Register by 28 October 2026. Phase I is on 17 November and Phase II on 22 December. You may apply for one discipline only — Legal or Generalist, not both.
National Insurance Company Limited is recruiting 321 Administrative Officers in Scale I, and 20 of them are Legal specialists. The notice is dated 7 October 2026. You need a law degree with 60% (55% for SC, ST and PwBD) and you must be 21 to 30 on 1 October 2026. No experience and no enrolment are required, so final-result law graduates can apply.
The headline this year is pay. Last year’s notice offered a starting basic of ₹50,925. This one offers ₹82,485, with total emoluments of about ₹1,14,000 a month in metro centres. Half the coverage still prints the old figures. And the bond attached to that salary is the part nobody is explaining.
The Legal posts at a glance
| Notice | Recruitment of 321 Administrative Officers (Generalists & Specialists) (Scale I), dated 07.10.2026. No advertisement number is printed |
| Legal posts | 20 — UR 10, OBC 5, SC 2, ST 1, EWS 2 |
| Qualification | Graduate or postgraduate in Law, 60% (55% for SC/ST/PwBD), result declared by 01.10.2026 |
| Experience | None required |
| Age | 21 to 30 on 01.10.2026 — born between 02.10.1996 and 01.10.2005 |
| Pay | Basic ₹82,485 in 82485–4050(14)–139185–4390(4)–156745; about ₹1,14,000 a month total in metros |
| Selection | Phase I (prelims) → Phase II (mains, including a 50-mark law paper) → interview. Final merit 80:20, mains to interview |
| Bond | Four years’ minimum service, backed by sureties for one year’s gross salary |
| Fee | ₹1,000; ₹250 for SC/ST/PwBD (both including GST) |
| Posting | Anywhere in India; minimum five years at the first posting |
| Apply | Online at ibpsreg.ibps.in/niiclsep26, 08.10.2026 to 28.10.2026 |
Read the notification
Open the notification on nationalinsurance.nic.co.in
Eligibility, as printed
Legal: “Graduate / Post Graduate in Law from a recognized University with at least 60% marks in either of the degree Examination (at least 55% for SC/ST/PwBD) candidates.”
Age: “Minimum Age: 21 years Maximum Age: 30 years, as on 01.10.2026 … a candidate must have been born not earlier than 02.10.1996 and not later than 01.10.2005 (both dates inclusive)”
- “Either of the degree Examination”. 60% in your LL.B. or your LL.M. is enough. An LL.B. at 58% with an LL.M. at 62% qualifies.
- The percentage is strict. It is the aggregate over all years or semesters, with fractions ignored. In the notice’s words, 59.99% “will be treated as less than 60%”. If your university awards a CGPA, you will need its certificate of conversion norms.
- PwBD candidates now get the 55% relaxation. That is new this year: the 2025 notice gave it to SC and ST only.
- Final-year students cannot apply. Your result must be out by 1 October 2026.
- No experience, no enrolment. “Bar Council” appears in the notice only as an acceptable photo ID.
Age relaxation
| Category | Relaxation |
|---|---|
| SC / ST | 5 years |
| OBC (non-creamy layer) | 3 years |
| PwBD — General/EWS; OBC; SC/ST | 10; 13; 15 years |
| Ex-servicemen, ECOs and SSCOs with at least five years’ military service | 5 years |
| Defence personnel disabled in operations | 3 years |
| Confirmed employees of public sector general insurance companies | 8 years |
Cumulative relaxation cannot take you past 45.
The exam: law is one section in six
This is the point that catches law graduates. The Legal stream sits the same bank-style preliminary as everyone else. The notice says Phase I is “applicable for all disciplines”.
| Stage | What Legal candidates sit | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I (60 min) | English 30, Reasoning 35, Quantitative Aptitude 35 — each 20 minutes, each with its own qualifying mark | 100 |
| Phase II (3 hrs objective + 30 min descriptive) | Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude, English, Computer Knowledge — 40 each; plus a professional knowledge test in law, 50 questions in 35 minutes | 250 |
| Descriptive English: essay, précis and comprehension, 10 marks each. Qualifying only | 30 | |
| Interview | Minimum qualifying mark set by the company | — |
| Final merit | Phase II objective and interview, weighted 80:20 | — |
Negative marking is a quarter of a question’s marks for each wrong answer. About 15 times the number of vacancies go through to Phase II — roughly 300 candidates for the 20 Legal posts.
What that means for your preparation: law is 50 of the 250 marks that decide your rank, and you will not reach that paper without clearing an aptitude prelim first. A strong law graduate who has never sat a bank exam should start with quantitative aptitude and reasoning, not with the Insurance Act. The notice publishes no syllabus for the law paper. Given the work, insurance and contract law, consumer protection and motor accident claims are the obvious places to start — that is our inference, not the notice’s.
The pay rise everyone is misreporting
| 2024 notice | 2025 notice | 2026 notice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal posts | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Starting basic | ₹50,925 | ₹50,925 | ₹82,485 |
| Stated metro emoluments | ~₹85,000 | ~₹90,000 | ~₹1,14,000 |
| 55% relaxation for | SC/ST | SC/ST | SC/ST/PwBD |
The jump comes from the pay revision for public sector general insurance officers. The Government approved it in January 2026, it was notified in February 2026, and it is effective from 1 August 2022. Basic pay has risen about 62%, but stated emoluments by only about 27% over 2025. The gap suggests much of the new basic is dearness allowance folded in rather than fresh money, so do not read it as a 62% rise in take-home pay.
Two more things about the ₹1,14,000:
- It is a gross figure for metropolitan centres. Several sites call it “in-hand”; it is before tax and your NPS contribution, and it is lower outside the metros.
- Benefits come on top: NPS, gratuity, leave travel subsidy, medical benefits, group personal accident cover, and company or leased accommodation “as per norms”.
The bond, in plain terms
The notice’s “Guarantee Bond” clause commits selected candidates “to serve the Company for a minimum period of four years including probation period”.
- Leave after probation but within four years: you pay liquidated damages equal to one year’s gross salary paid to you during the probation year, reduced in proportion to the service you have done.
- Security: a stamped bond executed by two sureties, who must not be blood relatives and must be “of sound financial standing”, for an amount equal to one year’s gross salary. At the metro figure, that is roughly ₹13.7 lakh — our estimate, not a figure in the notice.
- Leave, or are terminated, during probation: you repay the gross salary you received during your entire service, plus ₹25,000 towards training. That is the harshest term in the notice.
Probation is one year, extendable twice by six months. To be confirmed you must pass the non-life Licentiate examination of the Insurance Institute of India. If you fail within the extended probation, you are liable to be terminated — and termination during probation brings the full-repayment clause into play.
Specialists “may be required to continue in the same specialization for a minimum period of 10 years”, and the minimum stay at your first posting is five years, anywhere in India.
If you are also preparing for judicial service, do the arithmetic before you join. Leaving in the first year for a judicial post means repaying everything you were paid, plus ₹25,000. Leaving in years two to four means proportionate damages, against sureties you will have had to find. Clauses like this can be challenged, but you would be the one challenging them.
One discipline only — and the notice contradicts itself
A law graduate may be eligible for both the Legal and the Generalist streams. You must choose. The notice says “Candidate can apply for any ONE discipline only”, and then gives two different consequences for breaking the rule:
- Page 2: only the latest valid application is retained, and the fee paid for the others is forfeited.
- Page 21: “Applications made for more than one discipline will render all the applications of the candidate invalid.”
Do not test which one the company applies. Apply once.
On choosing: the Generalist stream has 200 posts and the Legal stream 20. But Legal candidates sit a law paper instead of a fifth general section, their Phase II pool is about 300, and the specialist route keeps you in legal work. If law is where you want to be, apply as Legal.
What the coverage gets wrong
| As reported | As printed |
|---|---|
| Pay scale “₹50,925 – 2500(2) – 55,925 – 2720(14) – 94,005”, gross “₹85,000–90,000” (PW Judiciary); “₹85,000 per month” (resultbharat); “around ₹90,000” (Testbook overview) | Basic ₹82,485 in 82485–4050(14)–139185–4390(4)–156745; about ₹1,14,000 in metros |
| “Enrollment as an Advocate with a State Bar Council is desirable” (PW Judiciary) | Not in the notice. No enrolment or experience is required |
| 55% relaxation for SC/ST only (adda247, PW, hellobanker, findmycollege) | SC/ST/PwBD |
| “LLB degree with at least 60%” (hellobanker) | Graduate or postgraduate in Law — 60% in either degree |
| ₹1,14,000 “in-hand” (adda247, careerpower) | Total emoluments, in metro centres, before deductions |
| Mains “5 sections × 50 marks” for all (adda247) | That is the Generalist pattern. Specialists sit five sections of 40 marks plus a 50-mark professional paper |
| Degree required by “1 May 2025” (ixambee) | Result by 01.10.2026. The 2025 date is left over from last year |
| Age counted “as on date of application” (Testbook FAQ) | 01.10.2026 |
| Application window “September 15–October 15, 2026”; “NICL AO Apprentice” (careers360) | 08.10.2026 to 28.10.2026; these are officer posts, not apprenticeships |
Credit where due: freejobalert reports the Legal split, eligibility, fee and exam pattern correctly.
Applying
- Check your percentage to two decimals, and your date of birth against 02.10.1996–01.10.2005 (plus any relaxation).
- Register at ibpsreg.ibps.in/niiclsep26 and choose Legal. Choose once.
- Pay ₹1,000 (₹250 for SC/ST/PwBD) online by 28 October 2026. The fee is not refundable or transferable to a later recruitment.
- Print your application. The IBPS page allows printing until 12 November 2026.
- Prepare for Phase I on 17 November — the aptitude paper, not the law paper, is the first gate.
Worth applying?
- Recent law graduates with 60% who want a salaried legal career: yes. A Scale I officer post at about ₹1.14 lakh a month in metros, with no experience required, is among the best entry-level legal jobs in the public sector this year.
- Lawyers aiming for the judiciary: read the bond section again. The four-year commitment and the probation repayment clause are real costs if you expect to leave early.
- Practising advocates under 30: this is regular, full-time employment. Rule 49 of the Bar Council of India Rules means you would have to intimate your State Bar Council and stop practising on joining.
- Under 60%: you are not eligible, however strong your practice. Check the aggregate before you pay.
Disclaimer: This post is prepared by Lawizard.in for information. It is not legal or career advice, and it is not an official communication of National Insurance Company Limited. NICL’s own copy of the notification could not be opened from our systems; the quotations are taken from copies of the same PDF dated 07.10.2026 republished by Testbook, Adda247 and ixambee, which agree with one another. The bond amount is our estimate from the stated metro emoluments. Figures for 2024 and 2025 are from NICL’s notices for those years. The notification alone is authoritative.
Sources: National Insurance Company Limited, Recruitment of 321 Administrative Officers (Scale I), dated 07.10.2026 (nationalinsurance.nic.co.in; read from the copy at Testbook); IBPS registration page (ibpsreg.ibps.in); NICL notice of 10.06.2025 (PDF) and of 29.12.2023 (PDF); PIB release on the PSGI wage revision (PIB); GIC Re statement of pay scales 2025-26 (PDF).
