What is the batch profile at IIM Ahmedabad for the 2025-27 intake?
IIM Ahmedabad's PGP 2025-27 batch admits 414 students, with a 30.6% female share, a precise 50/50 engineering-to-non-engineering split, and 73% of students carrying work experience averaging 25 months.
For India's NIRF #1 business school, founded in 1961, this cohort reflects the most deliberate diversity engineering the institution has attempted.
Cohort Size and Gender Mix
The 414-seat batch includes roughly 126 female and 288 male students. Earlier batches hovered at 25-27% female representation, so the current figure marks real progress.
IIM A now awards 3 diversity points (raised from 2 in the previous cycle) to non-male applicants during composite scoring, which has directly moved the needle. The institution's stated long-term goal is 50% gender parity, though reaching that from 30.6% in a single cycle is unlikely without further structural changes to the scoring formula.
Academic Background
The 50/50 engineering-to-non-engineering balance is genuinely rare. Peer institutions like IIM Calcutta and IIM Bangalore typically see engineering graduates occupying 60-75% of seats.
At IIM A, the non-engineer cohort arrives from commerce colleges (DU North Campus, St. Xavier's, Christ University), CA articleship backgrounds, and professional qualifications including CFA and FRM.
| Academic Background | Approximate Share |
|---|---|
| Engineering (IITs, NITs, BITS) | 50% |
| Commerce / CA / CFA / FRM | 25-30% |
| Science, Humanities, Law, Design | 20-25% |
Engineers predominantly arrive from IITs, NITs, and BITS Pilani. The finance-track cohort shows strong CA representation, which directly feeds IIM A's historically dominant investment banking and consulting placement streams.
Work Experience Profile
Roughly 302 students (73%) enter with prior work experience, and approximately 112 (27%) are freshers. The average of 25 months sits neatly within IIM A's composite scoring sweet spot, where work-ex credit peaks at 24-36 months and fades beyond 36.
Students beyond the 48-month mark face diminishing composite scores and must compensate with exceptional academics or profile diversity.
Sector representation among experienced candidates skews heavily toward
- IT and tech: roughly 40%
- Consulting: around 20%
- BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance): approximately 15%
- Manufacturing and core engineering: around 10%
What This Means for Placements
The Class of 2025 achieved a median domestic package of ₹35.22 LPA, with top hirers including McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Goldman Sachs, and Boston Consulting Group collectively absorbing a significant portion of the consulting and finance-track students. The 50/50 academic split and the strong BFSI representation in prior work experience feed directly into placements at Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Kotak Investment Banking.
Selection Funnel
IIM A receives 10,000-15,000 applications per cycle. Roughly 1,000-1,200 candidates receive interview calls, and 414 seats get filled from that pool, implying a brutal post-shortlist conversion of under 40%. The CAT cutoff for the general category typically sits above 99.5 percentile, with composite scores accounting for CAT performance, academics, work experience, diversity, and the Written Ability Test.
This is a narrow path. Pretending otherwise does you no favors when preparing.
Pro Tip: If your work experience exceeds 36 months, explicitly quantify leadership impact and cross-functional scope in your SOP, since IIM A's composite formula discounts raw tenure but rewards demonstrated role progression.