Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) examination is a written entrance test for pursuing admission into two-year MBA program in International Business. Based on the marks so obtained, candidates are further called for the selection process.

Established in 1963, IIFT is an autonomous public business school. This premier institute has been established by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India to help professionalize the country’s foreign trade management and increase exports by generating and developing human resources. In 2002, it had conferred the status of a Deemed University and since then it conducts an autonomous entrance examination across the country.

For any kind of assistance on any information regarding the test, consider visiting the website: http://tedu.iift.ac.in/iift/index.php

Eligibility Criteria:

• The candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree of at least 3 years duration in any discipline.




• Final year graduate students can also apply. However, they must submit the proof of requisite qualification.




• The general category candidates must have at least 50% marks in their graduation and SC/ST/PWD category candidates must have at least 45% marks in graduation.




• Candidates who belong to foreign countries, or are NRI’s or children of NRIs must clear their GMAT exam and have their scores declared before appearing for this exam.




• There is no age limit for the candidates.

Application Process:

• In order to appear for the IIFT exam, the candidates will have to fill out an application form. The form can be filled online and offline.




• There are approximately 350 seats for candidates in the three campuses of IIFT. Every year around 60,000 candidates compete through this exam.




• The candidates will first have to complete the primary registration process by providing the details about their name, date of birth, parents name, etc. A password needs to be fulfilled to complete the login and this shall be retained for use in future.




• The next step is to fill the academic and personal details and also the category of the candidate. Once selected the category cannot be changed.




• Candidates will also have to provide the details of educational qualifications and years of work experience if any.




• Further, candidates choose the IIFT campus among the three available option; Delhi, Kakinada or Kolkata. Although the written test is held in 20 cities across the country, the choice has to be made for the admission campus.




• A clearly scanned passport sized photograph and digital signature shall be required to fulfill the admission process.




• Once the application form is submitted along with the application fee, the candidates can take their admit cards that are available for download from the official website of the institute. For this purpose, candidates are required to fill the login credentials and this can also be used to get the details regarding the exam and the test centers.

Application Fee:

• The application fees for candidates belonging to general or OBC categories is INR 1650.




• The application fees for candidates belonging to SC/ ST/ physically handicapped category will have to pay INR 825.




• The application fees for candidates who belong to foreign countries, or are NRI’s or children of NRIs is INR 5500.




• Payment of application fee can be done online.

Examination Pattern:

The candidates who fill the form successfully and have received the admit card can then appear for the IIFT exam. The exam comprises of 123 multiple choice questions that are there in different sections. Unlike other competitive exams, the examination pattern for IIFT exam is a bit different.

There is no specific time allotted to each section. The candidates can choose to manage time according to their ease.

The marking scheme is also different for each section. The table below shows the details of the exam.

Each section covers certain topics:

• General Awareness: Politics, business, society, economic, banking, films, and entertainment, etc.




• English Language: The section broadly covers reading comprehension and English usage in terms of the verbal ability. The section covers topics such as; grammar, preposition, phrases, matching word meanings, reading passages, synonyms, and antonyms.




• Quantitative Ability: It covers number, geometry, logarithms, mensuration, probability, permutation and combination, PPL, ERPV, etc.




• Logical Reasoning: Topics under logical ability cover comparisons, coding-decoding, deductions, selections, seating arrangements, directions, series & analysis, Input & Output, etc.




• Data Interpretation: This section covers the interpretation of bar graphs, line graphs, pie chart, tables, etc.

Results and Cut-off:

The IIFT exam result is expected to be declared within a month from the date of the exam. The results can be checked on the official website with the help of the roll number mentioned on the admit card. It is advised to take the print out of this scorecard and retain it until the process of selection is over.

Here are the previous years cut off for different category of students:

The shortlisted candidates shall then be called for the essay writing for around 300 words. The average time allotted to draft an essay of around 20 minutes.

Once the candidates clear the essay writing round, they can then proceed with the group discussion round. Candidates shall be divided into groups of 10-12 and provided a topic related to general or business affairs. It is expected that the candidates take initiative and communicate effectively in order to present their ideas effectively.

Last is the round for personal interview. Those who clear the group discussion round shall proceed here. Panelists ask the candidates some questions and they are judged upon the answers they give.