IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice Recruitment 2026: 409 Seats in 13 States & UTs — State-Wise Seat Map, ₹9,600–₹12,300 Stipend & 2-Step Apply Guide

1. What Is the IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice Recruitment 2026?

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), through its Marketing Division, Eastern Region headquartered at Indian Oil Bhavan, Kolkata, has notified 409 apprenticeship seats under the Apprentices Act, 1961 via Advertisement No. IOCL/MKTG/ER/APPR/2026-27 dated 13 November 2026. Eligible ITI holders, engineering diploma holders, graduates and Class 12 pass-outs from West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, the seven other North-Eastern states and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands can apply online between 13 November 2026 (10:00 AM) and 12 December 2026 (5:00 PM).

There is no written test and no interview. IOCL ranks applicants purely on the percentage of marks in the qualifying examination, then calls shortlisted candidates for document verification and a pre-engagement medical test. Selected apprentices train for 12 months at IOCL marketing installations in the state they applied for, and receive a minimum monthly stipend of ₹9,600 (ITI / Data Entry Operator), ₹10,900 (Diploma) or ₹12,300 (Graduate) under the revised Apprenticeship Rules.

Applying is a two-part job: you must apply against IOCL's establishment ID on the government apprenticeship portal (NATS for Diploma and Graduate, NAPS for ITI and Data Entry Operator) and submit IOCL's separate Microsoft Form with three preferred training locations by 12 December 2026. Candidates who finish only the portal step do not receive a document verification call letter.

Three things this edition does differently

• The headline 409 is not what the seat tables add up to. The state-wise tables total 393; the remaining 16 are the PwBD seats listed separately (details in Section 4).
• Seats are down roughly 23% against the 509 seats reported for the 2025-26 Eastern Region round, with Graduate Apprentice seats cut the most.
• The stipend floor is about 36–37% higher than the rates that applied to IOCL apprentices before September 2025.

2. About IOCL Marketing Division, Eastern Region

IOCL is a Central Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and describes itself in this notification as a Fortune "Global 500" company. Its Marketing Division runs the downstream network — fuel terminals and depots, LPG bottling plants, aviation fuel stations and retail outlets. The Eastern Region office in Kolkata administers that network across 13 states and union territories, and apprentices from this notice are placed at those installations rather than at a refinery or pipeline station.

Note that IOCL has several divisions that hire apprentices independently — Refineries, Pipelines and the regional Marketing offices each publish their own notices and use their own establishment IDs. An application under this notice reaches only the Marketing Division's Eastern Region office.

3. Important Dates and the Two Cut-Off Dates That Matter

The application window runs from 13 November 2026 to 12 December 2026, but eligibility is judged on an earlier date — 30 November 2026 — so a qualification completed between 1 and 12 December 2026 does not count even though the portal is still open.

4. Vacancy Details: State-Wise and Category-Wise Seat Map

The IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice 2026 notice advertises 409 seats, but the state-by-state tables inside it add up to 393: 206 Technician, 97 Trade (ITI), 70 Graduate and 20 Data Entry Operator seats. West Bengal alone holds 149 seats (37.9%), and five states — West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand — hold 371 of the 393 (94.4%).

Why 409 and not 393?

We added every row of the notification's tables. The category columns (UR, EWS, SC, ST, OBC-NCL) total 393 and the PwBD column shows zero against every Technician and Trade (ITI) row. Separately, the notice earmarks 16 PwBD seats — 4 for visual, 4 for hearing, 4 for orthopaedic and 4 for multiple disabilities — against discipline codes 112, 113 and 114 only. 393 + 16 = 409, so the headline figure appears to count the PwBD seats on top of the category seats, even though the same notice says PwBD reservation is applied horizontally (that is, from within the existing category seats). For planning your chances, treat 393 as the realistic seat pool; IOCL also states that seat numbers are tentative and may change.

State-wise seats by apprentice group

Category-wise seats by state

IOCL applies each state's own reservation percentages, which explains the uneven pattern: Odisha has more ST seats (11) than SC seats (8), Jharkhand's reserved seats lean ST, Assam carries 18 OBC-NCL seats, and Bihar has no ST seat in any discipline. In the seven smaller North-Eastern states, every one of the 17 seats is Unreserved.

How this round compares with 2025-26

The previous Eastern Region notice (Advt. IOCL/MKTG/ER/APPR/2025-26, which closed on 9 January 2026) was widely reported at 509 seats. We could not re-verify that PDF ourselves, so the comparison below uses the publicly reported group totals.

Seats are pooled across disciplines — what that means for you

The notice gives one combined seat count for discipline codes 101 to 106 (all six diploma branches) and one combined count for codes 107 to 111 (all five ITI trades) in each state. For example, West Bengal's 80 Technician seats are shared by Mechanical, Electrical, Instrumentation, Civil, Electrical & Electronics and Electronics diploma holders, with no branch-wise split published. Merit lists are prepared post-wise, so how the 80 seats are divided between branches is left to IOCL. A Civil diploma holder and a Mechanical diploma holder in the same state may therefore face very different effective competition, and nobody outside IOCL can predict that split in advance.

5. Eligibility Criteria by Discipline Code

To be eligible for IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice 2026 you need the exact qualification for one discipline code, earned as a regular full-time course from a recognised institute, passed within the notified window, and you must not hold a higher professional degree such as B.E./B.Tech, MBA, MCA, CA, ICWA or LLB. Diploma, Graduate and Data Entry Operator posts also carry a minimum of 50% aggregate (45% for SC/ST/PwBD on reserved seats).

Who is not eligible — even with the right marks

• Distance, correspondence or part-time qualifications are rejected for every discipline code.
• Higher professional qualifications — B.E./B.Tech, MBA, MCA, CA, ICWA, LLB or equivalent — disqualify you if you hold them or complete them before joining. IOCL takes a written declaration at joining, and hiding this can lead to termination mid-training.
• Graduates cannot apply for Data Entry Operator posts; codes 113 and 114 are restricted to candidates below graduation.
• PwBD candidates cannot apply for codes 101 to 111; IOCL cites the hazardous nature of oil installations. PwBD candidates may apply only under codes 112, 113 and 114.
• Previous apprentices may undergo a maximum of two apprenticeships, the second cannot be in the same trade, and there must be a one-year gap after completing the first (three months if the earlier contract ended for health, financial, relocation or similar reasons; no waiting period for women in that case).

CGPA, grades and missing result dates

If your board or university awards CGPA, OGPA or letter grades, enter the equivalent percentage in your NATS/NAPS profile using your institution's own conversion norm, and carry a certificate from the institution confirming that equivalent percentage to document verification. Separately, if your mark sheet does not show the date the result was declared, obtain a certificate from your Principal stating that date — IOCL uses it to test the pass-out window.

6. Age Limit, Date-of-Birth Windows and Relaxation

The age limit for IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice 2026 is 18 to 24 years as on 30 November 2026, with relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST, 3 years for OBC-NCL and 10 years for PwBD (15 years for SC/ST PwBD, 13 years for OBC-NCL PwBD). The notice provides no age relaxation for EWS candidates.

IOCL does not print date-of-birth ranges, so we have calculated them. The windows below are "safe" under any reading of "maximum 24 years" — that is, you are below the upper limit even in completed years and days.

The one-year grey zone

A UR candidate born between 1 December 2001 and 30 November 2002 will be 24 in completed years on 30 November 2026. Many public-sector apprentice notices treat that as within a "maximum 24 years" limit, but this notice does not spell it out. If your date of birth falls in that band, email mkterapprentice@indianoil.in for written confirmation before you apply.

The reserved-seat trap for SC, ST and OBC candidates

The notice grants SC/ST and OBC-NCL relaxation only "for the posts reserved for them". When a state has no reserved seat in your category and discipline, there is nothing for the relaxation to attach to, and you are judged on the UR limit of 24 years. On this round's tables, that affects:

• All seats in Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh (100% Unreserved).
• ST candidates in Bihar — no ST seat in any discipline.
• SC and OBC-NCL candidates for Trade (ITI) seats in Jharkhand — the 7 seats are 6 UR and 1 ST.
• Most Data Entry Operator seats — outside West Bengal and Assam, all DEO seats are Unreserved.
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands — the only reserved seat is one OBC-NCL Technician seat.

The same logic applies to marks: SC/ST/OBC-NCL candidates competing for UR seats must meet General-category standards, including the 50% minimum.

7. Stipend: How Much Will You Actually Be Paid?

IOCL Eastern Region apprentices receive at least ₹9,600 per month (ITI Trade and Data Entry Operator), ₹10,900 per month (Technician / Diploma) or ₹12,300 per month (Graduate). The notice itself only says the stipend follows the Apprentices Act and Rules "as amended"; these figures are the statutory minimum under the Apprenticeship (Amendment) Rules, 2025, notified in the Gazette on 11 September 2025, and the Board of Practical Training (Eastern Region) circular of 12 May 2026 applying them to NATS apprentices from 1 April 2026.

Why the stipend may arrive in two parts

Part of every apprentice's stipend is paid by the Government of India by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) straight into the apprentice's Aadhaar-seeded bank account, and the employer pays the rest. Under NATS (Diploma and Graduate) the government share is 50% of the prescribed minimum from 1 April 2026 — ₹5,450 of a ₹10,900 stipend, or ₹6,150 of ₹12,300. Under NAPS (ITI and Data Entry Operator) the government share is 25%, capped at ₹1,500 per month. The DBT amount is part of the stipend, not an extra payment, so two separate credits a month is normal. It is also why IOCL insists on an Aadhaar-linked bank account at joining.

Because training lasts 12 months, the 10% second-year increase in the Rules does not apply here. IOCL is free to pay above the floor; this notice does not state a higher figure, so we have used the statutory minimum. Apprentices are trainees, not employees — there is no pay level, DA, HRA, PF or pension, and no claim to a job on completion.

8. Application Fee

There is no application fee for IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice 2026. The notification prescribes no fee for any category, and registration on the government NATS and NAPS portals and the IOCL Microsoft Form are free.

9. Selection Process: How the Merit List Is Built

IOCL selects Eastern Region apprentices on merit alone: a list is prepared for each post from candidates who applied through NATS/NAPS and meet the eligibility conditions, ranked by the percentage of marks in the essential qualification. There is no written test, no interview and no skill test.

What actually moves your rank

• Your percentage as it appears on the portal. IOCL ranks on the figure in your NATS/NAPS profile; an error there cannot be corrected by IOCL and must be fixed through the NATS or NAPS office before you apply.
• The state you choose. West Bengal's 80 Technician seats and Mizoram's zero produce very different cut-offs for the same marks.
• Category standard. Reserved candidates may compete for UR seats only on General-category standards.

The notice does not describe a tie-breaking rule, and IOCL has not published category-wise cut-offs for earlier Eastern Region rounds. Treat any "expected cut-off" you see elsewhere as an estimate.

10. How to Apply: The Mandatory Two-Step Process

To apply for IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice 2026, first apply against IOCL's establishment ID on the correct government portal — NATS (EWBKOC000077) for Diploma and Graduate or NAPS (E05201900011) for ITI and Data Entry Operator — and then submit IOCL's Microsoft Form with three training-location choices, both by 12 December 2026.

Choosing your three training locations

The Microsoft Form asks for three location preferences, but the notice does not list IOCL's installations or promise that you will get your first choice. Training happens at IOCL Marketing units in the state you applied for. Before you submit, think about daily commuting and accommodation costs on the stipend — IOCL does not provide travel allowance for joining.

11. Documents Required for Verification

Shortlisted candidates must bring originals plus one self-attested copy of each document below to document verification. Three requirements catch the most applicants: the Class 10 certificate is the only accepted date-of-birth proof, the OBC-NCL certificate must be issued within 12 months before 30 November 2026, and you need a bank account with a cheque book printed in your name.

OBC-NCL: the central-list rule

Because IOCL is a Central PSU, only castes in the Central List of OBCs for your state qualify, and the certificate must confirm non-creamy-layer status with reference to the Department of Personnel & Training OM No. 36012/22/93-Estt.(SCT) dated 8 September 1993. Candidates whose caste appears only in a state list, or who fall in the creamy layer, should apply as UR and meet the UR age limit.

12. Pre-Engagement Medical Fitness

Every selected candidate must pass IndianOil's pre-engagement medical examination before receiving an offer. The notice advises reading the "Guidelines and Criteria for Physical Fitness for Pre-Engagement Medical Examination", published on IOCL's apprenticeships page, before applying.

IOCL frames the medical requirement around safety at oil installations — the same reason it bars PwBD candidates from the technical and ITI trades and limits PwBD engagement to low vision/blindness, hearing impairment, locomotor disabilities and multiple disabilities in the Graduate and Data Entry Operator posts. There is no Physical Efficiency Test or height/chest standard in this notice; the medical examination is a fitness check, not a competitive stage.

13. General Instructions and Common Rejection Triggers

Most IOCL apprentice applications fail on process, not marks. The table below lists the specific conditions in this notice that lead to rejection, and how to avoid each.

Other conditions in the notice

• Seat numbers are tentative and may increase or decrease at IOCL's discretion, in line with Presidential Directives on reservation.
• IOCL's decision on eligibility, selection and cancellation is final, and no correspondence is entertained.
• Clearing document verification or being empanelled does not guarantee engagement.
• Completing the apprenticeship creates no obligation on IOCL to offer a job, and apprentices cannot claim employment on that basis.
• All corrigenda and updates will appear only on IOCL's apprenticeships page.

14. Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the most commonly asked questions about the IOCL Eastern Region Apprentice Recruitment 2026. If your question is not answered here, refer to the official notification on iocl.com/apprenticeships or write to IOCL's apprentice cell by email.

Important Links

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)