New Delhi, Sep 30 : This spells relief for tens of thousands of students. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) Wednesday extended their last date to accept online applications for their Common Admission Test (CAT) by 10 days to Oct 11.

The decision was taken in view of several gazetted holidays in September that hampered many students' chance to apply for a seat at the premier management schools.

This time, the IIMs have for the first time gone online to invite applications and conduct examinations with a tie-up with Prometric, a technology-enabled examination conducting firm.

"With the large number of candidates throughout the country taking the CAT every year, the extended window will allow those who might have been inconvenienced by these holidays more time to obtain a voucher and register for the inaugural computer-based CAT 2009," the IIMs and the Prometric announced Wednesday.

Ramesh Nava, vice president of Prometric, said that since Sep 9, when the registrations opened, at least 200,000 students have registered themselves for the tough CAT tests.

Several students complained in early September that the IIMs had not given them the 'edit' option in filling up the form, and any mistake typed once cannot be rectified. The IIMs said the option has now been provided.

Last year, around 270,000 aspirants had appeared for the CAT that paves way for admission into the seven IIMs in the country. This year, the CAT examination starts Nov 28.(IANS)