Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Marketing Division), Western Region is engaging 335 apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961, across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. Applications close on 4 November 2026 at 5:00 PM.
The headline is this: there is no written test and no interview. The merit list is prepared on the percentage of marks you scored in your qualifying examination — your diploma, your ITI, your degree, your Class 12. Nothing else.
Read this first: your marks are already decided, so the application is the whole exam
Every other recruitment on this site asks you to prepare for months. This one does not. The number that decides your selection is printed on a marksheet you already hold.
That changes what matters. If you cannot change your score, then the only way to lose this is to fill the form wrong — and in this notification there are four specific ways to do exactly that, each one fatal, each one avoidable. They are:
- Registering on the wrong portal — Technician and Graduate go to NATS, Trade/ITI and DEO go to NAPS. Register on the wrong one and your application does not exist.
- Applying for more than one discipline code — this is summary rejection of all your applications, not a choice between them.
- Selecting a training location outside the Western Region states and UTs — rejected.
- Being over-qualified. B.E./B.Tech, MBA, MCA, CA, ICWA and LLB holders are not eligible at all. More on this below, because it catches good candidates every year.
And there is no correction window. Nothing can be changed after submission. Read the whole page before you log in.
Dates
| Advertisement No. | IOCL/MKTG/WR/APPR/2026-27 |
| Notification date | 5 October 2026 |
| Application opens | 5 October 2026, 10:00 AM |
| Last date to apply | 4 November 2026, 5:00 PM |
| Age and qualification reckoned as on | 30 September 2026 |
Note the 5:00 PM cut-off. It is not midnight. The portal closes at the end of the working day.
Vacancies — 335 posts
| Discipline | Post codes | Vacancies |
|---|---|---|
| Technician Apprentice (Diploma) | 101–106 | 99 |
| Trade Apprentice (ITI) | 107–111 | 40 |
| Graduate Apprentice (any degree) | 112 | 174 |
| Trade Apprentice — Data Entry Operator | 113–114 | 22 |
| Total | 335 |
174 of the 335 seats — more than half — are Graduate Apprentice, open to any degree. BA, B.Com, B.Sc, BBA, all of them. This is the single most accessible block of PSU seats currently open anywhere in India, and most candidates reading about "IOCL recruitment" assume it needs engineering and never look.
State-wise and discipline-wise distribution
| State / UT | Technician | Trade / ITI | Graduate | DEO | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra | 33 | 8 | 100 | 8 | 149 |
| Gujarat | 17 | 8 | 29 | 3 | 57 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 17 | 8 | 29 | 3 | 57 |
| Goa | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| Chhattisgarh | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| Daman & Diu | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 18 |
| Total | 99 | 40 | 174 | 22 | 335 |
Seats are tentative and may increase or decrease at the management's discretion.
A practical reading of this table. Maharashtra has 149 seats and Goa has 18 — but Goa, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli will attract a fraction of the applicants. If you hold a domicile or are genuinely willing to train in one of the smaller UTs, your odds against the same marksheet are far better there. Training location is your choice within the Western Region, so choose it with the numbers in front of you.
Eligibility
Age: 18 to 24 years as on 30 September 2026.
| Category | Upper age |
|---|---|
| UR / EWS | 24 years |
| OBC-NCL | 27 years (+3) |
| SC / ST | 29 years (+5) |
| PwBD — UR / EWS | 34 years (+10) |
| PwBD — OBC-NCL | 37 years (+13) |
| PwBD — SC / ST | 39 years (+15) |
Qualification by discipline
| Codes | Discipline | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 101–106 | Technician Apprentice | 3-year regular full-time Diploma in the respective Engineering discipline, minimum 50% aggregate (Gen/EWS/OBC-NCL) or 45% (SC/ST/PwBD) |
| 107–111 | Trade Apprentice (ITI) | Matriculation plus regular 2-year ITI in the respective trade, recognised by NCVT or SCVT |
| 112 | Graduate Apprentice | Regular full-time graduate in any discipline — BA, B.Com, B.Sc, BBA and so on — minimum 50% aggregate (Gen/EWS/OBC-NCL) or 45% (SC/ST/PwBD) |
| 113 | DEO (Fresher) | Class 12 (below graduate) with minimum 50% aggregate (Gen/EWS/OBC-NCL) or 45% (SC/ST/PwBD) |
| 114 | DEO (Skill Certificate) | Class 12 plus a Domestic Data Entry Operator Skill Certificate from an NSQF-recognised body |
When your qualification was passed matters
| Graduate and Technician Apprentice | Qualification obtained between 1 April 2023 and 30 September 2026 |
| Trade / ITI and DEO | Qualification obtained between 1 April 2022 and 30 September 2026 |
If your degree or diploma is older than that window, you are not eligible no matter what your age is. The apprenticeship scheme exists for recent pass-outs.
Only regular full-time qualifications count. Correspondence and distance-learning degrees and diplomas are not accepted for any code.
Problems candidates hit — and what to do
"I have a B.Tech, so I am the best candidate here"
You are ineligible. Candidates holding B.E., B.Tech, MBA, MCA, CA, ICWA or LLB — including those who will complete the qualification by the date of joining — cannot apply for any code.
This is not an oversight. An apprenticeship is a training scheme meant for the qualification level stated, and a professional degree takes you out of its scope. So a B.Tech holder cannot apply as a Graduate Apprentice on the strength of being "a graduate", and cannot drop down to the Technician code on the strength of holding a diploma earlier either.
What to do instead: look at Executive Trainee and Junior Engineer recruitment through GATE and the PSU-specific exams. The apprentice route is closed to you.
"I did an apprenticeship after ITI. Can I do this one too?"
Possibly — but under a hard limit. A person may undergo a maximum of two apprenticeships in a lifetime, and the second must be in a different trade with a gap of at least one year after the first.
So if your earlier apprenticeship was in the same trade, or ended less than a year ago, you are out. If it was a different trade and finished over a year back, you are eligible. NATS and NAPS hold the records centrally, so this is verified automatically — do not assume an old apprenticeship has been forgotten.
"I registered on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in and cannot find the Graduate opportunity"
Because it is not there. The two portals handle different schemes and you must use the right one:
| If you are applying for | Register at | Establishment ID |
|---|---|---|
| Technician Apprentice (101–106) Graduate Apprentice (112) | NATS — nats.education.gov.in | WMHMCC000053 |
| Trade Apprentice / ITI (107–111) DEO (113–114) | NAPS — apprenticeshipindia.gov.in | E01172700332 |
Register on the wrong portal and nothing happens — no error, no rejection message. Your application simply never reaches IOCL. Check this before anything else.
"I am a PwBD candidate and the Technician code will not accept me"
That is correct and it is stated in the notification. PwBD candidates are eligible only for codes 112 to 114 — Graduate Apprentice and Data Entry Operator. Codes 101 to 111, the Technician and Trade codes, are not available to PwBD candidates because of the hazardous nature of the industry.
Within codes 112 to 114, PwBD reservation is horizontal — a subset of the existing seats, not extra ones. Eligible sub-categories are PV (low vision and blind), PH (deaf and hard of hearing), PL (musculoskeletal, dwarfism, acid attack victims, cerebral palsy, leprosy cured) and MD (multiple disabilities).
"Nobody told me there was a medical test"
There is. After the merit list and document verification comes a Pre-Engagement Medical Fitness Test, and IOCL publishes its "Guidelines and Criteria for Physical Fitness for Pre-Engagement Medical Examination" on its website. Read it before you apply, particularly if you have a known vision, hearing or orthopaedic condition. This is a petroleum marketing environment — terminals, depots and retail outlets — and the fitness standards reflect that.
"I am SC and I applied against an unreserved seat"
You can, but the bar changes. SC, ST and OBC candidates applying against UR seats are considered only if they meet the General-category standard — the 50% aggregate, not the 45% relaxed figure. Relaxed marks and relaxed age apply only to seats reserved for your category.
"The document list looks long and verification is weeks away"
Collect them now anyway, because originals plus self-attested copies are required and some take time to obtain:
- Class 10 / SSLC / Matriculation certificate and marksheet — this is the accepted proof of date of birth
- All semester-wise or year-wise marksheets for the qualifying course, plus the final certificate
- A certificate from your institute confirming regular mode of study and year of passing
- Caste certificate in the prescribed Government proforma — and for OBC-NCL, not older than 12 months
- Aadhaar, PAN, a cancelled cheque, and the first page of an Aadhaar-seeded bank passbook (the stipend is paid partly by Direct Benefit Transfer, so a non-seeded account delays payment)
- Pre-Engagement Medical Fitness Certificate
- Disability certificate under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2017, for PwBD candidates
The OBC-NCL twelve-month rule is the one that quietly fails candidates. If your certificate is dated 2024, start the renewal today.
"If I clear verification, am I in?"
No. The notification is explicit on two points: document verification does not confer any right to engagement, and IOCL has no obligation to offer employment on completion of the apprenticeship training. This is a one-year training contract, not a job and not a promise of one.
What it does give you is a year on the records of a Maharatna oil company, a stipend while you study, and a genuine edge in every PSU selection that asks for relevant experience afterwards. Go in with that expectation and it is a good year. Go in expecting a permanent IOCL posting and you will be disappointed.
Stipend
The notification states that the stipend "shall be as prescribed under the Apprentices Act, 1961/1973, and the Apprentices Rules 1992/2019/2025, as amended from time to time." It does not print a figure.
That means the rate is the statutory one for your qualification level, revised by government notification, and part of it reaches you as a Direct Benefit Transfer from the government share. Do not rely on a number you read on a coaching site — the amount applicable to you will be stated in your Contract of Apprenticeship. This is also precisely why the Aadhaar-seeded bank account in the document list is not optional.
Application fee
No application fee is mentioned in the notification. Registration on NATS and NAPS is free. If any portal, agent or "application centre" asks you for money for this recruitment, it is not IOCL. Canvassing in any form is itself a disqualification.
Selection process
- Merit list prepared on the percentage of marks secured in the essential prescribed qualification. No written test. No interview.
- Document verification — originals and self-attested copies.
- Pre-Engagement Medical Fitness Test.
- Contract of Apprenticeship registered on the portal.
How to apply
- Decide your single discipline code. One application only — multiple applications mean summary rejection of all of them.
- Register on the correct portal: NATS (nats.education.gov.in) for Technician and Graduate, NAPS (apprenticeshipindia.gov.in) for Trade/ITI and DEO.
- Complete your profile to 100%. An incomplete profile cannot apply to an opportunity.
- Log in and apply against the opportunity under "Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Marketing Division) — Western Region", using Establishment ID WMHMCC000053 on NATS or E01172700332 on NAPS.
- Select training locations within the notified Western Region states and UTs only. A location outside them means rejection.
- Use an email ID and mobile number that will stay active for at least one year — all communication goes there.
- Submit before 4 November 2026, 5:00 PM. There is no correction facility afterwards.
If you are registered with an Employment Exchange or a Vocational Rehabilitation Centre, you must still apply through NATS or NAPS — the registration does not carry over.
Any corrigendum or addendum will be published only on iocl.com/apprenticeships. Check that page once before you submit and once in the last week.
The complete official notification is mirrored below so you can read the discipline-wise trade list and the fitness criteria in the original wording.