ISRO Scientist Engineer Recruitment 2026: Apply Online for 175 Posts EXPIRED

applications are open and the window closes in about ten days — 16 September 2026, 11:55 PM. What’s confirmed: vacancy count, qualification, fee structure, and the full selection scheme. What’s still unannounced: the actual Written Test/CBT date, which the notification doesn’t specify and will presumably be communicated separately to registered candidates.

The Indian Space Research Organisation, through the ISRO Centralised Recruitment Board (ICRB), released Advertisement No. ISRO:ICRB:03(EMC):2026 on 27 August 2026, inviting applications for 175 Scientist/Engineer ‘SC’ posts across Electronics, Mechanical, and Computer Science disciplines. These are Group ‘A’ positions at constituent ISRO Centres, plus a small number at the autonomous Physical Research Laboratory (PRL). If you’re a fresh BE/B.Tech graduate targeting a research-and-development career in India’s space programme, this is about as direct an entry point as exists — but a few structural details in the selection scheme deserve more attention than a quick skim gives them.

Overview

Vacancy Breakdown

Electronics accounts for well over half the total vacancies at 99 posts — nearly five times the Computer Science count. If you’re an Electronics & Communication graduate, your odds within this drive look structurally better than a CS graduate’s simply on volume, independent of individual merit. The PRL posts are a single seat each — worth applying for if eligible, but not somewhere to pin your entire strategy given how thin that margin is.

ISRO has flagged the vacancy count as provisional, with the right to revise it through a corrigendum. Several posts also carry PwBD backlog vacancies across categories A through E; where a suitable PwBD candidate isn’t found in a given category, ISRO can interchange within the five categories before falling back to a non-PwBD candidate.

Eligibility and the CGPA Trap

Here’s a detail buried in the notification that genuinely changes how some candidates should read their own marksheet: where your certificate lists only a CGPA and no percentage, that CGPA itself must independently meet the 6.84/10 bar — you cannot convert it to a percentage figure to check eligibility, and the reverse is equally true if your certificate lists only a percentage. A candidate with a CGPA of 6.7/10 might mentally convert that to something above 65% using a generic multiplier and assume they clear the bar. ISRO’s notification explicitly closes that workaround. If your university issues only a CGPA, treat 6.84/10 as the number that matters, full stop — don’t do your own conversion math to talk yourself into eligibility.

Only Indian nationals may apply, and your degree must have been completed within the university’s stipulated course duration — a detail that matters if you took a gap year, repeated a semester, or extended your programme for any reason, since it could affect how your qualification is assessed.

Age Limit

Maximum age is 28 years as on 16 September 2026. Relaxation applies for serving Central Government civilian employees, Ex-servicemen, and PwBD candidates per standard Government of India norms — though the notification itself doesn’t spell out the exact number of years for each category, so candidates relying on relaxation should verify the applicable figure against the general GoI relaxation orders rather than assuming a specific number from this notice alone.

Salary and Benefits

Application Fee — A Structure Worth Reading Carefully

Every candidate initially pays ₹750 as a processing fee — this is uniform, regardless of category. Of that, ₹250 is a non-refundable application fee. What happens to the remaining ₹500 depends entirely on your category and on whether you show up for the exam:

The refund tied to actually appearing for the exam is the detail worth internalizing. Register, pay, and skip the test for any reason, and the refund simply doesn’t trigger — for General category candidates that means the full ₹750 stays with ISRO rather than being reduced to the standard ₹250 fee. Payment goes only through the Bharatkosh e-payment gateway via Internet Banking, UPI, or Domestic Debit Card — no cash, cheque, DD, or IPO. Refunds land in the bank account details you enter yourself, and ISRO explicitly states it isn’t responsible for refund failures caused by incorrect account details on your end — worth double-checking that field before final submission.

Selection Process

Written Test/CBT

Total: 100 marks. The CBT runs across 37 centres nationwide — from Agartala and Port Blair to Jammu and Kavaratti — a genuinely wide geographic spread for a central recruitment exam. Check your allotted centre carefully once it’s assigned; ISRO reserves the right to change or cancel a venue and reallocate candidates, so don’t assume your preferred city automatically holds once you’ve registered.

Qualifying Marks

Interview shortlisting runs at 1:5 against vacancies (minimum 10 candidates in aggregate), with reserved-category candidates shortlisted separately within their own 1:5 pool.

Interview

The Aggregate Rule That’s Easy to Misread

This is the single most important detail in the entire selection scheme, and it’s stated in a way that’s genuinely easy to skim past. The Written Test/CBT and Interview each carry a 50% qualifying threshold individually — but the final panel requires a 60% aggregate for unreserved candidates (50% for PwBD), calculated across both stages combined with 50-50 weightage.

Read that gap carefully: clearing 50% in the CBT and 50% in the Interview does not automatically mean you’ve cleared the recruitment. If both scores land right at the 50% qualifying line, your combined aggregate sits at 50% — ten full points short of the 60% aggregate actually required for the final panel. Candidates who treat the individual stage cutoffs as the real target, and coast once they’ve technically qualified for each stage, risk discovering at the final list stage that clearing both stages separately wasn’t the same as clearing the recruitment overall. Aim meaningfully above 50% in both stages, not just at the line, if 60% aggregate is your real target.

Ties in the final merit are broken first by Written Test/CBT marks, then by marks in the qualifying degree itself, then by age — older candidates ranked higher.

Documents Required

• Recent colour photo (200×230px, 100–200 KB, JPG/JPEG, under 6 months old)
• Signature (140×60px, 80–150 KB, JPG/JPEG)
• SC/ST/Disability/Ex-Servicemen certificate, where applicable
• No Objection Certificate from current employer — required at interview stage for anyone currently in Central/State Government, PSU, or Autonomous Body service
• Self-attested PwBD Disability Certificate in prescribed format, for PwBD-reserved posts, at interview
• Originals of all details furnished online, produced at interview

The NOC Requirement Deserves Its Own Mention

If you’re already employed in a Central or State Government body, a PSU, or an Autonomous Body, applying here isn’t a quiet backup-plan move. The notification requires you to apply only with your current employer’s knowledge and prior permission, and to submit the original NOC at interview. Skip this, and you’re simply not permitted to appear for the interview at all — regardless of how strong your CBT score was. If you’re weighing this application while currently employed in a qualifying organisation, start the NOC conversation with your employer early rather than assuming it’s a formality you can arrange at the last minute once shortlisted.

How to Apply

1. Visit www.isro.gov.in between 27 August and 16 September 2026.
2. Register and note your Registration Number for future reference.
3. Fill in the online form — enter your email carefully, since hall tickets and call letters are sent only by email, not post or SMS.
4. Upload your photo and signature in the exact specified format and size.
5. Upload category/disability/Ex-servicemen certificates, where applicable.
6. Pay the ₹750 processing fee via Bharatkosh.
7. Review everything before final submission.

Submitting multiple applications for the same post doesn’t help your chances — only the one with a fee payment received within the deadline is considered; the rest are simply disregarded.

Important Instructions

• Appointees are liable to be posted at any ISRO Centre/Unit and transferred at any time based on organisational need — this isn’t a fixed-location role.
• ISRO reserves the absolute right not to fill posts at all, without needing to state a reason.
• Second-class train fare (shortest route) is reimbursed for the Interview only, not for the Written Test/CBT.
• False information in the online form bars a candidate from the interview and forfeits TA.
• All communication happens through your registered email or the ISRO website — check spam/junk folders regularly, since a missed hall ticket email has no other fallback channel mentioned.
• Legal jurisdiction for any dispute lies with Bangalore, Karnataka.
• Canvassing in any form leads to disqualification.
• ISRO explicitly warns candidates against fake appointment offers circulating in its name — a reminder worth taking seriously given how often recruitment-linked scams target applicants during active government hiring cycles.
• Where the Hindi and English versions of the notification conflict, English governs.

important links
Apply Online (ISRO SC 2026)	click here
Download Official Notification PDF	click here
Official Website	click here
firstjob24 jobs	click here
join whatsapp channel	click here
subscribe on youtube	click here

FAQs

Q1. My marksheet shows only a CGPA, no percentage. Can I convert it to check if I meet the 65% cutoff?
No. The notification requires the CGPA itself to independently meet 6.84/10 where no percentage is listed — conversion between CGPA and percentage isn’t permitted for eligibility purposes in either direction.

Q2. I cleared 50% in both the CBT and the Interview. Am I guaranteed a spot on the final panel?
Not necessarily. The final panel requires a 60% aggregate (50% for PwBD) across both stages combined, weighted 50-50. Scoring exactly at the 50% qualifying line in each stage yields only a 50% aggregate — short of the 60% actually needed.

Q3. I currently work at a PSU. Can I apply without informing my employer?
No. The notification requires applying with your employer’s knowledge and prior permission if you’re in Central/State Government, PSU, or Autonomous Body service, with the original NOC due at interview. Without it, you won’t be permitted to appear for the interview even if shortlisted.

Q4. If I pay the ₹750 fee but don’t appear for the Written Test/CBT, do I get anything refunded?
No. The refund — whether the full ₹750 for women/SC/ST/PwBD/Ex-servicemen or ₹500 for other candidates — is conditional on actually appearing for the Written Test/CBT.

Q5. When is the Written Test/CBT scheduled?
Not specified in this notification. ISRO hasn’t announced a date as of 6 September 2026 — candidates should watch the official website and their registered email for the hall ticket and exam date announcement.

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Disclaimer: All dates, vacancy figures, eligibility, fee, and selection process details above are drawn from ISRO’s official Advertisement No. ISRO:ICRB:03(EMC):2026 dated 27 August 2026. No figures are estimated. The Written Test/CBT date remains unannounced as of 6 September 2026 — check the official source for updates: www.isro.gov.in.