The decision is significant considering that it will benefit thousands of students who take CAT each year. 2,30,000 students appeared for CAT last year and the numbers are expected to increase to more than 3,00,000 in 2008. According to sources close to the development, the IIMs are contemplating, that instead of a single day, CAT will be conducted online for almost 15 days, during which the students will have the choice to take the exam. Initially, though, the IIMs were contemplating a time period of 30 days.

"The initiative will be rolled out in 2009. The idea is to provide a time window, whereby students can take the examination within the stipulated period," said IIM Lucknow director Dr Devi Singh. The last forum of IIM directors' was held at IIM Lucknow on February 21. An additional reason, though, to take the CAT online is to reduce the time spent on administration and evaluation process. However, when ET contacted IIMAhmedabad director Prof Samir Barua, he said, he has "no comments to offer on the recent development."

The decision comes after a long wait. According to sources, the first directors' forum was held in July 2007 where Prometric, one of the leading testing and assessment services firm, made a presentation to the directors of all seven IIMs. The pre-qualification bid document states that the service provider will undertake tasks right from application processing, test construction, test delivery, result processing to score reporting. Prometric, Attest Testing Services (a wholly owned subsidiary of Aptech) among various other testing and assessment services firms are expected to bid for the contract.