More women want to bell the CAT, as part of ‘their business’

Registrations for the Common Admission Test (CAT) to Indian Institutes of Management and other leading B-schools have shot up to a seven-year high, with 2,32,434 applications received by the Office of the Convenor of CAT 2016 on September 27, the registration deadline. There were 2,18,664 registrations for the test last year. “From the period CAT 2010 to CAT 2016, this is the highest number of applicants,’” said Professor Rajendra K. Bandi, Convenor, CAT 2016 in a statement here. 

“While we still have a majority of male candidates (67 per cent), the percentage of female candidates has marginally increased by 1 per cent compared to last year, which is a good sign, but not good enough,” he observed. “However, if we look at the total increase in the applications compared to last year, which is close to 14,000, almost half of these additional applications have come from female candidates. This is a positive sign. That means, the increase of female candidates is more than the increase of male candidates,” he explained. 

The number of Persons With Disability (PWD) applicants has increased from 901 to 938. “In this category, the percentage of male candidates is very high (more than 80 per cent). However, on the positive side, the percentage of female PWD candidates has increased from 14.76 per cent to 17.48 per cent. Small positive steps, but miles to go on this,” Prof Bandi added.