About the Indian Computing Olympiad

The Indian Computing Olympiad is a nationwide competition organized annually by IARCS. The goal of the competition is to identify school students with outstanding skills in algorithms and computer programming.

The Indian Computing Olympiad is used to select the team of four students to represent India at the International Olympiad for Informatics (IOI). IOI is one of the twelve international Science Olympiads held annually. Other prominent Science Olympiads include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Astronomy.

Eligibility Criteria

The Indian Computing Olympiad is open to all school students across the country, from any school board. Any student registered in school upto class 12 during the academic year 2025-2026 is eligible to take part in ICO during 2025-2026. There is no lower age limit for participation.
To participate, you must still be in school. If you have completed Class 12, you are no longer eligible, even if you have taken a break and are not enrolled in college, or if you are planning to redo your Class 12 exams for improvement.

Stages

The first round of the Indian Computing Olympiad is in two parts.

The Zonal Informatics Olympiad (ZIO) is a written exam held at centres across the country. ZIO-2026 will take place on 15 November, 2025.
The Zonal Computing Olympiad (ZCO) is a programming exam held at centres across the country. The programming languages supported are C++, Java and Python. ZCO-2025 was held on 1 December, 2024. The date for ZCO-2026 will be announced shortly.
Students can write either ZIO or ZCO or both and qualify through either exam for the second round.

The second round, the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics (INOI) involves programming. The only programming language allowed for INOI is C++. INOI-2025 was held on Sunday, 9 February, 2025. The date for INOI-2026 has yet to be fixed.

Approximately 30 students are selected from INOI for the IOI Training Camp (IOITC). IOITC-2025 was held during 8–14 June, 2025. The dates for IOITC-2026 have yet to be fixed.

IOI-2026 will take place in Uzbekistan.

Incentives for students

The following academic institutions in India have special admission procedures for ICO students. Please check directly with each institution about the eligibility criteria and procedure for applying.

Chennai Mathematical Institute offers direct admission to students who win gold/silver medals at INOI or are selected for IOITC in Class 11 or 12.
IIIT Delhi offers bonus points to students selected for INOI and IOITC.
IIIT Hyderabad offers admission via the Olympiad category to students selected for IOITC.
IIT Gandhinagar offers admission via the Olympiad category to students selected for IOITC.
IIT Kanpur offers admission via the Olympiad category to students selected for IOITC.
IIT Madras offers admission via the Olympiad category to students selected for IOITC.

The following international academic institutions have special admission procedures for IOI students. Please check directly with each institution about the eligibility criteria and procedure for applying.

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has a scholarship scheme for selected IOI and APIO medallists.
Nanyang Technical University (NTU), Singapore offers special consideration for IOI medallists.
National University of Singapore (NUS) offers special consideration for IOI medallists and INOI gold medallists.

Exam Details

ZIO-2026 on Sat, 15 Nov, 2025. Registrations open till Thu, 30 Oct, 2025.
ZCO-2026 will be held in December, 2025. Details will be announced shortly on their registered website.

Exam Centres

Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Bokaro Steel City, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Delhi NCR, Gwalior, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Kota, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Panaji, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Roorkee, Surat, Tiruchi, Trivandrum, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam

The address of the exam centre in each city will be announced after registrations close.

Click Here to know more - https://www.iarcs.org.in/inoi/

Individual Registration

To register, use this link.
The registration fee is Rs 472 (Rs 400 + GST), to be paid online (credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI). Transaction fees may be added by the registration portal, depending on the mode of payment.
You will need an Admit Card from IARCS to write ZIO-2026. Admit cards will be available approximately 5 days before the exam.
If you have any queries, please write to ico@iarcs.org.in.

NOTE - The candidate must keep themselves updated from the respective website.

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