Indian National Chemistry Olympiad

The Indian National Chemistry Olympiad (INChO for short) is an Olympiad in Chemistry held in India.

The theory part of the INChO examination is held in end-January/beginning February of every year. It is conducted by the Indian Association of Chemistry Teachers. School students (usually of standards 11, 12) first need to qualify the National Standard Examination in Chemistry (NSEC) held in November of the preceding year. Among the 30,000+ students who sit for the NSEC, only the top 1% are selected for the INChO.

About 55 students are selected from the written examination. Selected students have to then give a practical examination. A total of 30 students is selected from these to attend the International Chemistry Olympiad Training Camp (IChOTC), held at HBCSE, Mumbai. The team for the International Chemistry Olympiad is selected based on a rigorous procedure of theory and practical examinations at the IChOTC.

Most of the students qualifying the INChO are those completing their twelfth standard. However, there have been some cases of students qualifying INChO at the end of eleventh standard itself.