with two semesters in France. Run both reports through the placement-report methodology before either number becomes your expectation.

The quota question

MDI’s brochure prints its CAT-plus-WAT-GD-PI process and nothing else — and adds the line that settles the other half of this page: the IIMs have no role either in the selection process or in conducting the programme. IIM Lucknow admits through the CAT-anchored IIM process, full stop. Neither document prints anything resembling a paid route, because none exists. An agent offering a seat at MDI or an IIM is selling something the institutions’ own PDFs contradict.

How to choose

If you hold a strong CAT 2026 percentile, IIM Lucknow is the value answer on the printed evidence: cheaper, higher reported outcomes, an IIM degree. If MDI’s Gurgaon network, its consulting corridor or the PGDM-IB dual degree fits your plan better, the 2027-29 application is open now — it closes 28 November 2026, a day before CAT sits, so file the Rs 3,000 form before test day. Either way, the only currency either school accepts is a CAT score plus its own process.