Candidates can register online via the official portal (cmat.nta.nic.in) from 17 October 2025 to 17 November 2025 — with payment of the application fee allowed until 18 November 2025.The Economic Times A correction window for application form edits will be available from 20 to 22 November 2025. 

The exam itself is scheduled for 25 January 2026, and will be conducted in computer-based test (CBT) mode, with a total duration of 3 hours (180 minutes). CMAT 2026 will test candidates across five key sections: Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension, General Awareness, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

To be eligible, the candidate must hold a bachelor’s degree in any discipline (or be in the final year, with results declared before admission for academic year 2026-27). There is no age limit for applications.  The application fee varies: for general-category male candidates it is ₹2,500, while for female, Gen-EWS, SC/ST, PwD, third-gender and other reserved categories the fee is ₹1,250.

Once the exam is done, NTA will release an admit-card (hall ticket) for candidates — and after the exam, a provisional answer key followed by result declaration will follow, enabling qualified candidates to seek admission in MBA/PGDM programmes across participating institutions.