IREL MK Apprentice Recruitment 2026 – 39 Posts

IREL (India) Limited released this recruitment notification for its Manavalakurichi unit in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, on 3 August 2026. As per Notification No. IREL (India) Limited/MK/Apprentices Engagement/2026/01, the company is inviting applications from eligible Indian nationals for engagement as Graduate, Technician and Trade Apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961. This is for candidates who hold a BE, Diploma or ITI certificate and want hands-on training experience with a central public sector unit.

IREL is engaging 39 Apprentice Trainees in total — 4 Graduate Apprentices, 4 Technician Apprentices and 31 Trade Apprentices. A full trade-wise breakdown of all 39 seats is given below, along with the qualification required for each. The training will take place at the company’s Manavalakurichi unit in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Candidates should check all details in the article below.

Information verified from the official IREL (India) Limited notification No. IREL (India) Limited/MK/Apprentices Engagement/2026/01 dated 03.08.2026. Last verified: 10 August 2026.

IREL (India) Limited is recruiting 39 Apprentice Trainees — 4 Graduate, 4 Technician and 31 Trade Apprentices — at its Manavalakurichi unit through Notification No. IREL (India) Limited/MK/Apprentices Engagement/2026/01. The filled application must reach the company by post on or before 31 August 2026. Candidates apply offline, after mandatory prior registration on the Apprenticeship India portal or the NATS portal, and selection runs through a qualification-marks merit list followed by document verification, a medical fitness check and a Police Verification Certificate.

Quick summary of IREL Apprentice Jobs 2026

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About IREL India

IREL (India) Limited is a central public sector company (CIN: U15100MH1950GOI008187) that runs a mineral-processing unit at Manavalakurichi, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. This is added context, not part of the official notification: IREL operates under the administrative control of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, and runs similar units at Chavara (Kerala) and the Orissa Sands Complex (Odisha). Confirm the exact administrative status with the official website. The Manavalakurichi unit is certified ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and OHSAS 18001:2007, as printed on the notification letterhead. For a candidate, this apprenticeship means structured, on-the-job training inside an established government-controlled industrial unit — though, as the notification itself states, it does not carry any promise of a permanent job afterwards.

How this compares to other current openings

Manavalakurichi is not in West Bengal, Sikkim or the North East, so this is an all-India-relevant vacancy rather than a regional one. This is added context, not part of the official notification. IREL periodically opens separate apprentice engagement drives at each of its production units — Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu), Chavara (Kerala) and Orissa Sands Complex (Odisha) — and each unit issues its own notification, with its own establishment registration numbers, postal address and reservation rules tied to that state. A candidate eligible on paper for more than one unit should still read each unit’s notification separately rather than assuming the same terms apply, since the priority-category rules in this Manavalakurichi notification (land-affected candidates, peripheral villages, Tamil Nadu domicile) are specific to this unit and district.

Also Read: AIIMS Nagpur Recruitment 2026

Important dates

The notification is specific on one point: the application must reach the Chief Manager – HRM (Legal & ER) office by 31 August 2026 — applications received after this date “for any reason” will not be considered, so the postmark date does not protect a late arrival.

Vacancy details and qualifications for IREL Apprentice Jobs 2026

IREL will engage 39 apprentices across three categories. The full breakdown, exactly as given in the notification, is below.

A. Graduate Apprentices (4 seats)

B. Technician Apprentices (4 seats)

C. Trade Apprentices (31 seats)

Verified total: 4 + 4 + 31 = 39 posts.

Stipend will be paid at the rate prescribed under the Apprenticeship Rules, 1992, as notified by the Government from time to time — the notification does not state a rupee figure. IREL will not provide any other benefit or financial assistance during training.

Reservation for SC/ST/OBC/EWS/PWD will apply as per the percentage prescribed for the State of Tamil Nadu; the notification does not give a category-wise seat split within each trade.

Also Read: NTPC NGEL Recruitment 2026

Eligibility IREL ITI, Diploma & BE Vacancies

General conditions (apply to all 39 posts):

• Qualification obtained through Distance Learning, Part Time or Correspondence mode will not be considered.
• Candidates who have already undergone, or are currently undergoing, apprenticeship training under the Apprentices Act, 1961 in any government, public sector or private organisation are not eligible.
• A candidate can apply for only one trade at a time.
• Age: minimum 18 years, maximum 25 years, as on 31 August 2026 (the last date of application). Age relaxation: SC/ST — up to 5 years, OBC (NCL) — up to 3 years, PWD — up to 10 years.
• Trade-wise and discipline-wise qualification is exactly as listed in the tables above — check the row for your specific trade or discipline, not a general “graduate” or “ITI” label.
• Candidates holding a higher qualification than the seat requires — a PG engineering degree (ME/M.Tech), MCA, MBA or equivalent, CA/ICWA, PhD, or LLB — should not apply for that seat, since they exceed the prescribed induction-level qualification. This list is not exhaustive; IREL’s management can treat any other qualification the same way, and its decision is final. Suppressing information about a higher qualification held or being pursued makes a candidate ineligible at any stage, including after engagement.
• Where a mark-sheet or pass certificate does not show a final aggregate percentage, the average of all semester/year-wise marks will be treated as the qualifying marks. Where CGPA or grades are awarded, the candidate must state the equivalent percentage as per the university/institute’s own norms, and produce a conversion certificate at the time of document verification.

Selection process IREL Apprentice

Selection is based on a merit list drawn from the marks scored in the qualification specified for the trade applied for, subject to the candidate being declared “Medically Fit” by IREL’s Medical Officer. Before merit is applied, IREL follows this priority order:

1. Land Affected Category — candidates who have given land to IREL (with documentary proof) get priority regardless of marks scored.
2. Preferential priority within category, in this order:
   • (i) Wards of IREL employees, regardless of marks.
   • (ii) Wards of IREL employees who died while in service.
   • (iii) Permanent residents of Chinnavilai, Periavilai, Puthoor and Kottilpadu villages, preferred over other villages within a 10 km radius of the company, regardless of marks.
3. Permanent residents of Midalam, Keezhmidalam and Kurumpanai villages, preferred over candidates from other villages in Kanyakumari district.
4. Candidates belonging to Tamil Nadu State.
5. Others.

After priority and merit ranking:

1. Candidates are called for document verification in order of merit, and must produce original documents plus one set of self-attested photocopies. Candidature is rejected if the original documents are not produced or eligibility is not met.
2. Shortlisted candidates must clear a medical examination and be declared “Medically Fit” by the company’s authorised Medical Officer — final selection depends on this.
3. Because IREL (India) Limited is a “highly protected area,” apprentices are allowed entry only after submitting a Police Verification Certificate issued by the police authority of the area where they normally reside. This is mandatory and must be produced upon selection, before joining training — candidates are advised to start this process in parallel with their application.

Where marks tie, the candidate with higher marks in the specified qualification is ranked first; if the tie remains, the candidate with the earlier date of birth (senior in age) is preferred.

Even after selection, the candidature stays provisional and subject to further verification. If IREL finds at any stage — including after engagement — that a candidate does not meet the eligibility norms, or has given incorrect, doctored or false information, the candidature or the engagement itself will be cancelled or terminated.

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How to apply

1. Register on the Apprenticeship India portal (http://www.apprenticeshipindia.org) — run by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship — if applying for a Trade Apprentice post, or on the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS) portal (http://www.nats.education.gov.in) if applying for a Graduate or Technician Apprentice post. Applications will not be accepted without this registration.
2. Apply against Establishment Registration No. E05203301006 for Trade apprenticeship, or Establishment Registration No. STNKKC000004 for Graduate/Technician apprenticeship.
3. Fill the application in the proforma given in the notification (Annexure A), preferably typed on A4-size paper, and affix a passport-size photograph.
4. Attach self-attested photocopies of all required documents (checklist below).
5. Superscribe the envelope: “APPLICATION FOR ENGAGEMENT OF APPRENTICE AGAINST NOTIFICATION NO. IREL (India) Limited/MK/Apprentices Engagement/2026/01.”
6. Send the application by post — preferably speed post — to: The Chief Manager – HRM (Legal & ER), IREL (India) Limited, Manavalakurichi, Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu- 629252. Applications sent by any other mode will also be considered, but IREL will not be responsible for delay or loss in transit, and no correspondence will be entertained on this.
7. Ensure the application reaches this address on or before 31 August 2026. Submitting the hardcopy application is mandatory for screening and selection — the online portal registration alone is not enough.

Documents to keep ready

• 10th pass / Matriculation certificate or Birth Certificate (the only document accepted as proof of date of birth)
• 10th / HSC mark sheet
• SC/ST/OBC(NCL)/EWS/Disability certificate, in the prescribed format, for reserved-category candidates (OBC-NCL certificate must be the latest valid one)
• Income and Assets Certificate, for EWS candidates
• Semester-wise / year-wise mark sheets and pass certificate in the relevant discipline
• Documentary proof of Land Affected Category status, or of residing in a peripheral village within 10 km of the IREL Manavalakurichi unit
• Nativity Certificate
• Land Looser certificate, if applicable
• Aadhaar Card
• 10 passport-size photographs
• Police Verification Certificate from the police authority of the area where the candidate normally resides

Also Read: UPSC Recruitment 2026 – 34 Vacancies | Advt No. 10/2026

Important links

Should you apply?

This notification suits candidates who already hold the exact BE, Diploma or ITI qualification listed for a trade, are aged 18–25 (or within the relaxed limit for their category), and want structured training inside a central government unit rather than an immediate permanent job. It particularly suits candidates from Kanyakumari district or Tamil Nadu, since the priority order gives real weight to peripheral-village residents, land-affected families and Tamil Nadu domicile before general merit applies — a candidate from outside Tamil Nadu competes only in the “Others” category. Competition for Fitter and Electrician (10 and 5 seats) is likely to be the least tight per seat simply because they carry the most seats among the 31 trade posts; Turner, Mechanic (MMV) and Refri. & AC Mechanic have only 1 seat each. The clearest trade-off: this is a fixed-term apprenticeship, not a job offer. The notification is explicit that IREL has no obligation to offer regular employment during or after the training period, and apprentices are relieved from the work area once the apprenticeship ends. It suits someone building a first work credential, not someone seeking immediate permanent employment.

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