HYDERABAD: Applications for CAT (Common Admission Test) 2016 have seen a considerable jump compared to last year, indicating a larger number of professionals seeking PG admissions in IIMs and other leading management institutions. There are 2.32 lakh applicants this year compared to 2.18 lakh in 2015. According to coaching expert M.V. Reddy, the number was below 2 lakh in 2013 and 2014 due to a slowdown in recruitments and dip in pay packages.
With companies offering better starting packages, working professionals applied in large numbers in 2015 and had also enrolled in coaching institutes, he said. Mr Sudhakar Rao, director (Branding), ICFAI Group, which has nine branches of business schools all over the country, said that things have changed. “There was a dull period before 2015. Now, the minimum pay packages for ICFAI-passed out students, which used to be around Rs 4 lakh earlier, touched Rs 6.5 lakh last year. The number of job offers, too, has increased,” Mr Sudhakar said.
