The story so far
When CAT 2026 registration opened, we laid out the dates, the fee table and the fact that both Jammu and Samba were listed as test cities — meaning a Jammu candidate could sit the country's biggest management entrance without leaving the region. That piece is here: CAT 2026 Closes on September 15 — and Both Jammu and Samba Are Test Cities.
That headline is now out of date, which is the reason for this update.
What's changed
IIM Indore, which is conducting CAT 2026, has extended the registration deadline again. The new last date is 22 September 2026 at 5:00 PM. Registration had opened on 3 August and had already been pushed once, to 15 September.
Multiple education desks reporting the extension describe it as a one-time move, with no further extension to follow. Treat 22 September as final.
The rest of the calendar, unchanged
Admit card: 4 November 2026
Exam day: 29 November 2026, in three sessions
Fee: ₹2,700 for General, EWS and NC-OBC candidates; ₹1,350 for SC, ST and PwBD/PwD candidates
Apply at: iimcat.ac.in
Why this one matters here
IIM Jammu takes its entire MBA cohort through CAT. There is no separate local route, no state quota and no second window in the year. If you are a final-year student in Jammu who meant to register and let it slide during admissions season, this is the whole of your remaining opportunity for the 2027 intake — five days, and then a twelve-month wait.
It is worth being clear about what registering does and does not commit you to. Filling the form and paying the fee does not oblige you to sit the exam, and it does not oblige you to join an MBA. It preserves the option. Not registering closes it until next August.
What five days is enough for
If you are starting from nothing, the registration itself is not the hard part — it is a form, a photograph, a signature upload and a payment, and most people finish it in under an hour. The two things that trip candidates up at this stage are having a scanned photograph and signature in the exact dimensions the portal demands, and picking test-city preferences without checking the list first.
Do both today rather than on the 22nd. Portals under deadline load are slower, and a 5 PM cut-off means 5 PM, not midnight.
One thing to check yourself
We were unable to load the official CAT portal to confirm the new date directly from IIM Indore — iimcat.ac.in serves a page our systems cannot read. The 22 September date is consistent across several independent education desks, but before you rely on it, open the portal yourself and check the deadline on your own dashboard. On a five-day window, that is a two-minute check worth doing today rather than on the 22nd.
Sources: MBAUniverse; Shiksha; KollegeApply; CATMock.
