Updates as of September 22, 2026
No FCI Assistant Grade III notification has been issued. Testbook's news page, updated 31 August 2026, states that at present no official notification has been issued and the application process is yet to begin, and notes that the widely predicted release in the first or second week of August 2026 came and went without an announcement.
Testbook News (coaching site, as reported)The two largest circulating vacancy estimates do not agree with each other. Careers360 puts the expected total at 33,566 posts across Assistant Grade III, Manager, Junior Engineer, Stenographer Grade-II, Typist and Watchman. Careerpower puts the expected total at 27,345 across a similar spread of posts. Both are labelled expected. Neither figure comes from Food Corporation of India.
Careers360 (coaching site, as reported)FCI is recruiting for other posts in the meantime, which is a reason to watch the portal rather than assume a freeze. Careers360 records a Company Secretary and Compliance Officer notification dated 10 April 2026 with an application deadline of 20 May 2026, the only firm 2026 recruitment date on its FCI timeline.
Careers360 (coaching site, as reported)The last completed Assistant Grade III cycle is the benchmark. Testbook records applications open from 6 September 2022 to 5 October 2022, Phase I held on 1, 7, 14, 21 and 29 January 2023, Phase II on 5 March 2023, and 4,907 vacancies split North Zone 2,315, South 976, East 751, West 697 and North East 168.
Testbook FCI Grade 3 (coaching site, as reported)Careerpower reports the application fee at Rs 500 for UR, OBC and EWS applicants with exemption for SC, ST, PwD and women, and the Assistant Grade III pay scale at Rs 28,200 to Rs 79,200, against Rs 34,000 to Rs 1,03,400 for the Junior Engineer posts advertised in the same drives.
Careerpower (coaching site, as reported)The four Assistant Grade III streams at a glance
| Stream | Degree required | Second-stage paper |
|---|---|---|
| AG-III General | Graduation in any subject, with computer proficiency | General Phase II paper only, no subject paper reported |
| AG-III Depot | Graduation in any subject, with computer proficiency | General Phase II paper; sources disagree on whether a Depot subject paper is set |
| AG-III Technical | B.Sc in Agriculture, or B.Tech in Food Technology, Biotechnology or Agricultural Engineering | Technical paper on food grain storage and agriculture |
| AG-III Accounts | Bachelor's with Accounts, B.Com, or CA Intermediate | Advanced accounting paper |
| All streams, Phase I | Common qualifying test, four sections of 25 questions: English, Reasoning, Numerical Ability, General Studies | 100 questions, 100 marks, negative marking of 0.25, marks not carried into the final merit |
Every row here is drawn from coaching sites describing the last completed cycle, because FCI has not published a current notification. The two most detailed sources conflict on Phase II: Careerpower describes a Paper-I of 120 questions and 120 marks in 90 minutes followed by a stream paper of 60 questions and 120 marks in 60 minutes, while ExamDetail describes a single 100-mark stream paper of 60 minutes and says General and Depot candidates sit Phase I only. Do not plan a Phase II strategy on either until the notification settles it.
Dates and windows
| What | When | Status |
|---|---|---|
| FCI Assistant Grade III notification | Not issued as of 22 September 2026 | Tentative |
| Testbook status check on the notification | 31 August 2026: no official notification issued, application process yet to begin | Confirmed |
| Predicted release that did not happen | First or second week of August 2026 | Closed |
| Application window, last completed cycle | 6 September 2022 to 5 October 2022 | Closed |
| Phase I, last completed cycle | 1, 7, 14, 21 and 29 January 2023 | Closed |
| Phase II, last completed cycle | 5 March 2023 | Closed |
| FCI Company Secretary and Compliance Officer notification | 10 April 2026, applications to 20 May 2026 | Closed |
The only dated 2026 recruitment event any source attributes to FCI is the Company Secretary notification. Everything else on the Assistant Grade III calendar is either historic or an estimate, and no source consulted gives an official expected date for the notification.
What this means for your preparation
The single thing candidates get wrong here is treating the expected vacancy figure as a fact. Careers360 says 33,566 and Careerpower says 27,345, both labelled expected, while the last cycle FCI actually ran notified 4,907 Assistant Grade III posts across five zones. A forecast that is five to seven times the last real number is a forecast, not a plan, and building a two-year preparation schedule around it is a bet.
Choose your stream before you choose your books
Assistant Grade III is four different recruitments sharing one application. General and Depot take graduates of any discipline. Accounts requires a Bachelor's degree with Accounts as a subject, a B.Com, or CA Intermediate. Technical requires a B.Sc in Agriculture or a B.Tech in Food Technology, Biotechnology or Agricultural Engineering. The eligibility rule is not a preference: a general graduate cannot apply to Technical however well prepared, and an agriculture graduate applying to General forfeits the advantage of a subject paper in which their degree is the syllabus. Decide which stream you are eligible for first, because the second-stage paper you must prepare follows directly from that choice and nothing else.
Phase I is a gate, not a score
Both detailed sources agree that Phase I is a qualifying test whose marks are not carried into the final merit. It is a 100-question, 100-mark paper of four equal sections, English Language, Reasoning Ability, Quantitative Aptitude and General Studies or Technical Awareness, with 0.25 deducted for each wrong answer. That structure rewards a different behaviour from a scoring paper. You need to clear a threshold comfortably, not to maximise; attempting marginal questions under a quarter-mark penalty in order to build a cushion that is then discarded is pure downside. Aim for a clean, high-accuracy attempt across all four sections rather than a heroic one.
The Depot stream is where the sources disagree
ExamDetail states that Depot and General candidates complete Phase I only, while Careerpower's structure gives every stream a Phase II Paper-I of 120 questions and a stream-specific Paper-II. These cannot both be right, and the difference decides whether a Depot aspirant needs a second-stage syllabus at all. Until the notification resolves it, the safe reading is Careerpower's, because it is the more demanding of the two and preparing for a paper that turns out not to exist costs less than the reverse. Read the scheme of examination in the advertisement itself on the day it appears, before signing up for any course built on a predicted pattern.
Zone choice is a real strategic decision
FCI recruits and posts zone-wise across North, South, East, West and North East, and candidates apply against a zone. The last cycle's distribution shows how uneven that is: North Zone carried 2,315 of 4,907 posts while North East carried 168. A larger zone offers more posts but draws a correspondingly larger field, and cut-offs are computed within the zone, so the arithmetic does not simplify to picking the biggest number. Weigh the vacancy count in your zone against where you are genuinely willing to be posted, because the posting follows the zone you applied under and the choice is not usually revisable later.
Use the wait, and watch the right page
The gap since the 2022 advertisement is long by FCI standards, and the practical risk of a long wait is that candidates drift or over-buy predicted material. Two things are worth doing now. The first is the eligibility paperwork: degree validation, category certificates and the computer proficiency evidence that General and Depot applicants need, all of which take longer than candidates expect once a four-week application window opens. The second is to watch the FCI recruitment portal itself rather than an aggregator's countdown; the Company Secretary notification of 10 April 2026 shows the corporation does publish there when it recruits.
Common questions
Has the FCI Assistant Grade III 2026 notification been released?
No. Testbook's news page, updated 31 August 2026, states that at present no official notification has been issued and the application process is yet to begin. It also records that the notification had been anticipated in the first or second week of August 2026 and that the date passed without an announcement. Careers360 likewise says the corporation will soon release the notification. As of 22 September 2026 no source consulted points to a published Assistant Grade III advertisement.
How many FCI Assistant Grade III vacancies are expected in 2026?
There is no official number. Careers360 expects 33,566 posts across all FCI categories and Careerpower expects 27,345, both explicitly labelled as expected rather than notified, and both spanning Assistant Grade III alongside Manager, Junior Engineer, Stenographer Grade-II, Typist and Watchman. Testbook's own indicative split gives Assistant Grade III roughly 3,500 to 5,000 General, 4,000 to 6,000 Depot, 2,000 to 3,000 Technical and 1,000 to 1,500 Accounts. For comparison, the last completed cycle notified 4,907 Assistant Grade III posts.
What is the difference between FCI AG-III General, Depot, Technical and Accounts?
They differ in eligibility and in the second-stage paper. General and Depot take graduates in any subject with computer proficiency, and are the clerical and storage-operations streams. Accounts requires a Bachelor's degree with Accounts, a B.Com or CA Intermediate, and sets an advanced accounting paper. Technical requires a B.Sc in Agriculture or a B.Tech in Food Technology, Biotechnology or Agricultural Engineering, and sets a paper on food grain storage and agriculture. All four sit the same common Phase I qualifying test of 100 questions.
Is the FCI Phase I exam counted in the final merit?
No, on the pattern used in the last cycle. Careerpower describes Phase I as qualifying only, with marks not counted in the final merit, and the same qualifying character is reflected in ExamDetail's account. The paper carries 100 questions for 100 marks across English Language, Reasoning Ability, Quantitative Aptitude and General Studies or Technical Awareness, 25 questions each, with a deduction of 0.25 for each wrong answer. The final merit is built from Phase II. Confirm this in the scheme of examination when the notification appears.
When was the last FCI Assistant Grade III exam held?
The last completed cycle ran from an application window of 6 September 2022 to 5 October 2022. Testbook records Phase I on 1, 7, 14, 21 and 29 January 2023 across multiple sittings, and Phase II on 5 March 2023, against 4,907 vacancies distributed North Zone 2,315, South Zone 976, East Zone 751, West Zone 697 and North East Zone 168. ExamDetail describes the same cycle as a December 2022 notification for 5,043 vacancies, so the two accounts differ slightly on the count.
What is the FCI Assistant Grade III salary and application fee?
Careerpower reports the Assistant Grade III pay scale as Rs 28,200 to Rs 79,200, with Junior Engineer posts in the same drives at Rs 34,000 to Rs 1,03,400. ExamDetail estimates a starting gross of roughly Rs 45,000 to Rs 55,000 a month on that scale once allowances are included, which is an estimate rather than a published figure. The application fee is reported at Rs 500 for UR, OBC and EWS applicants, with exemption for SC, ST, PwD and women. All of these are coaching-site figures pending the notification.
