New Del Oct 10 (IANS): The overall registration for the Common Admission Test (CAT) has declined, but the number of women applicants has increased over two years, an official said Thursday.

"The rise in number of candidates with two or more years of work experience - registering for CAT- has also increased from 13 percent in 2012 to 16 percent this year," CAT convenor Rohit Kapoor said.

"Candidates with little or no work experience have declined to 66 percent from 68 percent in 2012," he added.

This year the 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have added 115 seats for B-School admissions, for a total of 3,335 seats across all IIMs.

Students with technology and engineering backgrounds have increased by six percent and comprise 70 percent of candidates.

Economics, management and science students make up the remaining 23 percent.

Maharashtra has the highest number of CAT registrations, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

"In 2012, Prometric and the IIMs delivered 191,642 CAT exams. This year we expect similar participation as seen by the registration numbers," said Soumitra Roy, general manager of test development and test delivery solutions provider Prometric India.

CAT 2013 will be conducted over 20 days from Oct 16 to Nov 11.

Candidates take the CAT examination for entering IIMs and several other management institutes.