Number of CAT takers might fall due to dull job scenario

Coaching institutes believe enrolments could go down by 5-7 per cent

A not-so-good placement year, coupled with fee increase at many management institutes, could keep many MBA aspirants away from appearing at the Common Admission Test (CAT) this year.

Management entrance training institutes say they expect a 5-7 per cent drop in the number of CAT enrolments this year. The admission season for test preparation institutes is between May and August.

CAT is administered by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). In addition to the 13 IIMs, nearly 140 B-schools accept CAT scores for admissions.

"A bad job market is keeping students away this year. Though around 75 per cent of admissions have happened, it is the remaining 25 per cent where the admission numbers may falter. We have stepped up our advertising and marketing," said a senior official from Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME), a management entrance training institute.

To attract students, these institutes are offering discounts. In most of the competitive markets like Mumbai and Delhi, discounts of between Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 are being doled out to students, and in other cities the discount is up to Rs 2,000.

In Mumbai, the Institute of Management Studies (IMS), is running a 'Study Buddy' offer, giving a fee waiver of Rs 8,000 each to students who join the institute as a group of five. For a group of four, three and two, the discounts are up to Rs 6,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively. For the Common Management Aptitude Test or CMAT, conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the institute is offering a waiver of Rs 6,000 each.

The institutes say the biggest drop in numbers of CAT aspirants may come from Tier-III towns.

"Clearing CAT now requires management education aspirants to have a strong academic background, which is where aspirants from Tier-III towns fail. Moreover, aspirants from Tier-III towns are increasingly focusing on applying for bank jobs or government jobs. Only the motivated ones with good academic background and language skills from Tier-III towns will apply for CAT this year," says Gautam Puri, managing director, Career Launcher.

Further, Puri is of the view that overall CAT registrations numbers might not rise much. "The fee at several institutes have been jacked up and the job scenario is also not that encouraging. This might discourage CAT aspirants from applying, since they fear they may not be able to recover their tuition fee expenses from the compensation package," he adds.

Management institutes have increased their fee by 10-15 per cent for this year's students. B-schools, to battle inflation and rising operational costs, have decided to pass on the cost to students by increasing the fee.

Among the IIMs, the fee increase at Bangalore has been the steepest so far, at 13.3 per cent, from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 17 lakh. With this, IIM-Bangalore's management course has become more expensive than the one at IIM-Ahmedabad, which will charge its 2015 batch Rs 16.6 lakh. IIM-B had increased its fees by 15 per cent last year, too, owing to infrastructure expansion.

Delhi-based International Management Institute (IMI) has raised the fee by about 10 per cent, up from Rs 11 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, while ICFAI Business School has increased its tuition fees by eight per cent from Rs 6.5 lakh last year to Rs 7 lakh this year for its flagship PGDM programme.

Last year, CAT saw a four per cent increase in registrations at 2,15,000 against 2,05,000 in 2011.

The IIMs believe the number would go up this year too. Rohit Kapoor, convenor of CAT 2013 and chairperson-admissions at the Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I), says, "We believe the registrations for CAT will only rise this year. The slowdown and economic crisis help increase registrations, as during economic crisis, working professionals, through a management degree look to shift from one industry to another to enhance their career."

This year, CAT will be held between October 16 and November 11 across 40 cities. All the 13 IIMs have put together an offer of around 3,200 management seats.