What rank do you need for IAS, IPS?

Every year 10 lakh people apply for the UPSC Civil Services Exam.

But only a handful few get selected and then comes the most anticipated part: Service allocation.

What is service allocation?

From Prelims till the final PDF, the process of Civil Services Exam is conducted by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission).

But once this process is done, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) takes over. This is the government's HR department. This department then decides which service you will get based on:

1. Your rank.
2. Your service preference (filled before interview).
3. Your category (if applicable).
4. Your medical fitness.

Assuming that all the documents you've submitted so far have passed the scrutiny of DoPT. In case of documentary errors, you may not be allocated a service in the first iteration.

What does 1st Iteration mean?

It means that this is the 1st list.

There will be more lists that will come out going forward that the people who have cleared the exam need to pay attention to. Especially the people with * next to their allocated services (Nos. 77, 78, 79 in 1st column).

The * implies that these people can stand to get a service upgrade based on further revisions of the list.

Who gets a service upgrade?

1. They are the first person to be allocated the next service. If anyone above them is moved, they will be upgraded. Example: 1st IPS allottee after IAS.
2. Not all seats for the service have been allocated. In this case a few candidates may get upgraded. Example: vacancies for IAS were 160, but only 158 seats have been allocated based on reservation and other criteria.

How many iterations of service allocation are there?

Between the final result and the start of the training phase, DoPT can have as many as 5 iterations of service allocation.

Timeline for Service Allocation
May 2022 - Final result for UPSC CSE 2021 announced
Dec 2022 - Service training begins (LBSNAA phase)

The 1st iteration took almost 2 months, every further iteration will come out within 4-5 weeks from this one. All to ensure that FINAL SERVICE ALLOCATION has been completed before training starts in December.

What happen if you're not allocated a service?

Every year, a few people are not allocated a service. There can be multiple reasons for that:

1. Issues in eligibility docuements.
2. Issues in reservation claims (OBC, EWS, Disability etc.)
3. Medical fitness.

In all 3 cases, DoPT allows you to submit clarificatory documents or gives you time to become "fit for service".

However, it can still happen that you might end up not getting allocated a service. In case you're an OBC candidate who hasn't been allocated a service, reach out to us below.

What service do you get for what ranks?

The most important question.

We'll have a look at IAS, IPS, and IFS for this post.

For those interested in the rest of the services you can download the full PDF at the end of the post.

Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

Indian Police Service (IPS)

Indian Foreign Service (IFS)

Service Allocation by DoPT (PDF)

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