UCO Bank is engaging 530 apprentices across 31 States and Union Territories, on a one-year contract paying Rs. 16,650 a month. Applications close on 29 October 2026 and the online test is on 7 November 2026.
Any graduate degree works. The selection is a single 100-mark online test — no interview, no group discussion — and you sit it from your own home on a camera-enabled device. Start to finish, this is one of the fastest routes into a bank branch that exists right now.
But you must be clear about one thing before you spend Rs. 800 on it, so here it is up front.
Read this first: an apprentice is not a bank employee
UCO Bank states it plainly in the advertisement. Apprentices are trainees, not employees of the Bank, and have no right to employment after training.
What that means in practice:
- The engagement is for one year, from the date of the apprenticeship contract. It does not convert into a job automatically, and there is no promise of a job at the end.
- There is no PF, no ESI, no bonus, and the labour law provisions that apply to employees do not apply to you.
- You get the stipend. No other allowance or benefit of any kind.
So what is it actually worth? Two things, and they are real.
Rs. 16,650 a month for a fresh graduate, with no experience required, is more than most private entry-level jobs available to the same candidate, and the work is in a bank branch rather than a call centre.
And twelve months inside a public sector bank is the best possible preparation for IBPS and SBI exams. You will handle account opening, KYC, cash, clearing, remittances and retail products daily. The General and Financial Awareness section of every bank exam stops being memorisation and becomes description of your own job. Candidates who do an apprenticeship and then write IBPS Clerk or PO routinely find the banking-awareness portions trivial.
Treat it as a paid year of preparation that happens to look excellent on a form. Do not treat it as a permanent bank job, because it is not one.
Dates
| Advertisement | 13 October 2026 |
| Registration opens | 14 October 2026 |
| Last date for registration, details and fee | 29 October 2026 |
| Online entrance test | 7 November 2026, 11:00 AM |
| Age reckoned as on | 1 October 2026 |
Nine days. And the application is a two-portal process that cannot be finished in one sitting, which is the single biggest reason candidates miss this deadline. More on that below — but do not start on 28 October.
Eligibility
Qualification. A graduate degree from a University or Institute recognised by the Government of India — any stream.
One condition catches people out: your marksheets and your provisional or final degree certificate must be issued on or after 1 April 2022. This scheme is for recent graduates. If you finished your degree in 2019, you are not eligible regardless of your age.
Age: 20 to 28 years as on 1 October 2026.
| Category | Upper age |
|---|---|
| UR / EWS | 28 years |
| OBC-NCL | 31 years (+3) |
| SC / ST | 33 years (+5) |
| PwBD — UR / EWS | 38 years (+10) |
| PwBD — OBC | 41 years (+13) |
| PwBD — SC / ST | 43 years (+15) |
| Widowed or divorced women — UR / EWS | 35 years |
| Widowed or divorced women — OBC | 38 years |
| Widowed or divorced women — SC / ST | 40 years |
Note the minimum of 20. A 19-year-old graduate is not eligible, which is unusual and worth checking if you finished early.
Who is excluded
These disqualifications are strict and they are verified:
- Anyone who has already done an apprenticeship — with UCO Bank or any other organisation — or is currently doing one.
- Anyone with one year or more of training or job experience after completing their qualification. The scheme is for freshers, and NATS records are checked.
- Anyone previously terminated as an apprentice by their organisation.
And one requirement that is easy to skip over: you must be proficient in the local language of the State or UT you choose. This is not a formality — there is a local language test at document verification, and failing it ends your candidature after you have already cleared the written exam.
Vacancies — the number that actually matters is your state's
The 530 posts are spread across 31 States and UTs, and merit is prepared state-wise and category-wise. You may choose only one State or UT.
| Category | Posts |
|---|---|
| UR | 205 |
| OBC-NCL | 147 |
| SC | 106 |
| ST | 49 |
| EWS | 23 |
| Total | 530 |
The largest state allocations are West Bengal with 86, Uttar Pradesh with 45 and Odisha with 41 — UCO Bank is headquartered in Kolkata, which is why West Bengal dominates.
Here is the strategic point. You are not competing against all applicants for 530 posts. You are competing against applicants in your chosen state, in your category, for that state's share. A state with 8 posts and few applicants can be an easier entry than West Bengal with 86 and a very large field. Check the state-wise table in the advertisement PDF above against where you can honestly claim local language proficiency, and choose on that basis rather than on habit.
Stipend
| Paid by UCO Bank | Rs. 10,500 per month |
| Government share, by DBT | Rs. 6,150 per month |
| Total | Rs. 16,650 per month |
The government portion comes by Direct Benefit Transfer and is subject to government guidelines, so it can change. Plan around the Rs. 10,500 that the bank pays directly, and treat the rest as reliable but not guaranteed by the bank.
Application fee
| Category | Fee |
|---|---|
| SC / ST / PwBD | Rs. 200 + GST |
| General / EWS / OBC — male | Rs. 800 + GST |
| General / EWS / OBC — female and transgender | Rs. 600 + GST |
The fee is non-refundable under all circumstances. There is no refund for appearing in the exam, unlike railway recruitment, so be reasonably sure of your eligibility before you pay — particularly the 1 April 2022 degree-certificate condition and the no-prior-apprenticeship rule.
Selection — one test, 100 marks, 60 minutes
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General and Financial Awareness | 25 | 25 |
| General English | 25 | 25 |
| Reasoning and Computer Aptitude | 25 | 25 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 25 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Objective, in English or Hindi, 60 minutes for 100 questions. Qualifying marks are 40 for General and EWS, and 35 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD.
Then: merit is drawn state-wise and category-wise, and ties are broken in favour of the older candidate.
After the test come three more steps, none of them competitive but all of them capable of ending your candidature:
- Local language test at document verification
- Medical fitness examination
- Execution of the Contract of Apprenticeship
Sixty minutes for 100 questions is 36 seconds a question. That is the whole exam in one sentence: it is a speed test on easy material, not a difficulty test. The advertisement does not mention negative marking, and the sections are an equal 25 marks each — so the winning approach is to sweep the questions you can answer in ten seconds across all four sections first, and only then return to anything that needs working out.
The test is taken from your home — prepare for that
This is not a test centre exam. You will receive a link and credentials by email the day before the test, and you sit it at your own residence on a camera-enabled device. You will be asked to display your Aadhaar card to the camera for image capture.
Which makes the logistics part of the exam:
- A laptop or desktop with a working webcam. Test the camera days in advance, not on the morning.
- A stable internet connection, and a backup — a mobile hotspot ready to switch to.
- A quiet, well-lit room where you will not be interrupted for an hour.
- Your Aadhaar card physically in hand before 11:00 AM.
- Power backup, or a fully charged battery.
Candidates lose this exam to a dead webcam or a power cut far more often than to a hard question. Do a full dry run on 6 November.
How to apply — the two-portal process
This is where applications fail, so follow the order exactly.
- Register on the NATS portal at nats.education.gov.in — the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme portal. Note down your Enrolment ID.
- Log in to NATS and apply for the UCO Bank apprenticeship, selecting one State or UT.
- Wait for an email from BFSI SSC asking for your caste category, district preferences and other details. This step is not instant, which is precisely why you cannot leave the application to the last day.
- Go to beep.bfsissc.com, submit the additional details and pay the fee — by 29 October 2026.
- Upload your photograph, signature, date of birth proof and graduation certificates.
- On 7 November 2026, sit the test using the link emailed to you the day before.
Two warnings from the advertisement. Your name must match your certificates exactly. And if your result is in CGPA, you must convert it to a percentage to two decimal places — do the conversion from your university's own formula, not an approximation.
No changes are permitted after submission. There is no correction window in this recruitment. Read every field twice before you submit.
Problems candidates hit — and what to do
"My degree certificate is from 2021. Can I apply?"
No. The marksheets and provisional or final degree certificate must be issued on or after 1 April 2022. This is a condition of the apprenticeship scheme, not a bank preference, and there is no exemption.
"I did an apprenticeship at another bank two years ago."
Then you are not eligible. Anyone who has already undergone or is undergoing an apprenticeship with any organisation is excluded, and NATS holds the record, so it will be found. The same applies if you have a year or more of work experience after your degree.
"I have been working for 14 months since graduating. Does that count?"
Yes, and it disqualifies you. One year or more of training or job experience after completing your educational qualification is an exclusion. The scheme is for freshers only.
"Which state should I choose?"
The one whose local language you can genuinely clear a test in — that test is real and it comes after you have already passed the written exam. Among the states that satisfy that condition, look at the state-wise and category-wise split in the advertisement PDF and prefer the one with the better ratio of posts to likely applicants, rather than the largest number of posts.
"I registered on NATS but got no email from BFSI SSC."
Check your spam and promotions folders first. The email comes from BFSI SSC and is the trigger for the second half of the application. If it has not arrived after a couple of days and the deadline is close, log in to beep.bfsissc.com directly with your NATS Enrolment ID and complete the details there rather than waiting.
"Will I get a permanent job at UCO Bank after this?"
No, and the advertisement says so directly: apprentices are trainees, not employees, with no right to employment after training. What you get is a year of real banking experience, Rs. 16,650 a month, and a decisive edge in the IBPS and SBI exams. Go in with that expectation.
"Is Rs. 16,650 worth a year for a graduate?"
Compare it honestly against your alternative. If the alternative is an unpaid year of full-time exam preparation, then this pays you Rs. 2 lakh over the year to prepare inside a bank. If the alternative is a Rs. 25,000-a-month private job with a career path, the maths is different. The answer depends on what you are actually choosing between.
"My internet is unreliable at home."
Arrange a backup before 7 November — a mobile hotspot, or a relative's house with a stable connection and a webcam. The test is home-proctored and there is no alternative centre, so connectivity is your responsibility and a disconnection mid-test is a serious risk.
What to do in the next nine days
Today: register on NATS and apply for the UCO Bank apprenticeship. Do this before anything else, because the BFSI SSC email that unlocks the rest of the process takes time to arrive.
This week: complete the beep.bfsissc.com details, pay the fee, upload the documents. Convert your CGPA to a percentage carefully before you type it in.
Until 6 November: prepare for a speed test, not a hard one. Practise 100-question sets in 60 minutes — all four sections, all easy, against the clock. Keep General and Financial Awareness as your daily reading, since it is the one section you cannot solve by technique. And test your webcam, your internet and your power backup on 6 November, with your Aadhaar card kept ready.
The official advertisement is mirrored above on our own server, so it stays available even if the bank's link moves. We will update this page with the result and the document verification schedule as they are announced.