BBA entrance exams in India: IPMAT, JIPMAT, CUET, SET and NPAT

01

BBA entrance exams in India: IPMAT, JIPMAT, CUET, SET and NPAT at a glance

India has no single BBA entrance exam. Five tests cover most routes: IPMAT (IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak), JIPMAT (NTA, for IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Jammu), CUET UG (NTA, for central and participating universities), SET (Symbiosis) and NPAT (NMIMS). The right one depends on the college. As of 31 October 2026, none of the five has published 2027 test dates on its official site, so every date below comes from the 2026 cycle.

02

How the five exams differ

IPMAT and JIPMAT lead to five-year integrated programmes at IIMs, not to a standard three-year BBA. CUET UG, SET and NPAT lead to BBA and related degrees at universities, and each university sets its own subject and marks conditions.

What happens after the test also varies. IIM Indore selects on the aptitude test and a personal interview. Symbiosis uses the SET score to shortlist candidates for group discussion, personal interview and writing ability rounds. NMIMS builds a merit list from the test and Class XII results. The University of Delhi allocated BBA (Financial Investment Analysis) seats in 2026-27 on CUET scores alone, through its own seat allocation system.

03

IPMAT: IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak

IIM Indore and IIM Rohtak each run their own aptitude test for their five-year Integrated Programme in Management. Both institutes call it the IPM Aptitude Test (IPM AT), and IPMAT is the common short form.

Both 2026 papers ran 120 minutes and gave 4 marks per question, but the sections differ. IIM Indore used quantitative ability (multiple choice), quantitative ability (short answer) and verbal ability. IIM Rohtak used quantitative ability, logical reasoning and verbal ability, all multiple choice. In the 2026 cycle IIM Indore's score was also used by IIM Sirmaur, IIM Sambalpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM Amritsar and IIM Shillong, plus several universities, including the Department of Management Studies at NALSAR in Hyderabad.

Eligibility, pattern and selection stages are covered in the IPMAT 2027 guide. The official pages are IIM Indore's IPM admissions page and IIM Rohtak's IPM admission page.

04

JIPMAT: IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Jammu

NTA still conducts JIPMAT. Its JIPMAT page says the agency was entrusted with JIPMAT 2026 for the five-year programme at IIM Bodh Gaya and IIM Jammu, and the 2026 notices are the latest on that page.

The 2026 test was held on 7 June 2026, from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm, as a computer-based test in English only. It had 100 multiple-choice questions worth 400 marks: quantitative aptitude (33 questions), data interpretation and logical reasoning (33), and verbal ability and reading comprehension (34). A wrong answer cost 1 mark. The 2026 information bulletin sets the quantitative questions at Class 10 mathematics level.

For 2026, applicants needed a Class XII pass in 2024 or 2025, or to be appearing in 2026, with Class X passed in 2022 or later. Each IIM could add its own conditions. The exam fee was Rs 2,200 for General and OBC-NCL candidates and Rs 1,100 for SC, ST, PwD, EWS and transgender candidates, before bank charges and GST.

<!-- cta -->

05

CUET UG: central and participating universities

NTA runs CUET UG once a year, and universities use the score for undergraduate admission. It is not a BBA-only exam. A student picks the papers a university asks for, and the university decides who gets a BBA seat.

The 2026 paper list had 37 papers: 13 languages, 23 domain subjects and a General Aptitude Test. A candidate could take up to five. Each paper had 50 questions and ran 60 minutes, as a computer-based test, with 5 marks for a right answer and 1 mark deducted for a wrong one. Domain subjects included Accountancy, Business Studies, Economics or Business Economics, and Mathematics. The 2026 information bulletin sets no age limit for CUET itself, and leaves eligibility for each course to the university.

A concrete BBA example is the University of Delhi's BBA (Financial Investment Analysis) at Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. For 2026-27, the college's admissions FAQ asked for CUET papers in one language, Mathematics or Applied Mathematics, one subject from the university's List B and the General Aptitude Test, plus a pass in Class XII Mathematics. The University of Hyderabad is among the central universities on the 2026 list, and students should check each university's own site for the programmes it fills through CUET. The official site is cuet.nta.nic.in.

06

SET: Symbiosis Entrance Test

SET is the entrance test for undergraduate programmes at Symbiosis International (Deemed University). It feeds BBA at the Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies in Pune, Noida, Nagpur, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, along with BBA variants such as Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Media Management at other Symbiosis institutes.

The 2026 test was computer-based, with 60 questions and 60 marks in 60 minutes and no negative marking. General English, Quantitative and General Awareness had 16 questions each, and Analytical and Logical Reasoning had 12. A candidate could sit two tests, on 2 May and 10 May 2026, and the higher score counted. The 2026 fee was Rs 2,250 per test plus Rs 1,000 for each programme applied to. The SET website lists the programmes, and its test structure page gives the section split.

07

NPAT: NMIMS

NPAT is the entrance test of SVKM's NMIMS for undergraduate programmes across its campuses. Programmes include BBA, B.Com, an integrated BBA-MBA, B.Sc. Finance and B.Sc. Economics. The NPAT site lists BBA and B.Com at the Hyderabad campus in Jadcherla.

The 2026-27 handbook describes a computer-based test at test centres with 120 questions in 100 minutes and no negative marking: 40 each in quantitative reasoning, logical reasoning and verbal reasoning, in the style of the SAT. A candidate gets one main attempt and two retakes, and the best score counts. For BBA, the handbook asks for 50% aggregate marks in Class XII with no Mathematics condition, while BBA (Finance), B.Sc. Finance and BBA (FinTech) need Mathematics or Statistics. The 2026 exam window ran from 10 February to 31 May 2026, and the first attempt cost Rs 2,000 with one school chosen, rising as schools are added.

The NPAT site is labelled NPAT 2027, but the handbook and dates it links to are for the 2026 window. The handbook is on the NMIMS site.

08

Planning for more than one exam

Every test in this guide has a quantitative section and an English or verbal section. The pattern differences are in the details.

A student who builds Class 10 arithmetic and algebra, reading comprehension and basic logical reasoning is working on skills that show up across most of these papers. Where negative marking applies, accuracy matters as much as speed. Where it does not, an attempt on every question costs nothing.

Students preparing in Hyderabad can find approved maths tutors for the quantitative sections and English tutors for verbal ability. CUET domain papers in Economics and Business Studies map to Class XII subjects, where economics tutors and business studies tutors can help.

09

Common mistakes

Reusing 2026 dates is the first one. Each body sets its own calendar, and none has published 2027 dates. A second is skipping the college's own conditions: DU's BBA (FIA) asked for Class XII Mathematics, and IIM Rohtak asked for 60% in Classes X and XII. A third is mixing up marking schemes after practising on one exam. A fourth is missing a short window. In the 2026 cycle IIM Indore's application window closed on 17 March after an extension, IIM Rohtak listed 6 April, and SET registration closed on 15 April.

<!-- cta -->

10

Next steps

11

Official sources

• IIM Indore: IPM admissions
• IIM Rohtak: IPM admission
• NTA: JIPMAT
• NTA: JIPMAT 2026 information bulletin
• NTA: CUET UG
• NTA: CUET UG 2026 information bulletin
• Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies: 2026 admissions FAQ
• Symbiosis: SET
• Symbiosis: SET test structure
• NMIMS: NPAT
• NMIMS: 2026-27 entrance test handbook