Bhubaneswar, Aug. 18: The Common Admission Test (CAT) will include six new IIMs, including the one in Odisha, for the next academic session.

The last date for registration for CAT 2014 is September 30 and the entrance test will be held on November 16 and November 22. With as many as 19 IIMs open for admissions, the CAT qualifiers will have wider options now.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech last month, had announced six new IIMs — one each in Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh — in order to enable the candidates to pursue management studies in their respective states.

The 13 existing IIMs are located in Ahmedabad, Shillong, Tiruchirapali, Raipur, Udaipur, Bengaluru, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Rohtak, Ranchi and Kashipur.

As the academic session in the new IIMs will commence from the 2015-16 session, the candidates have been asked to apply for the postgraduate management programmes in these institutes.

Incidentally, it is yet to be decided where the institute would be set up in Odisha. Various sections have suggested that the institute be established outside Bhubaneswar that already has a number of institutes, including XIMB. Demands from various parts of the state have been made for setting up the IIM in those areas.

Higher education minister Pradeep Panigrahy said the location of the IIM should not be politicised. “Future growth of the institute should be the guiding factor while deciding on a site,” he said.

Academicians have welcomed the setting up an IIM in Odisha saying it would give a boost to higher education in the state.

“With at least six national-level institutes — Central University, Niser, AIIMS, IIIT, IIT and NIT set up in the last 10 years, Odisha could not have asked for more,” said educationist Sushant Patnaik.

The announcement has led to a discussion on the status of the already-announced institutes such as the five-year-old IIT Bhubaneswar that continues to run from a transit campus in Bhubaneswar. Incomplete land acquisition and problems of road and water connectivity have marred the progress of the institute.

“The government should plan properly, allocate trouble-free land and other necessary infrastructure to ensure that the prestigious institute does not face difficulties. It should not face the problems that the IIT is facing,” said an official of the higher education department.