Premier business school Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has raised the eligibility criteria for admission to its hallowed portals, which makes 70 percent marks in 10th and 12th standard as a prerequisite to qualify for interview call, irrespective of CAT-2009 score.

Setting a new benchmark for admission, IIM-A today said candidates in general category with overall percentile of 99 in CAT-2009 and 70 percent marks in 10th and 12th standards will only be considered for interviews.

"IIM-A has shortlisted 562 candidates in general category for personal interviews whose percentiles in each section of CAT was 96.1 and above, besides overall percentile of 99 and also 70 per cent marks in 10th and 12th standards," IIM-A admission committee chairperson Diptesh Ghosh said.

"The move is likely to deprive some candidates who might have qualified in CAT as per IIM's specified eligibility criteria but had lower than 70 percent marks in Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC)," sources said.

"Last year, IIM-A had adopted a point-based system for admission under which weightage to percentage of class 10th and 12 standards was given in terms of points, alongwith CAT percentile," Ghosh said.