Status: FCI has not released a new Assistant Grade III advertisement. The last real one was published on 30 August 2022 for 5,043 posts, and nothing has followed it. As on 24 September 2026, there is no application link, no vacancy figure and no exam date from the Food Corporation of India.
About the numbers you are seeing online
Search for this exam today and you will find pages announcing “27,345 vacancies” or “33,566 vacancies” for FCI. Those figures are not from FCI. They are estimates built from the gap between FCI’s sanctioned strength and the staff actually in post, and some of them mix Category II and Category III recruitment together.
The honest position: FCI does not recruit on a fixed calendar, the gap since 2022 is unusually long, and when an advertisement does come the vacancy count will be whatever FCI prints in it. The two numbers on record are 4,103 in 2019 and 5,043 in 2022. Plan against that range, not against a headline.
What FCI Assistant Grade III is
The Food Corporation of India was set up in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act, 1964. It buys wheat and rice from farmers at the Minimum Support Price, stores them, and moves them into the Public Distribution System. Assistant Grade III is the entry officer cadre that runs that machinery on the ground — in depots, district offices and regional offices.
There are four posts, and you apply to one:
- AG-III (General) — Post Code D
- AG-III (Accounts) — Post Code E
- AG-III (Technical) — Post Code F
- AG-III (Depot) — Post Code G
Recruitment is zone-wise — North, South, East, West and North-East — and each zone has its own vacancies and its own cut off. Which zone you choose matters as much as which post.
Why agriculture graduates should look at this one
The Technical post is an agriculture exam in everything but name. Its Paper 2 is Agriculture, Botany and Zoology, or Agriculture, Chemistry and Physics — the same ground a B.Sc Agriculture candidate already covers for IBPS AFO and the agriculture papers of NABARD Grade A. If you are preparing for those, FCI Technical is close to a free extra attempt, and the Technical cut off sits far from the General one because the applicant pool is much smaller.
A clean PDF of this page with the C4S header — it opens right away, and the link comes to your WhatsApp too.
Eligibility
Age
Minimum 18 for every post and category. Maximum 27 years for General, Depot, Accounts and Technical; 28 years for the AG-III (Hindi) post where it is advertised.
Age is reckoned as on the first day of the month in which the advertisement is published — in 2022 that was 1 August 2022. So the reference date moves with the advertisement; do not calculate from an old one. Standard relaxations apply for SC, ST, OBC (non-creamy layer), PwBD and ex-servicemen, as set out in the advertisement.
Qualification
| Post | Minimum qualification |
|---|---|
| General | Graduate degree in any discipline, with proficiency in the use of computers |
| Depot | Graduate degree in any discipline, with proficiency in the use of computers |
| Accounts | Bachelor of Commerce, with proficiency in the use of computers |
| Technical | B.Sc in Agriculture, Botany, Zoology, Bio-Technology, Bio-Chemistry, Microbiology or Food Science; or B.E./B.Tech in Food Science, Food Science and Technology, Agricultural Engineering or Bio-Technology |
Nationality
Indian citizen, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan.
How the selection works
Two stages, both online.
- Phase 1 — 100 questions, 100 marks, 60 minutes with sectional timing. Qualifying only; the marks do not enter the final merit.
- Phase 2 — Paper 1 for everyone (120 marks), plus Paper 2 (120 marks) for the Accounts and Technical posts only. Final selection for General and Depot is on Paper 1 alone; for Accounts and Technical it is Paper 1 plus Paper 2.
The shortlisting ratio from Phase 1 to Phase 2 has been roughly 1:15. Full detail is on the syllabus and exam pattern page.
When the advertisement comes
- It appears on fci.gov.in first, in the recruitment section. Apply only from there.
- Read the advertisement before you register — particularly the post and the zone, because both are locked once you submit, and for Technical you also lock Group A or Group B for Paper 2.
- Keep photograph, signature and the documents the advertisement specifies ready in the stated formats before you open the form.
- Pay the fee online and save the completed application and the receipt.
What to do while it is not out
A four-year gap is frustrating, but it cuts both ways: when the advertisement lands, the people who started that week will be four months behind the people who did not wait.
- Phase 1 and Phase 2 Paper 1 are bank-pattern papers — English, Reasoning, Numerical Aptitude, General Studies. That base does not go stale, and it carries into every other exam you might write in the meantime.
- General Studies and Current Affairs are the section people lose marks on, and they cannot be built in a hurry. Our daily current affairs and the daily quiz are free and take fifteen minutes.
- If you are going for Technical, keep the agriculture papers warm through IBPS AFO material — the overlap is large.
- Look at the cut off history to see what your zone and post actually demanded last time.
