Hi, the total number of students in total is not 40,000. The estimated number of students who were going to appear for PGCET MBA 2021 is around 40,000. But, in reality very few students appeared for the exam. The total and an absolute number of students who appeared for the exam is not released by the team. Below is the link to an article about this which might help. If you still have doubts feel free to comment. Hope this helps.

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/karnataka-pgcet-mba