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Introduction – IIM Lucknow (IIM L)
The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) is one of India’s leading management institutes and a popular choice among students aiming for careers in consulting, finance, product management, general management, marketing, technology and other business functions.
For CAT aspirants, questions about IIM Lucknow usually begin with the same things: What is the IIM Lucknow admission criteria? What CAT percentile is required? How much are the MBA fees? What is the average salary? What is the median package? What is the highest package?
This guide covers IIM Lucknow admission, eligibility, CAT cutoff, selection criteria, fees and the latest placement statistics for the 2026–28 admission cycle and 2025–26 final placement season.
The latest official placement report states that IIM Lucknow’s batch of 2026, comprising the 40th batch of the PGP and the 21st batch of PGP-ABM, recorded more than 580 offers for 559 students. The average salary was ₹33.2 lakh per annum, the median salary was ₹32.9 lakh per annum, and the highest domestic and international CTCs were ₹1 crore and ₹65 lakh per annum, respectively.
IIM Lucknow Overview
The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, popularly known as IIM Lucknow or IIM-L, is a premier management institute located in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Its flagship Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is a two-year, full-time residential programme. For the 2026–28 admission cycle, IIM Lucknow’s official admission policy covers the MBA, MBA-ABM and MBA-SM programmes.
The institute also offers other management programmes outside the scope of the CAT-based two-year MBA admission policy, including programmes for working executives and the one-year IPMX programme. Therefore, students should check the relevant programme-specific admission notice before applying. IIM Lucknow’s current announcements include admissions for PGPWE and IPMX.
IIM Lucknow’s placement performance remains one of its major attractions. In the latest final placement cycle, covering the batch of 2026, the institute reported more than 580 offers for 559 students. The placement season included opportunities across consulting, finance, general management, product management, sales and marketing, operations, retail and e-commerce.
IIM Lucknow MBA Highlights
| Particular | Details |
| Institute | Indian Institute of Management Lucknow |
| Location | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh |
| Flagship Programme | PGP in Management / MBA |
| Degree Awarded | Master of Business Administration |
| Duration | 2 years |
| Mode | Full-time, residential |
| Entrance Exam | CAT |
| General MBA Qualifying CAT Cutoff | 90 percentile overall |
| General Sectional Cutoff | 85 percentile in VARC, DILR and QA |
| MBA Fee for 2026–28 | ₹20.75 lakh, based on the published fee structure |
| Average CTC 2026 | ₹33.2 LPA |
| Median CTC 2026 | ₹32.9 LPA |
| Highest Domestic CTC 2026 | ₹1 crore |
| Highest International CTC 2026 | ₹65 LPA |
| Students in Placement Batch | 559 |
| Total Offers | 580+ |
The CAT figures in the table are minimum qualifying thresholds for the WAT-PI shortlisting stage, not guaranteed interview-call or final-admission cutoffs.
IIM Lucknow Courses
For the 2026–28 CAT-based admission cycle, IIM Lucknow’s official admission policy covers three two-year programmes:
- MBA
- MBA in Agribusiness Management (MBA-ABM)
- MBA in Sustainable Management (MBA-SM)
The flagship MBA is designed for students from different academic backgrounds who want to build careers in areas such as consulting, finance, marketing, operations, product management and general management.
MBA-ABM focuses on management in the agriculture and allied sectors, while MBA-SM is designed around sustainability-related management. MBA-SM has an additional professional-experience requirement of 24 months.
IIM Lucknow also offers other programmes, including PGPWE and IPMX, but their admission processes are separate from the CAT-2025 policy covered in this article.
IIM Lucknow MBA Eligibility Criteria
For the flagship MBA, candidates must satisfy the applicable CAT eligibility requirements and hold a recognised bachelor’s degree with the required minimum percentage or equivalent CGPA.
Candidates appearing in the final year of their bachelor’s degree can also apply, subject to IIM Lucknow’s conditions and the prescribed deadlines.
For the 2026–28 admission process, the institute states that final-year candidates must complete all requirements, including examinations and practical or supplementary examinations, for the qualifying degree by June 30, 2026 and meet the applicable graduation eligibility requirement.
Is Work Experience Compulsory for IIM Lucknow MBA?
No. Work experience is not compulsory for the flagship MBA.
However, work experience can contribute to the admission score. Under the 2026–28 MBA policy, full-time work experience after graduation is considered for the work-experience component. For the MBA, experience beyond six months can receive weight according to the institute’s prescribed formula.
For MBA-SM, candidates need at least 24 months of professional experience, making it different from the flagship MBA in this respect.
IIM Lucknow CAT Cutoff
The IIM Lucknow CAT cutoff needs to be understood carefully because the minimum qualifying cutoff is not the same as the practical percentile needed to compete for admission.
| CAT Year | General | OBC | EWS | SC | ST | ||||
| 2025 | 91.02 | 86.20 | 90.13 | 67.80 | 60.30 | ||||
| 2024 | 92.40 | 90.40 | 91.40 | 82.40 | 77.40 | ||||
| 2023 | 97.50 | 95.50 | 96.50 | 87.50 | 82.50 | ||||
| 2022 | 94.20 | 92.20 | 93.20 | 84.20 | 79.20 | ||||
| 2021 | 86.00 | 84.00 | 85.00 | 76.00 | 71.00 | ||||
| 2020 | 98.90 | 96.90 | 97.90 | 88.90 | 83.90 |
These figures represent the published minimum qualifying requirements, not the percentile of the last candidate admitted. The official policies confirm that candidates who meet the minimum threshold are subsequently evaluated using composite scores.
Clearing the 90-percentile overall cutoff therefore does not automatically mean that a candidate will receive an IIM Lucknow interview call.
Candidates first need to clear the minimum CAT requirements and are then evaluated through the institute’s composite-score system.
Therefore, CAT aspirants should not treat 90 percentile as the “safe CAT percentile” for IIM Lucknow. The actual competitiveness of a candidate depends on the complete profile, including CAT performance, academics, work experience and diversity-related factors.
IIM Lucknow Admission Process 2026–28
The IIM Lucknow MBA admission process can broadly be understood in the following stages.
Step 1: Appear for CAT
Candidates seeking admission to the flagship MBA programme need to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) and obtain a valid score.
Step 2: Meet the Minimum CAT Requirements
Candidates must satisfy the sectional and overall CAT percentile requirements specified by IIM Lucknow for their category.
Step 3: Composite Score for WAT-PI Shortlisting
Candidates who meet the minimum CAT cutoffs are considered for the next stage. IIM Lucknow calculates a composite score using CAT performance, Class 12 marks, graduation marks, work experience and diversity factors.
Step 4: WAT and Personal Interview
Shortlisted candidates are required to participate in the Writing Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) process.
Step 5: Final Selection
After WAT and PI, IIM Lucknow calculates the final admission score using CAT, academic performance, diversity factors, work experience, WAT and PI performance.
IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria and Weightage
One of the most important points for applicants is that IIM Lucknow does not select MBA students solely on CAT percentile.
Weightage for WAT-PI Shortlisting
For the 2026–28 MBA batch, the composite score used for WAT-PI shortlisting has the following components:
| Component | Weightage |
| Scaled CAT Score | 60 |
| Class 12 Marks | 10 |
| Graduation Marks | 10 |
| Work Experience | 10 |
| Academic Discipline Diversity | 5 |
| Gender Diversity | 5 |
| Total | 100 |
The exact calculation of each component follows IIM Lucknow’s published methodology. For example, work experience is calculated according to the number of completed months of eligible post-graduation full-time employment.
Final Admission Weightage
Once candidates have completed the WAT-PI stage, IIM Lucknow uses the following weightage for the final selection score for the MBA:
| Component | Weightage |
| CAT | 30% |
| Academic Performance | 10% |
| Diversity Factors | 5% |
| Work Experience | 5% |
| WAT | 10% |
| Personal Interview | 40% |
| Total | 100% |
The Personal Interview carries the highest individual weight at 40%, followed by CAT at 30%. IIM Lucknow also specifies that candidates need to obtain at least 12 out of 40 marks in the PI to pass the interview component and be considered for the final merit list.
This is why a high CAT percentile alone cannot guarantee admission.
Important: The above final-selection weightage is for the MBA and MBA-SM. MBA-ABM has a different CAT weightage of 35% and no work-experience component in the final score.
IIM Lucknow MBA Fees 2026–28
The official fee structure for the 2026–28 PGP batch lists the total programme fee at ₹20.75 lakh, including the listed fees and deposits.
The fee structure published by IIM Lucknow breaks the amount down as follows:
| Fee Component | PGP-I | PGP-II | Total |
| Admission Fee | ₹1.00 lakh | — | ₹1.00 lakh |
| Tuition Fee | ₹6.30 lakh | ₹6.30 lakh | ₹12.60 lakh |
| Infrastructure Fee | ₹3.45 lakh | ₹3.45 lakh | ₹6.90 lakh |
| Refundable Deposit | ₹20,000 | — | ₹20,000 |
| Alumni Membership Fee | — | ₹5,000 | ₹5,000 |
| Total | ₹10.95 lakh | ₹9.80 lakh | ₹20.75 lakh |
The published fee document should be treated as the controlling source for the exact amount payable by a particular batch. Mess charges and certain personal expenses can be additional, so students should not assume that the programme fee represents every expense during the two-year MBA.
Personal expenses, travel, laptop, books and other individual costs may also be additional.
IIM Lucknow Placements 2026
IIM Lucknow’s latest official final placement report covers the batch of 2026, comprising the 40th batch of PGP and the 21st batch of PGP-ABM.
The institute reported more than 580 offers for 559 students. The placement season included recruiters from consulting, finance, general management, product management, sales and marketing, operations, retail and e-commerce.
The official placement report records the following headline figures:
| Placement Parameter | 2026 Figure |
| Students in Batch | 559 |
| Total Offers | 580+ |
| Average CTC | ₹33.2 LPA |
| Median CTC | ₹32.9 LPA |
| Highest Domestic CTC | ₹1 crore |
| Highest International CTC | ₹65 LPA |
| Top 5% Average CTC | ₹59.7 LPA |
| Top 10% Average CTC | ₹52.6 LPA |
| Top 20% Average CTC | ₹48.7 LPA |
| Top 50% Average CTC | ₹42.2 LPA |
These figures are reported directly in IIM Lucknow’s Final Placement Report for the batch of 2026.
The report also shows the distribution of placements across consulting, general management, finance, IT/technology/analytics/product, sales and marketing, and operations. Consulting accounted for the largest share at 39%, followed by general management at 20%, finance at 17%, IT/technology/analytics/product at 13%, sales and marketing at 8%, and operations at 3%.
IIM Lucknow Average Salary 2026
The average CTC at IIM Lucknow was ₹33.2 lakh per annum in the 2026 final placement cycle.
This is one of the most useful figures for understanding the institute’s overall placement performance because it represents the mean compensation reported for the placement batch.
However, students should remember that CTC is not the same as in-hand salary. CTC can include fixed pay, variable compensation, bonuses, benefits and other components. Therefore, a ₹33.2 lakh CTC should not be interpreted as ₹2.77 lakh of monthly take-home pay.
The official placement report also shows that the average CTC varies by domain. For example, the mean CTC reported for consulting was ₹36.9 lakh, while finance recorded a mean CTC of ₹34.8 lakh.
IIM Lucknow Median Salary 2026
The median CTC at IIM Lucknow was ₹32.9 lakh per annum in the 2026 final placement cycle.
The difference between the average and median was only ₹30,000.
This is useful when evaluating the placement outcome because the median is less affected by exceptionally high or low salaries than the average. In simple terms, a ₹32.9 lakh median represents the middle point of the reported salary distribution.
For students comparing MBA colleges, looking at the median along with the average usually gives a more balanced picture than focusing only on the highest package.
IIM Lucknow Highest Package 2026
The highest domestic CTC at IIM Lucknow was ₹1 crore per annum in the 2026 final placement cycle. The highest international CTC was ₹65 lakh per annum.
The ₹1 crore figure is the highest reported package, not the salary earned by the average student. Therefore, candidates should avoid using the highest package alone to judge their expected salary after an MBA.
For a more realistic comparison, the average and median CTCs of ₹33.2 lakh and ₹32.9 lakh are more useful indicators of the broader placement outcome.
IIM Lucknow Placement by Domain
The 2026 placement report provides domain-wise placement statistics.
| Domain | Highest CTC | Mean CTC |
| Finance | ₹100 LPA | ₹34.8 LPA |
| Consulting | ₹45.4 LPA | ₹36.9 LPA |
| Product, Tech & Analytics | ₹80 LPA | ₹33.2 LPA |
| Sales & Marketing | ₹51.6 LPA | ₹28.5 LPA |
| General Management | ₹56 LPA | ₹30.9 LPA |
| Operations | ₹40 LPA | ₹30.1 LPA |
These figures are domain-specific CTC statistics reported in IIM Lucknow’s final placement report and should not be interpreted as guaranteed salaries for students entering a particular function.
IIM Lucknow Top Recruiters
IIM Lucknow has a broad recruiter base covering consulting, finance, technology, FMCG, general management and other sectors.
The 2026 final placement report includes both first-time recruiters and legacy recruiters across different sectors. The report confirms participation from recruiters across consulting, finance, general management, product, technology, sales and marketing, operations and other functions.
Recruiter participation can change from one placement season to another, so students should treat the latest final placement report as the most relevant source for a particular graduating batch.
Career Opportunities After IIM Lucknow
An MBA from IIM Lucknow can lead to career opportunities across several functions.
Common career paths include:
- Management Consulting
- Investment Banking
- Corporate Finance
- Product Management
- Business Analytics
- Strategy
- Marketing
- Sales
- General Management
- Operations
- Technology and Analytics
- Risk and Advisory
The 2026 placement report shows that consulting was the largest placement domain, while finance, general management, IT/technology/analytics/product, sales and marketing and operations also had substantial representation.
The right career path ultimately depends on a student’s academic background, skills, internships, previous work experience, interview performance and the roles available during the placement season.
Is IIM Lucknow Worth It?
For students who can secure admission, IIM Lucknow can be a strong MBA option.
There are several reasons for this.
First, the institute has an established reputation in management education and a broad recruiter base. Second, its latest placement numbers are strong, with an average CTC of ₹33.2 lakh and median CTC of ₹32.9 lakh. Third, the placement season offers opportunities across consulting, finance, technology, product, general management, marketing and operations rather than being concentrated in just one career area.
The programme fee for the 2026–28 batch is listed at ₹20.75 lakh, while additional expenses such as mess and personal costs need to be considered separately.
At the same time, IIM Lucknow should not be viewed as an automatic route to a ₹1 crore salary. The highest package is an outlier. A more realistic assessment should consider the average, median and domain-wise placement figures.
How to Evaluate IIM Lucknow Placements
Students comparing IIM Lucknow with other MBA colleges should look beyond the highest CTC.
Important factors include:
- Average CTC
- Median CTC
- Domain-wise salaries
- Placement opportunities
- Recruiter quality
- Batch size
- Total programme cost
- Academic curriculum
- Alumni network
- Career opportunities after graduation
For IIM Lucknow, the latest placement figures provide a useful picture: the average CTC was ₹33.2 lakh, the median was ₹32.9 lakh and the highest domestic CTC was ₹1 crore.
The small gap between the average and median is also noteworthy. However, students should still remember that placement statistics describe the outcome of a particular batch and do not guarantee an identical salary for future students.
Frequently Asked Questions About IIM Lucknow
What is the IIM Lucknow CAT cutoff for 2026?
For the 2026–28 MBA admission process, the minimum qualifying cutoff for the General category was 90 percentile overall, with 85 percentile in VARC, DILR and QA. These are qualifying requirements for the WAT-PI shortlisting stage, not guaranteed interview-call or admission cutoffs.
What is the average salary at IIM Lucknow?
The average CTC at IIM Lucknow was ₹33.2 lakh per annum in the 2026 final placement cycle.
What is the median salary at IIM Lucknow?
The median CTC was ₹32.9 lakh per annum for the 2026 final placement cycle.
What is the highest package at IIM Lucknow?
The highest domestic CTC was ₹1 crore per annum, while the highest international CTC was ₹65 lakh per annum in the 2026 final placement cycle.
What is the IIM Lucknow MBA fee for 2026–28?
The published fee structure lists the total PGP fee at ₹20.75 lakh, including the listed programme fees and deposits. Additional expenses, including mess charges, should be considered separately.
Is work experience compulsory for IIM Lucknow MBA?
No. Work experience is not compulsory for the flagship MBA. However, eligible work experience contributes to the admission score under the 2026–28 selection policy. MBA-SM has a separate minimum professional-experience requirement of 24 months.
Does IIM Lucknow accept CAT?
Yes. CAT is the entrance examination used for the flagship MBA admission process. The 2026–28 admission policy is based on CAT 2025.
What is the IIM Lucknow admission weightage?
For the final MBA selection score for the 2026–28 batch, IIM Lucknow assigned 30% to CAT, 10% to academic performance, 5% to diversity factors, 5% to work experience, 10% to WAT and 40% to PI.
Can final-year students apply to IIM Lucknow MBA?
Yes. Final-year bachelor’s degree candidates can apply, subject to IIM Lucknow’s prescribed conditions. For the 2026–28 batch, the admission policy required final-year candidates to complete all qualifying-degree requirements by June 30, 2026.
What is the batch size at IIM Lucknow?
The 2026 final placement report states that the batch comprised 559 students from the PGP and PGP-ABM programmes.
Conclusion
IIM Lucknow continues to be a strong option for students targeting a top management career in India. The institute offers a two-year residential MBA programme, a competitive CAT-based selection process and access to recruiters across consulting, finance, technology, product, general management, marketing and operations.
For the 2026–28 MBA admission cycle, the General-category minimum CAT requirement is 90 percentile overall and 85 percentile in each section. But meeting these numbers alone does not guarantee a WAT-PI call or final admission because IIM Lucknow uses a composite admission process that considers CAT, academics, work experience, diversity factors, WAT and PI.
The official 2026–28 PGP fee is ₹20.75 lakh, with additional expenses such as mess charges payable separately.
On the placement side, IIM Lucknow’s 2025–26 final placement cycle for the batch of 2026 recorded more than 580 offers for 559 students. The average CTC stood at ₹33.2 lakh, the median CTC at ₹32.9 lakh, and the highest domestic and international CTCs at ₹1 crore and ₹65 lakh, respectively.
For prospective students, the key takeaway is to look beyond the highest package. A strong CAT score, consistent academics, good interview preparation and a clear understanding of career goals are much more important when planning for IIM Lucknow.
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