IIM Calcutta PhD Admission 2026

9 November, 2025

Full details for IIM Calcutta PhD Admission 2026.

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta invites applications from candidates with proven academic backgrounds, who have the intellect, interest, and ingenuity to pursue doctoral studies in management sciences and related disciplines.

Areas of Specialization

Economics
Finance & Control
Human Resource Management
Management Information Systems
Marketing
Operations Management
Organizational Behaviour
Public Policy and Management
Strategic Management

Eligibility

First Class Master’s or Post graduate diploma (2 years) in any discipline and a three-year Bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks in the aggregate;

CA with minimum 50% marks or CS/CMA with minimum 55% marks, with B.com degree;

B.Tech/4 year’s degree with 6.5 CGPA or equivalent.

Non-engineering candidates who have undergone 10+2+5 years will be considered eligible to apply for the Doctoral Programme. CMA (USA) candidates are also eligible to apply for the Doctoral Programme.

In addition, applicant must have obtained a minimum of 50% marks in the aggregate in either the Secondary or the Higher Secondary Examination of a Board (or equivalent).

A final-year student appearing for the Bachelor’s degree examination in Engineering or Master’s degree examination in any discipline can also apply. Such a candidate, if selected, will be provisionally admitted provided (s) he completes all requirements for obtaining the degree before June 30th, 2026. Admission of the candidate will remain provisional until (s) he produces mark sheets proving that (s) he satisfies the eligibility criteria. The deadline for submitting the final year degree mark sheets is December 31st, 2026.

Admission Tests

An applicant can apply to at most two areas of specialization. (S)he needs to have taken the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2025 OR, depending on chosen specialization(s), alternative test(s) in lieu of the CAT as specified in the following table. The test score(s) should be valid on January 30th, 2026.

Candidates should get their GMAT scores officially reported to the Institute using the code: 9CP-HT-94.

Candidates should get their GRE scores officially reported to the Institute using the code: 7496.

“Validity of Score (other than CAT), Two years from the date of test and should be valid on the deadline of submission of the application form”.

Online GMAT/GRE (Take home) exam scores are not valid. Only test center-based GMAT/GRE scores are valid.

Area of Specialization	Test(s) in lieu of CAT
Economics	GMAT / GRE / GATE in Economics / UGC-NET in Economics
Finance & Control	GMAT / GRE
Human Resource Management	GMAT / GRE / UGC-JRF in Economics / Management / Law / Labour and Social Welfare / Human Resource Management / Labour Welfare / Personnel Management / Industrial Relations / Psychology / Sociology
Management Information Systems	GMAT / GRE / GATE in any discipline / UGC-JRF in any discipline
Marketing	GMAT / GRE / GATE in any discipline / UGC-JRF in any discipline
Operations Management	GMAT / GRE
Organizational Behavior	GMAT / GRE / GATE in any discipline / UGC-JRF in Psychology / Sociology / Anthropology / Public Administration / Social Work / Management / Labour Welfare / Personnel Management / Industrial Relations / Labour and Social Welfare / Human Resource Management
Public Policy and Management	GRE / GATE in Architecture and Planning / UGC-NET in Anthropology / Economics / Education / Environmental Science / Geography / History / International and Area Studies / Law / Management / Political Science / Psychology / Public Administration / Social Work / Sociology
Strategic Management	GMAT / GRE / GATE in any discipline

Exemptions

A MBA/PGDM (two years full time) holder of any of the IIMs with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 6.00/9.00 and above (or equivalent) does not need to take any Admission Test. (S)he can apply directly using the DP Online Application Process. (S)he has to pay the application fee, and meet the application deadline. After submission of the application forms, the selection procedure followed for such a candidate will be identical to that of all other candidates.

Application Process

A candidate can apply online on IIM Calcutta website. The last date of the application is January 30th, 2026.
You may choose to apply to a maximum of two areas from the given choices (areas of specialization). However, there is no need to pay a second fee.
Applicants are requested to fill up the referral information carefully. Referee Information has to furnish in the online application form. Once submitted, referee details cannot be changed. Two recommendations are required (mandatory) for a candidate applying for the Ph.D. Both the referees should be persons who are in a position to comment on your candidature. At least one referee should preferably be a faculty member of a university, college or institution of higher studies and research. The application will be treated as incomplete without these two recommendation details.