RITES Apprentice Recruitment 2026: 281 Posts, Apply 25 Nov

RITES Apprentice Recruitment 2026 offers 281 apprenticeship seats for graduates, diploma holders and ITI pass candidates, and the last date to apply is 25 November 2026. RITES Limited published Advertisement No. Pers./26-10/Apprentice/2026-27/01 on 4 November 2026. The training lasts one year and pays a monthly stipend of Rs 10,560 to Rs 15,650, depending on the category.

The part that trips people up is the application itself. It has two stages, and finishing only the first one does not count. You apply on the NATS or NAPS portal first, then you submit your documents through a separate RITES form.

Both stages close on 25 November 2026. Miss the second stage and RITES will not consider your application at all.

RITES Apprentice Recruitment 2026 at a glance

The 281 seats, and where they sit

Graduate apprentices take the biggest share. Engineering graduates get 125 seats, and non engineering graduates get 43, so 168 of the 281 seats are for graduates. Diploma holders get 62 seats and ITI pass candidates get 51.

Civil engineering leads the graduate engineering list with 40 seats. Mechanical follows with 36 and Electrical with 26. Information Technology has 13, Chemical and Metallurgical has 6, and Architecture and Signal and Telecom have 2 each. The non engineering graduate seats split between Finance with 21 and Human Resources with 22.

Diploma seats are led by Mechanical with 26 and Electrical with 19. Civil has 12 and Chemical and Metallurgical has 5. Among ITI trades, Mechanical and Electrical have 23 seats each, Civil has 2, and other trades such as Welder, Fitter, Turner, Plumber and Surveyor share 3.

Posting is across India. You can state a location preference in the RITES form, but RITES decides the final posting based on its requirements, and it will not entertain requests to change it later.

One detail in the official table deserves a straight mention. The category wise rows in the advertisement add up to 277, while the advertised total is 281. The graduate engineering row shows the same kind of mismatch inside its own columns. Go by the advertised total of 281 seats and keep an eye on rites.com for a corrigendum if RITES clarifies the breakup.

Who can apply, and who cannot

The qualification rules are simple, but the cut offs are strict. Engineering graduates need a four year full time B.E., B.Tech. or B.Arch. degree. Non engineering graduates need a three year B.A., BBA, B.Com., B.Sc. or BCA degree.

Diploma candidates need a three year full time engineering diploma. ITI candidates need a full time ITI pass certificate in the relevant trade.

The qualification must come from an institution recognised by UGC or AICTE for degrees and diplomas, or NCVT or SCVT for ITI.

Marks matter twice here, once for eligibility and once for selection. General and EWS candidates need 60 percent in aggregate. SC, ST, OBC Non Creamy Layer and PwBD candidates need 50 percent, but only against reserved positions.

If your course specifies marks in the Honours subject, those marks count. Otherwise the aggregate of all subjects counts.

The age rule has only a floor. You must have completed 18 years as on 5 November 2026. The advertisement sets no upper age limit.

The five year rule catches more people than any other condition. Degree and diploma candidates must have their final semester result dated on or after 5 November 2021. If your result came before that date, you cannot apply, however strong your marks are. ITI candidates face no such restriction on the year they passed.

RITES also bars a clear list of candidates. You cannot apply if you are still awaiting your essential qualification result as on 5 November 2026, if you have already completed apprenticeship training, if you are currently undergoing it, or if you have one year or more of training or job experience after getting your qualification.

How to apply, in the right order

Do the portal step first. Degree and diploma candidates register with a complete profile on the NATS portal at nats.education.gov.in. ITI candidates register on the NAPS portal at apprenticeshipindia.gov.in. Log in and apply for the RITES Limited opportunity, listed under that exact establishment name.

Then do the RITES step, and do not leave it for the last day. Open the RITES application form at apprentice.rites.com/ApprenticeForm/ and upload your documents as a single PDF of up to 10 MB. The set is your mark sheets for all semesters and your final passing certificate, a date of birth proof such as your matriculation certificate or Aadhaar, an identity proof, and your caste or category certificate if you claim one.

If your marks are in CGPA, add the conversion formula from your university. OBC Non Creamy Layer certificates must be in the central format and issued on or after 5 November 2025.

Only one submission of the RITES form is allowed, and RITES will not accept documents by email or hard copy. Check your NATS or NAPS profile before you apply, because the advertisement says your caste, education and aggregate percentage must appear correctly there, and any correction has to go through the NATS or NAPS office, not RITES.

The advertisement lists no application fee, so do not pay anyone who asks for one. If you need a photo sized to the portal's requirements, the site's exam photo resizer handles it in a minute.

No exam, and no interview either

Selection runs entirely on the percentage marks in your essential qualification. There is no written test and no interview. If two candidates have the same marks, the older one ranks higher on the merit list.

RITES will prepare the merit list after checking the documents from the RITES form, then inform shortlisted candidates by email from [email protected] and upload the list on rites.com. Shortlisted candidates carry their original documents for verification at the time of joining. Seats left vacant after the first list go to the next merit list.

Keep one thing in mind before you apply. This is one year of apprenticeship training under the Apprentices Act, 1961, not a job. RITES states plainly that it has no obligation to offer employment during or after the training, and selection in the merit list gives no right to engagement.

That is worth knowing now rather than after a year of training. The stipend is real money for a year, and the RITES name carries weight on a CV, but it is a training seat, not a permanent post.

IOCL is running a similar apprenticeship drive this month with 500 seats and the same NATS and NAPS route, and the details sit in the IOCL Apprentice Recruitment 2026 post on this site. Indian Bank has also opened 1,500 apprentice seats for this financial year, covered in the Indian Bank Apprentice Recruitment 2026 post here.

Sources & verification: RITES Limited, Advertisement No. Pers./26-10/Apprentice/2026-27/01 dated 4 November 2026, read 7 November 2026 from the official notification PDF on rites.com.

The seat count, dates, stipend, eligibility rules and application steps in this article were read directly from that advertisement.