PSU Recruitment Through GATE EE 2026–27: Official Vacancies and Cut-offs

Many Electrical graduates sit GATE for a public-sector job, and coaching pages publish long lists of “PSUs recruiting through GATE”. The official documents tell a narrower story. As of 25 September 2026, only three PSUs used GATE 2026 to recruit Electrical graduates — NPCIL, GAIL and POWERGRID — and only NPCIL had finished and published cut-offs. NTPC, Grid-India, DVC and NHPC recruited on GATE 2025 (NHPC also accepted 2024), and NTPC, POWERGRID and Grid-India have already advertised recruitments through GATE 2027. BHEL, IOCL and HPCL now select through their own computer-based tests. This guide sets out each recruitment document by document.

Official PSU advertisements and notices (sources below).

NPCIL’s Executive Trainee 2026 advertisement accepted a GATE score from 2024, 2025 or 2026, weighted equally, and offered 65 Electrical posts (UR 25, EWS 6, SC 10, ST 5, OBC 19). Candidates needed 60% in their degree, and the age limit on 30 April 2026 was 26 for General and EWS, 29 for OBC and 31 for SC/ST. The GATE score was used only to shortlist, at 12 candidates per post: “no weightage will be given to GATE score during the final selection”. The interview decided the rest, with qualifying marks of 70% (UR) and 60% (others). Trainees receive a ₹74,000 monthly stipend and ₹30,000 book allowance, then join as Scientific Officer/C at Level 10 (₹56,100), with a ₹9,18,000 bond for three years’ service.

POWERGRID’s ET-2026 advertisement (27.09.2025) takes GATE 2026 only, with a final score of 85% GATE (normalised marks out of 100), 3% group discussion and 12% interview, a 60% degree requirement and an age limit of 28. Pay during training is ₹40,000 basic (about ₹11 lakh CTC), rising to about ₹22.5 lakh CTC on absorption at E2, with a ₹5 lakh bond (₹2.5 lakh for SC/ST/PwBD). As of 25 September 2026 the vacancies and application window for GATE 2026 had not been notified — POWERGRID’s notice of 6 April 2026 said the detailed notification “shall be issued shortly” — and on 24 September 2026 it advertised ET-2027 through GATE 2027. The previous cycle shows what the numbers look like:

NTPC recruited 165 Electrical engineers (UR 80, EWS 7, OBC 48, SC 20, ST 10) through GATE 2025 under advertisement 14/24, applications 11–25 February 2026. It required 65% (55% for SC/ST/PwBD) and an age limit of 27, and selected by shortlisting on GATE 2025 for document verification followed by an offer — the advertisement mentions no group discussion or interview. Pay is ₹40,000–1,40,000 (E1), with a ₹5 lakh bond. NTPC published its cut-offs as All India Ranks, and they moved as lists were re-issued:

NTPC has no GATE-2026 Electrical recruitment: its next advertisement, Ad 11/26, goes to GATE 2027. A GATE 2025 AIR of 873 corresponds to a score in roughly the 600–700 band on that year’s official table (ranks 433–1,096) — see our marks-vs-rank guide for what that means in marks.

Grid-India’s next cycle is already out: advertisement CC/26/2026 (16 September 2026) recruits through GATE 2027, with 37 Electrical posts (UR 16, OBC 10, SC 6, ST 2, EWS 3) and a ₹5 lakh bond.

The cut-offs above are on three different scales: normalised GATE marks out of 100 (POWERGRID, Grid-India, NHPC, DVC), GATE score out of 1000 (NPCIL) and All India Rank (NTPC). They cannot be compared with each other directly. Three further cautions: several were first-stage shortlisting cut-offs, not final selection; many moved as wait-lists were used; and special recruitment drives (NHPC, DVC) were open only to reserved categories. A candidate targeting PSUs should aim at the scale and stage of the PSU they want, and remember that most GATE-based PSU recruitments in 2026 went to GATE 2025 holders.