Which newspapers are recommended for CAT and interview preparation?

The Hindu and Indian Express are the two newspapers recommended most consistently for CAT and MBA interview preparation, and reading either daily for 20-25 minutes is enough to build the foundation you need.

Why These Two Work

Both papers publish long-form editorials and opinion pieces that closely mirror the prose style of CAT's Reading Comprehension passages. The arguments are dense, the vocabulary is precise, and the structure rewards close reading. Times of India is fine for headlines but its editorial writing is lighter, so you will likely need to supplement it with Economic Times or Business Standard if you go that route.

Mint deserves a mention here. It covers markets, corporate earnings, and macro policy in a format that is genuinely useful for interview prep, particularly if you are targeting finance roles at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, or Kotak Investment Banking.

What to Read and Where

Different sections serve different goals

• Editorial and Op-Ed pages: Build RC reading speed and comfort with argumentative prose
• Business section (ET, Mint, or Hindu Business Line): Quarterly results, RBI rate decisions, Union Budget analysis
• Page 1 national news: Government schemes, Supreme Court judgments, foreign policy developments relevant to interview GDs

Many 99+ percentilers on CAT forums report reading only the editorial plus the business scan, not cover-to-cover. That discipline is worth copying.

Relevance to Top IIM Interviews

Panels at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Calcutta regularly probe current affairs. A candidate who can discuss the RBI's repo rate stance, the PLI scheme's sectoral impact, or a recent high-profile merger with specifics comes across very differently from someone who gives vague answers.

If you are from an engineering background (the majority of top-call recipients), panels often use current affairs to test whether you have genuine curiosity beyond your technical domain.

You do not need all four. Pick one general newspaper plus one business publication and stay consistent.

Avoiding the Time Sink

Political news at the coalition-drama level will not help your percentile or your interview panel. Skim those headlines in under two minutes.

The editorial, one business story, and one policy piece cover roughly 80% of what interviewers actually ask. Set a hard stop at 25 minutes each morning.

Anything beyond that cuts into mock time, which matters more at this stage.

For consulting roles at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, supplement newspaper reading with sector reports (NITI Aayog, RBI annual reports) since case interviews often involve industry context that editorials alone won't cover.

Building the Habit

Start now, not after mocks begin. Six months of consistent reading compounds.

Candidates who begin in June before a November CAT walk into December interviews with genuine command of 2024's major policy and business developments, not cramped two-week revision notes.