At the B-school turnstiles, entry for aspirants may just get tougher as the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad has decided to use GMAT to select students for its post-graduate programme in management for executives -- a move many see as the first step towards phasing out the decades-old CAT.

The PGPME is to be launched in April, 2006.

The fees for the PGPME course will be Rs 800,000, whereas the fees for the existing two-year post-graduate management course are Rs 157,000.

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Executives with seven years' work experience are eligible to apply for this course.

An IIM-A official said here the idea behind the move was to lend the institute more global prominence as GMAT was recognised globally as the best test for management aptitude.

CAT scores, however, would continue to be valid for other existing post-graduate programmes, said another institute source, adding that there had been no move yet to replace CAT with GMAT for these courses.

B-school watchers feel that the pioneering move by the IIM-A may soon create a ripple effect with other IIMs in the country, too, deciding to go in for GMAT.

CAT brings in substantial revenues for the six IIMs in the country but the leakage of question papers in November, 2003, had led to a national hue and cry, prompting the institutes to look for a leak-proof examination system.

By deciding to go in for GMAT, IIM-A will become the second Indian B-school after the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, to start a one-year PGPME course.

A document finalised at a recent meeting of the IIMA faculty council set up for the course, which is available with the Business Standard, says: "Participants (for the PGPME course) will be selected through a rigorous admissions process that includes GMAT, leadership profiling and personal interviews, either face to face or via video-conference."