The eligibility norms for the examination are as follows:

Nationality

• For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
• For the Indian Revenue Service, a candidate must be one of the following:
  • A citizen of India
  • A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India
• For other services, a candidate must be one of the following:
  • A citizen of India
  • A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
  • A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India

Education

All candidates must have a minimum of any of the following educational qualifications:

• A degree from a Central, State or Deemed university
• A degree received through Correspondence Education or Distance
• A degree from an Open University
• A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to either of the above.The following candidates are also eligible, but have to submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam.
• Candidates who have appeared in an examination, the passing of which would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy any of the above points
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but have not yet completed their internship
• Candidates who have passed the Final exam of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI), ICSI and ICWAI
• A degree from a private university
• A degree from any foreign university recognized by Association of Indian Universities (AIU) .....

Age limit

Upper age limit relaxation is provided to certain candidates who are backward with respect to other factors and physically handicapped people.

Numbers of attempts

However these candidates are requested to bear in mind:

• An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be considered to be an attempt at the Examination.
• If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.
• Not withstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.
• Candidates just applied but not appeared at the exam is not an attempt.

The number of attempts a candidate can give the exam is limited as follows:

• General Category Candidates and OBC Category Candidates under the Creamy layer = 6 attempts
• OBC Category Candidates = 9 attempts
• SC/ST Candidates = no attempt counts

VACANCIES

Generally the number of vacancies varies every year.

SELECTION

• In the preliminary examination, the number of candidate selected for the mains is 11 or 12 times the number of vacancies and in case of the main examination, the number of candidates selected for the interview is twice the number of vacancies.
• As per existing policies, reservation for SC/ST/OBC is applied to each level of the selection process.