Navy Tradesman Mate Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

One computer based paper serves every post in INCET, from Staff Nurse at Pay Level 7 down to Tradesman Mate at Level 1. The paper does not change with the post; the eligibility, the duties and the additional tests do.

Multiple choice, set in both English and Hindi except for the General English section. Ninety minutes for 100 questions works out at 54 seconds a question.

Qualifying marks

A floor, not a cut off. Selection is on relative merit.

Three things the paper does not contain

• No technical or trade paper. A Chargeman (Mechatronics) candidate and a Tradesman Mate candidate sit the same four sections. The technical qualification is an eligibility filter, not a syllabus.
• No stated negative marking. The advertisement sets out the section table, the qualifying marks, the tie break and the normalisation rule, and says nothing about a penalty for a wrong answer.
• No interview.

Normalisation, challenges and ties

Where the examination runs in multiple shifts, the Navy states that normalisation of scores may be carried out for variation in the difficulty of the papers. After the paper it opens an online window for comments on the question paper and the provisional answer key, announced on its website and the registration portal rather than notified individually.

Ties are broken on date of birth, older first, then on the alphabetical order of first names. No section is compared, so no section carries hidden extra weight.

The Navy publishes an indicative syllabus inside the advertisement, in two versions: one for the Group B (Non-Gazetted) posts and one for the Group C posts. The section names match; the scope differs. Tradesman Mate is Group C, the narrower of the two.

Which syllabus covers which post

General Intelligence, where the two differ most

Group C drops the verbal reasoning, the syllogisms and the statement-conclusion questions. Prepare from a Group B bank and you are studying material that will not appear.

General Awareness

Worded identically in both: general awareness of the environment and its application to society, current events, and matters of everyday observation and experience in their scientific aspects as may be expected of an educated person, with questions on India and its neighbouring countries especially Sports, History, Culture, Geography, Economic Scene, General Polity including the Indian Constitution, and Scientific Research. The Navy adds how deep to go: "These questions will be such that they do not require a special study of any discipline."

Quantitative Aptitude

Arithmetic, and nothing past it: number systems; computation of whole numbers, decimals and fractions and the relationship between numbers; fundamental arithmetical operations; percentages; ratio and proportion; averages; interest; profit and loss; discount; use of tables and graphs; mensuration; time and distance; ratio and time; time and work. No algebra, no trigonometry, no geometry. It is a closed syllabus and it can be finished.

English Language

A Group C candidate should read that as basic grammar and usage, not as the longer graduate list.

Age

Between 18 and 25 years, reckoned as on the closing date for receipt of online applications. Only the matriculation or SSC certificate, or a birth certificate issued by the concerned education board or competent authority is accepted as proof of date of birth.

Relaxation follows the extant Government of India rules: Ex-Servicemen; sportspersons at up to 5 years, and 10 years for SC and ST; departmental candidates with three years of continuous Central Government service, up to 5 years. No relaxation is given unless the category is filled in correctly on the form.

Educational qualification

Both are essential, and the trade has to be on the advertisement's own annexure. However relevant your trade seems, if it is not listed you are not eligible.

The 62 ITI trades that qualify

Welding runs to six varieties, the largest family on the list, which reflects what a naval dockyard does. The list is not confined to heavy trades either: COPA, Information Technology, Dress Making, Computer Aided Embroidery and Designing and Leather Goods Maker all qualify.

Nothing else is required. No trade test, no physical standard, no endurance, skill or proficiency test, no interview. The burden of checking is yours: merely fulfilling the basic selection criteria does not automatically entitle an applicant to be called for the online test, because the Navy shortlists from the applications received.

One paper, then verification. For Tradesman Mate there is nothing else.

No trade test

This surprises ITI holders. The advertisement provides additional tests only where a post needs one: a Physical Standard and Endurance Test for Fireman and Fire Engine Driver, a skill test for Civilian Motor Driver Ordinary Grade, a swimming test for Bhandari, a proficiency test for the Multi Tasking Staff (Non-Industrial) trades. Tradesman Mate is in none of those lists.

The choice that decides the competition

Vacancies are published Command by Command and you compete only against the candidates who chose the same one. In INCET-01/2025 that mattered enormously:

Two posts against seventy-six, and the choice cannot be changed after submission.

Verification and posting

At document verification the certificate examined most closely is the ITI certificate, which must be from a recognised institute and in a listed trade. The date and venue reach provisionally selected candidates by registered mobile and e-mail and by post, the only stage notified by post.

Selected candidates normally serve in the units under the administrative control of the respective Command, however they can be posted anywhere in India as per administrative requirement. The work is in a dockyard or naval establishment rather than an office.

Dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance are paid over the basic at the rates in force.

What "Industrial" means here

Fireman, Fire Engine Driver, Storekeeper and the Chargeman disciplines in the same advertisement are Non-Industrial. Tradesman Mate is Industrial, because the work is production and maintenance rather than administration, and service conditions in a defence industrial establishment follow from that.

Where Level 1 sits in this examination

The lowest pay level and the lowest educational bar in the examination, with the most vacancies: 117 in INCET-01/2025. It is a permanent Central Government post, and the Navy's Recruitment Rules set out the promotion channel from it.

Worth weighing against the Navy's own Agniveer entry, whose ₹30,000 monthly customised package is higher but runs four years with no pension and no gratuity, ending in a Seva Nidhi lump sum.

Online only, through joinindiannavy.gov.in. Applications sent any other way are not accepted.

The window, from INCET-01/2025

A fortnight is short, and the Navy advises paying the fee well before the last day.

Fee

Payment by net banking, Visa, Master or RuPay credit or debit card, or UPI. The admit card is issued only to candidates who have successfully paid the fee or are entitled to a waiver.

Two rules that end applications

• An application left incomplete because the fee was not received is rejected.
• No age relaxation is given unless the category is filled in correctly on the form. Apply as UR when entitled to relaxation and you do not get it back later.

Age, educational qualification and every other condition are determined as on the closing date for online registration.

The Indian Navy recruits its civilian staff itself. There is no commission and no outside agency between the candidate and the service.

The four Commands

The other routes into the same grades

INCET-01/2025 advertised more than thirty distinct posts, from Staff Nurse at Pay Level 7 to Tradesman Mate at Level 1. Applications go through joinindiannavy.gov.in; everything else is on the civilian personnel page.

INCET is a computer based examination and the Navy publishes no fixed list of centres with the advertisement.

Document verification is the only stage also notified by post. Everything else is electronic, which makes the mobile number and e-mail address on the form the administrative details to get right.

Where the job is, as opposed to where the paper is, follows the Command you applied against: Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi or Port Blair. Selected candidates normally serve in units under the administrative control of the respective Command but can be posted anywhere in India.

INCET-01/2025, the most recent full cycle

A cycle does not end when the result does

As at September 2026 the Navy's civilian personnel page was still publishing revised select lists and revised score and ranking documents for INCET-01/2023, three years on; provisional select lists, reserve list nominations and score documents for INCET-01/2024; and amended timelines for INCET-01/2025. Reserve list nominations run for years, so keep watching that page.

Running alongside is INCET (ABS-DEP), a separate advertisement for the same grades filled by deputation, short term contract, re-employment or absorption. Candidates not already in government service are not eligible for those, and individual Commands advertise their own recruitments separately again.

There is no public admit card download page for this examination. The Navy contacts candidates individually.

Except at document verification, the registered mobile and e-mail are the only channel, with no fallback. Keep both live for the length of the cycle, which can run for years.

Scribe and compensatory time

A candidate with a benchmark disability of 40 per cent or above in blindness, locomotor disability with both arms affected, or cerebral palsy may use a scribe. Compensatory time of 20 minutes per hour goes with that entitlement whether or not the scribe is used, which on a 90 minute paper is 30 extra minutes.

A candidate who knows where to look can find their own marks and rank. Everything sits on the Navy's civilian personnel page.

Provisional means provisional: appointment follows verification and a medical, and revised lists have appeared long after the original. A candidate on a reserve list should keep watching rather than treat the main list as the end.

A qualifying percentage is announced in advance; the actual scores appear afterwards. The mark that will take a post is never stated beforehand.

Clearing that is only the entry condition. Appointment is on relative merit, and the mark that actually takes a post is wherever the field and the vacancies put it.

No section wise minimum

One qualifying figure for the whole paper, none for the individual sections, and no section used in the tie break. So play to your strength: the Quantitative Aptitude syllabus is arithmetic only and can be finished.

Where the real numbers are

The Navy publishes Score and Ranking of the Candidates documents post by post and cycle by cycle, for candidates who consented under the DoP&T memorandum of 21 June 2016. They exist for INCET-01/2023 and INCET-01/2024 on the civilian personnel page, and they are the only authentic record of what a competitive score looks like.

Normalisation

Where the paper runs in multiple shifts, normalisation of scores may be carried out for variation in difficulty, so a published score is not necessarily a raw one.

1. Choose the Command with the vacancy table in front of you

Seventy-six against two, and the choice cannot be changed after submission. You normally serve under the Command you applied to, but can be posted anywhere in India.

2. Check your ITI trade against the annexure

The list of 62 is wider than the post's name suggests, taking in COPA, Information Technology and the textile trades alongside the six Welder varieties. If yours is not on it, you are not eligible.

3. Do not prepare your trade

There is no trade test. The paper is 100 general aptitude questions in 90 minutes, and the ITI certificate only gets you to it.

4. Use the Group C material, not SSC CGL

Group C reasoning is non-verbal only and Group C English is the basics. A candidate working through a Group B or CGL bank is practising verbal analogies and syllogisms that will not appear. SSC MTS level material is the closer fit.

5. Finish arithmetic, and leave General Awareness alone

Quantitative Aptitude here is arithmetic with no algebra, trigonometry or geometry, so 25 marks come from a syllabus you can actually complete. The Navy's own line about General Awareness tells you how far to take it: "These questions will be such that they do not require a special study of any discipline."

6. Play the total, not the sections

There is no section wise pass mark and no section in the tie break. At 54 seconds a question the clock is manageable, so spend the time converting half-solved questions rather than abandoning them.

Practise from SSC MTS level material

It is the nearest public equivalent: non-verbal reasoning, basic English, arithmetic-only quantitative aptitude, general awareness. Drop anything with algebra, trigonometry, geometry or syllogisms, and mark practice papers as a single total.

And the administrative points

• Keep the ITI certificate ready. It is the document checked hardest at verification.
• Fill your category in correctly. No age relaxation without it.
• Pay the fee early. The window is about a fortnight and an unpaid application is rejected.
• Watch the absorption route too if you are already in government service.

No sample or previous year papers are published for INCET. After each cycle the Navy posts a Notice: Candidates View QP on its civilian personnel page, as it did for INCET-01/2023 and INCET-01/2024, and the indicative syllabus sits inside the advertisement. Practice advice is under Preparation Tips.

Applying

• Join Indian Navy, the application portal. Applications are accepted here and nowhere else
• Join Indian Navy: Civilian entry, which links the live civilian recruitments

The advertisement and the rules

• Advertisement for INCET-01/2025, 49 pages, the source for everything on this listing
• Recruitment Rules and Revised Recruitment Rules for civilian posts
• Standard Operating Procedure for direct recruitment of civilians

Results, select lists and marks

• Indian Navy, Civilian personnel: advertisements, select lists, reserve list nominations, score and ranking documents, Command level notices
• Provisional Select List, INCET-01/2024
• Notice: candidates may view the question paper, INCET-01/2024

The Navy itself

• Indian Navy
• Basic organisation, which sets out the Commands you apply to

What qualification do I need?

Two things, both essential: a 10th standard pass from a recognised Board or Institution, and a certificate from a recognised Industrial Training Institute in the relevant trade. The advertisement names the 62 qualifying trades in an annexure.

Which ITI trades qualify?

Sixty-two, from Fitter, Turner, Machinist and Welder in six varieties through the marine, electrical and building trades to COPA, Information Technology and the textile trades. The full list is under Eligibility Criteria.

What is the age limit?

18 to 25 years, as on the closing date for online applications. Only the matriculation or SSC certificate, or a birth certificate from the education board or competent authority, is accepted as proof.

What will I be paid?

Pay Level 1, ₹18,000 to ₹56,900, plus dearness, house rent and transport allowances at the rates in force.

What does "Industrial" mean?

That the work is in production and maintenance rather than administration. Fireman, Storekeeper and the Chargeman grades in the same advertisement are Non-Industrial; this post is not.

What does a Tradesman Mate actually do?

Two kinds of work: production or maintenance of a shop, ship or submarine, and multi tasking duties from carrying files and dak to watch and ward, cleaning and the upkeep of parks and lawns.

Is there a trade test?

No. Physical, skill, swimming and proficiency tests exist in this advertisement for other posts. Tradesman Mate is in none of those lists.

What is the written examination?

100 questions in 90 minutes, four sections of 25. Multiple choice, in English and Hindi except the General English section. Qualifying marks are 35 per cent for UR, 30 for OBC and EWS, 25 for other categories, on the whole paper, with no section wise minimum.

Which syllabus applies to me?

The Group C one. Its General Intelligence section is non-verbal only and its English requirement is the basics. The Group B syllabus used for the Chargeman disciplines adds verbal analogies, statement conclusion, syllogisms and the full graduate English list, and none of that appears in your paper.

Is there negative marking?

The advertisement does not state one. It gives the section table, the qualifying marks, the tie break and a normalisation rule, and says nothing about a penalty.

How many vacancies are there?

117 in INCET-01/2025, the largest single recruitment in that examination: 76 at Eastern, 32 at Western, 7 at Andaman and Nicobar and 2 at Southern, with 10 earmarked for Ex-Servicemen.

Does it matter which Command I apply to?

More than anything else on the form. The merit list is drawn from candidates who chose the same Command, the choice cannot be changed after submission, and nobody is reallocated.

Where will I be posted?

Normally in units under the Command you applied to, however you can be posted anywhere in India as per administrative requirement.

How much does it cost to apply?

₹295 excluding taxes and charges, paid online by net banking, card or UPI. Nil for all women candidates, and for SC, ST, PwBD and Ex-Servicemen candidates.

Is there another way in?

Yes. Some Tradesman Mate posts are filled by absorption, advertised by the Commands separately from INCET, for candidates already in government service.