Indian Administrative Service

The Indian Administrative Service: an All India Service under the 1951 Act, its three recruitment routes, cadre rules, LBSNAA training and posts by pay level.

Updated 3 October 2026

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is one of the three All India Services, a civil service recruited by the Union under the All India Services Act, 1951, allotted to a State or Joint cadre for a career, and staffing the senior administrative posts of both the State Governments and the Central Government. Article 312(2) of the Constitution deems it a service created by Parliament, and the Department of Personnel and Training is its cadre controlling authority.

The IAS sits between two levels of government by design. The Centre recruits, allocates, fixes cadre strength and sets pay; the State posts the officer to cadre posts, pays the officer while in its service and may start disciplinary proceedings for conduct in its service. An officer typically moves between the two on central deputation and back. As on 1 January 2026 the service had 5,755 officers in position against an authorised strength of 7,026, according to the IAS e-Civil List 2026.

This article covers the service as an institution: its legal basis and history, the three methods of recruitment and the promotion ceiling, the composition of the service, the cadre rules, the posts held at each pay matrix level, training and the mid-career programme that gates promotion, the rules that govern conduct, and how the IAS differs from the other services. Pay, in-hand salary, pension and retirement are worked through on the IAS salary page.

Legal basis

The IAS rests on three instruments, each doing a different job.

Instrument	What it does for the IAS
Article 312(2), Constitution of India	Deems the services known at the commencement of the Constitution as the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service to be services created by Parliament
Section 2, All India Services Act, 1951	Defines an All India Service as the IAS, the IPS, or a service specified in section 2A
Section 3(1), All India Services Act, 1951	Empowers the Central Government, after consulting the State Governments, to make rules regulating recruitment and conditions of service

Every IAS rule set rests on section 3(1); the IAS (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1955 are made under rule 4(1) of the Cadre Rules and the IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955 under rule 8(1) of the Recruitment Rules. The instruments that structure the service are the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, the IAS (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1955, the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954, the IAS (Regulation of Seniority) Rules, 1987 and the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016, G.S.R. 870(E) dated 8 September 2016. The CCS rules that govern a central civil servant do not apply to an IAS officer.

From the Indian Civil Service to the IAS

The IAS replaced the Indian Civil Service (ICS) at Independence. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, in a backgrounder carried by the Press Information Bureau on 26 January 2022, states that the IAS “was constituted in 1946”. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel told the Constituent Assembly on 10 October 1949, “We have started a training school here in India: we have fixed the cadre”, adding that the proposals had been approved by the Provinces.

Paragraph 5.2 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25 gives the position at the initial constitution of the service in 1951 as an authorised strength of 1,232 and 957 officers in position, 336 of them former ICS officers. The two documents use the word differently: the backgrounder dates the decision to form the service, the Annual Report the first cadre count under the 1951 Act. Article 312(2) had already carried the service across on 26 January 1950 by deeming, with no Rajya Sabha resolution, which is the route Article 312(1) prescribes for any new All India Service. The 1951 Act then supplied the rule-making power under which the 1954 Recruitment and Cadre Rules were made.

Training moved to Mussoorie in 1959. According to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration and paragraph 8.1.2 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25, Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant announced in the Lok Sabha on 15 April 1958 that a National Academy of Administration would be set up, and the Ministry of Home Affairs decided to amalgamate the IAS Training School, Delhi and the IAS Staff College, Shimla; training at Metcalfe House in Delhi ended on 1 September 1959, and the National Academy of Administration opened in Mussoorie that year. It was renamed the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration in October 1972 and took its present name, with “National”, in July 1973.

Three methods of recruitment

Rule 4(1) of the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, as substituted by DoPT Notification No. 14015/51/96-AIS(I) dated 31 December 1997 (G.S.R. 729(E)), sets out the methods:

Clause	Method	Entry grade (rule 6)	Governing regulations
4(1)(a)	Competitive examination	Junior Time Scale, rule 6(2)	Civil Services Examination Rules, notified annually
4(1)(b)	Promotion of a substantive member of a State Civil Service	Senior Time Scale, rule 6(3)	IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955
4(1)(c)	Selection, in special cases, of persons holding gazetted State posts substantively who are not State Civil Service members	Senior Time Scale, rule 6(3)	IAS (Appointment by Selection) Regulations, 1997

Rule 4(2)(a) leaves the method for a vacancy to the Central Government in consultation with the Union Public Service Commission and the State concerned; rule 4(2)(b) leaves the number to be recruited by each method to the Central Government in consultation with the State alone. Rule 4(3), introduced by MHA Notification No. 17/4/56-AIS(III) dated 14 May 1956, lets the Centre adopt other methods by regulation “if in the opinion of the Central Government the exigencies of the service so require”.

Direct recruitment. The examination is the Civil Services Examination, conducted by the UPSC under rules notified each year by DoPT. A written reply in the Lok Sabha on 25 March 2026, reproduced in PIB release 2244918, records 180 IAS recruits in each examination year since 2012. A direct recruit serves two years on probation under the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954.

Promotion from a State Civil Service. Regulation 5(2) of the IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955 makes eligible a substantive member of the State Civil Service with “not less than eight years of continuous service” as Deputy Collector or in an equivalent post on 1 January of the year of selection, and regulation 5(3) excludes those who have reached 56 on that date, the limit DoPT raised from 54 by the amendment notifications of 17 March 2015, effective from the Select List of 2015 (DoPT OM F. No. 14015/30/2015-AIS-I dated 20 March 2015). A Selection Committee constituted under regulation 3 and chaired by the Chairman of the UPSC, or a Member in his place, considers a zone of three times the number of vacancies under regulation 5(2) and grades each officer Outstanding, Very Good, Good or Unfit under regulation 5(4). The DoPT text read here incorporates amendments to 31 January 2005 and G.S.R. 605(E) of 4 September 2025; amendments of 17 March 2015 (G.S.R. 196(E)) and 9 March 2022 (G.S.R. 180(E)) are listed but not printed in it, so its regulation 5(3) still reads 54.

Selection of non-State Civil Service officers. The IAS (Appointment by Selection) Regulations, 1997, in force from 1 January 1998, use the same committee and require eight years of continuous service in a post equivalent to Deputy Collector, an age limit of 56 under the first proviso to regulation 4(1)(iii) as amended on 17 March 2015, and “scrutiny of service records and personal interview”.

The promotion ceiling in rule 9

Rule 9(1) of the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 caps the officers recruited under rule 8, by promotion and selection together, at 33 1/3% of the senior posts under the State Government, the Central Deputation Reserve, the State Deputation Reserve and the Training Reserve in that State’s schedule to the IAS (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1955; the leave and junior posts reserves are outside that base. The proviso caps those recruited by selection under rule 8(2) at 15% of the number recruited under rule 8. The Explanation ignores fractions. Both figures are as printed in the DoPT compilation, last footnoted to G.S.R. 729(E) of 31 December 1997.

The 15% is a share of the promotion pool, not of the cadre. In a State whose senior posts and listed reserves total 300, rule 9(1) allows up to 100 officers recruited under rule 8, and the proviso allows up to 15 of those 100 to be non-State Civil Service selectees.

The quota is not filled at the rate the rules allow. Paragraph 5.14 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25 records 1,555 officers in position against 2,077 promotion and selection posts on 1 January 2024, and 138 appointments made by 31 December 2024.

Composition of the service

The latest published split between the two quotas is as on 1 January 2020, from a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 24 March 2021 (PIB release 1707273).

As on 1 January 2020	Authorised	In position	Shortfall
Direct recruitment quota	4,661	3,719	942
Promotion quota	2,054	1,486	568
Total	6,715	5,205	1,510

Source: Lok Sabha reply, 24 March 2021, PIB release 1707273; the shortfall column is the Vacancy column as printed in the reply.

Direct recruitment posts were 69.4% of authorised strength. Later totals exist without the split: 6,877 authorised and 5,577 in position on 1 January 2025 (Rajya Sabha reply, PIB release 2226914 of 12 February 2026; paragraph 5.2 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25 prints 5,578 in position for the same date), and 7,026 and 5,755 on 1 January 2026 (IAS e-Civil List 2026, released 22 June 2026). The two totals are a year apart and come from different sources, so the 2026 shortfall of 1,271 and the 2025 shortfall of 1,300 are not a measured trend.

Strength of the service since 1951

In every year that paragraph 5.2 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25 prints, officers in position are below authorised strength. The paragraph gives the figures on 1 January at ten-year intervals from 1951 to 1991 and for every year from 2001 to 2025.

1 January	Authorised strength	In position	Shortfall	Shortfall as share of authorised
1951	1,232	957, including 336 ICS officers	275	22.3%
1961	1,862	1,722, including 215 ICS officers	140	7.5%
1971	3,203	2,754, including 88 ICS officers	449	14.0%
1981	4,599	3,883	716	15.6%
1991	5,334	4,881	453	8.5%
2001	5,159	5,118	41	0.8%
2012	6,154	4,377	1,777	28.9%
2021	6,746	5,231	1,515	22.5%
2025	6,877	5,578	1,299	18.9%

Source: DoPT Annual Report 2024-25, paragraph 5.2. Shortfall columns computed by salary-calculator.in.

Two movements explain most of the table. Authorised strength was cut between 1991 and 2001 and then held at 5,159 from 2001 to 2004, while officers in position fell from 5,118 in 2001 to 4,377 in 2012, rising only in 2006 and 2008 along the way, the widest gap in the series. From 2012 the intake has been 180 direct recruits a year, according to the Lok Sabha reply of 25 March 2026, and officers in position rose in most years after that, to 5,578 by 2025; the reply does not attribute the rise to the intake. The last ICS officers appear in the 1971 row, 88 of them, and the table carries no ICS count after that.

Cadres, postings and tenure

Every IAS officer belongs to one cadre. Rule 3 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 constitutes a State Cadre for each State or a Joint Cadre for a group, and rule 5(1) makes allocation the Central Government’s decision “in consultation with the State Government or the State Government concerned”. From the 2026 examination, allocation of direct recruits follows the four-group cadre allocation policy in DoPT OM No. 13013/01/2024-AIS-I dated 23 January 2026.

The size of each cadre is fixed in its schedule to the 1955 Fixation of Cadre Strength Regulations and re-examined ordinarily every five years under rule 4(2) of the Cadre Rules; the cadre review article sets out the formula, including the Central Deputation Reserve ceiling of 40% of Senior Duty Posts.

Rule 7 hands the posting decision to the State: appointments to cadre posts are made “in the case of a State Cadre, by the State Govt.” and in a Joint Cadre by the State concerned. Rule 7(c) adds a tenure protection. The Centre, consulting the State, may fix the tenure of cadre posts; an officer holding such a post serves the minimum tenure except on promotion, retirement, deputation outside the State or training exceeding two months; and an earlier transfer needs the recommendation of a Committee on Minimum Tenure. The Schedule to the Cadre Rules makes the Chief Secretary its chairman and lets a State entrust the work to a Civil Services Board.

Movement to the Centre runs on rule 6(1). A cadre officer may be deputed with the concurrence of the State Government, and the proviso settles any disagreement in the Centre’s favour. A Ministry of Personnel backgrounder of 26 January 2022 described amendments to the deputation provisions of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 as proposed and shared with the States; rule 6(1) is stated here as printed in the DoPT compilation. Central posts are filled through the Central Staffing Scheme, with empanelment at Joint Secretary and above.

Posts at each pay level

Part A of Schedule II to the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016 assigns each State post above the Senior Scale to a level of the pay matrix; Part B lists Senior Scale posts without a fixed level; Part C covers central posts. Paragraph (4) of Part B leaves junior time scale posts out of the Schedule. The table pairs the Kerala entries in Parts A and B with Part C as an example.

Grade, IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016 rule 3(1)	Level	State post (Kerala, Schedule II Part A)	Central post (Schedule II Part C)
Junior Time Scale	10	Not listed (Part B paragraph (4)); in practice the Sub-Divisional Officer posting	Not applicable
Senior Time Scale to Selection Grade	11 to 13	District Collector, Sub-Collector Grade-I (Part B, senior scale posts, no fixed level)	Under Secretary (Level 11 or 12), Deputy Secretary (Level 12 or 13), Director (Level 13)
Super Time Scale	14	Commissioner, Secretary to Government	Joint Secretary
Higher Administrative Grade	15	Principal Secretary	Additional Secretary
Apex Scale	17	Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary	Secretary, Special Secretary
Cabinet Secretary	18	Not applicable	Cabinet Secretary

Source: IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016, rule 3(1) and Schedule II Parts A, B and C, as notified by G.S.R. 870(E) dated 8 September 2016.

The level of a post is fixed by the Schedule; the officer’s eligibility to hold it turns on years of service under the promotion guidelines to which Note 1 to rule 3(1) refers, and on the mid-career training gates below. The IAS salary page gives the first cell and eligibility years for each level and works through the two additional increments the IAS receives on promotion at Levels 11, 12 and 13.

Training and the mid-career gates

Induction training for a direct recruit runs at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration beginning with a 14-week Foundation Course shared with the other All India and Group A services, introduced in 1960, followed by the sandwich pattern introduced in 1969: about 20 weeks of IAS Professional Course Phase I, 52 weeks of district training in the cadre, and about 8 weeks of Phase II. An Assistant Secretary attachment in a central ministry began in 2015 with the 2013 batch and became part of induction from the 2021 batch, according to paragraph 7.26 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25. Paragraph 2.13 of the DoPT Annual Report 2024-25 records that the 99th Common Foundation Course ran from 26 August 2024 to 29 November 2024 for 653 officer trainees, 11 of them from the Royal Bhutan Civil Service.

Mid-career training is not optional, because the Pay Rules tie it to promotion. The first proviso to rule 3(2) of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016 allows appointment to the Junior Administrative Grade “only after he has completed phase III mandatory Mid Career Training Programme”, and the second allows appointment to the Super Time Scale only after Phase IV. Rule 8(9) makes an officer who has completed 28 years of service eligible for the increment “with retrospective effect, after he has completed the Phase V”. A third proviso excuses an officer with less than three years of service left after the year in which a phase falls.

Phase	Seniority at which taken (LBSNAA)	What it gates
Phase III	7 to 9 years; 4 weeks; introduced 2007	Junior Administrative Grade, rule 3(2) first proviso
Phase IV	14 to 16 years	Super Time Scale, rule 3(2) second proviso
Phase V	26 to 28 years; 3 weeks	Increment after 28 years, rule 8(9)

A Secretary (Personnel) D.O. letter No. 11011/02/2012-Trg.(MCT) dated 1 February 2012 records that the programme started in January 2007 and gives each officer three chances per phase, and DoPT D.O. No. T-17012/1/2024-Acad.Desk dated 30 September 2024 restated that Phase III is a prerequisite for the Junior Administrative Grade when calling the 2014, 2015 and 2016 batches to the 21st round, held from 2 to 27 December 2024. Both provisos attach the words “with effect from the date on which he would have been eligible” for the grade, which on a plain reading dates the appointment back to the original eligibility once the phase is completed; that is a salary-calculator.in reading of the proviso, not a DoPT clarification.

Conduct, discipline and retirement rules

An IAS officer is governed by the All India Services codes, not the central civil services ones.

Subject	Instrument
Conduct	All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968, notification No. 8/91/62-AIS(III) dated 18 December 1968
Discipline and appeal	All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, notification No. 7/15/63-AIS-II, published 20 March 1969
Pension (pre-2004 entrants); retirement age and premature retirement (all members)	All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958
Leave	All India Services leave rules
Performance appraisal	All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007, see APAR

The dual structure shows in discipline. A State Government may start proceedings against an officer serving it, but rule 7(2) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 reserves dismissal, removal and compulsory retirement to an order of the Central Government, a division the All India Services article sets out. Retirement at 60, voluntary retirement, and premature retirement in the public interest under rule 16(3) of the 1958 Rules are covered on the IAS salary page, which uses the 31 January 2012 text of that sub-rule.

Centre and State: who decides what

The service is controlled jointly, and each decision has a statutory owner.

Decision	Who decides	Provision
Appointment to the service	Central Government	Recruitment Rules, rule 6(1)
Method of recruitment for a vacancy	Central Government, consulting UPSC and the State	Recruitment Rules, rule 4(2)(a)
Number of recruits by each method	Central Government, consulting the State	Recruitment Rules, rule 4(2)(b)
Cadre allocation	Central Government, consulting the State	Cadre Rules, rule 5(1)
Cadre strength	Central Government, consulting the State, five-yearly	Cadre Rules, rule 4
Posting to a cadre post	State Government	Cadre Rules, rule 7
Early transfer from a tenure post	State, on the Minimum Tenure Committee’s recommendation	Cadre Rules, rule 7(c)(iii)
Deputation to the Centre	Both; Centre decides a disagreement	Cadre Rules, rule 6(1) proviso
Basic pay	Central Government, uniform across cadres	IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016
Allowances	Government the officer is serving	All India Services (Compensatory Allowance) Rules, 1954, rules 2(b) and 3

How the IAS differs from the IPS, the IFoS and the Indian Foreign Service

The Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service are the other two All India Services, each with its own Recruitment, Cadre, Probation, Seniority and Pay Rules, and each with numbering that differs from the IAS set. Two pay differences come from the 2016 Pay Rules: only the IAS ladder reaches Level 18, and only the IAS receives two additional increments on promotion at Levels 11, 12 and 13. Department of Expenditure Resolution No. 1-2/2016-IC dated 25 July 2016 kept that edge for the IAS and the Indian Foreign Service and left the IPS and IFoS demand for parity at status quo. The IPS salary page sets out the police ladder, including Level 13A and Level 16, which the IAS ladder does not have.

The Indian Foreign Service is recruited through the same examination but is not an All India Service. It is a Central Group A service under the Ministry of External Affairs, with no state cadre and no State Government role in postings or discipline. The organised Group A central services such as the Indian Revenue Service are likewise central services; they enter at the same Level 10 but have no state cadre and no promotion quota from a State Civil Service.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Indian Administrative Service?

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is one of the three All India Services, recruited by the Union, allotted to a State or Joint cadre for a career, and serving both the State Government and the Central Government. Article 312(2) of the Constitution deems it a service created by Parliament, and section 2 of the All India Services Act, 1951 names it as an All India Service. The Department of Personnel and Training is its cadre controlling authority.

Is the IAS a central service or a state service?

Neither. It is an All India Service. An IAS officer is appointed by the Central Government under rule 6(1) of the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, but belongs to a State or Joint cadre constituted under rule 3 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, and is posted to cadre posts by the State Government under rule 7. The officer serves the Centre on deputation under rule 6 of the Cadre Rules and returns to the cadre.

How is the IAS recruited?

Rule 4(1) of the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 sets three methods: a competitive examination, which is the Civil Services Examination conducted by the UPSC; promotion of a substantive member of a State Civil Service; and selection, in special cases, of persons who hold gazetted posts under a State Government in a substantive capacity and are not State Civil Service members. Rule 4(3) lets the Centre adopt other methods by regulations if the exigencies of the service so require.

How many IAS posts can be filled by promotion?

In the DoPT compiled text, rule 9(1) of the IAS (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 caps officers recruited by promotion and selection under rule 8 at 33 1/3% of the senior posts under the State Government, the Central Deputation Reserve, the State Deputation Reserve and the Training Reserve in the State’s cadre schedule. Its proviso caps selection of non-State Civil Service officers at 15% of the officers recruited under rule 8, a share of the promotion pool and not of the cadre. Fractions are ignored.

Who can be promoted to the IAS from a State Civil Service?

Under regulation 5(2) of the IAS (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955, as printed in the DoPT compiled text, a substantive member of the State Civil Service with not less than eight years of continuous service as Deputy Collector or in an equivalent post on 1 January of the year of selection. A Selection Committee chaired by the Chairman or a Member of the UPSC prepares the select list. A promotee enters the IAS in the Senior Time Scale under rule 6(3) of the Recruitment Rules, not the Junior Time Scale.

How many IAS officers are there?

As on 1 January 2026, 5,755 officers were in position against an authorised strength of 7,026, according to the IAS e-Civil List 2026 (71st edition) released by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on 22 June 2026, a shortfall of 1,271. A year earlier, on 1 January 2025, the figures were 6,877 authorised and 5,577 in position (Rajya Sabha reply, PIB release of 12 February 2026).

What share of IAS officers are direct recruits?

The latest published split is as on 1 January 2020, from a Lok Sabha reply of 24 March 2021: 4,661 direct recruitment posts against 2,054 promotion posts in an authorised strength of 6,715, and 3,719 against 1,486 officers in position. Direct recruitment posts were 69.4% of the authorised strength.

Who controls an IAS officer, the State or the Centre?

Both, for different purposes. The Centre appoints, allocates to a cadre under rule 5 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, fixes cadre strength, and decides a disagreement over deputation under the proviso to rule 6(1). The State Government makes postings to cadre posts under rule 7, pays the officer while serving it, and may start disciplinary proceedings, though only the Centre can dismiss, remove or compulsorily retire under rule 7(2) of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969. Pay is fixed uniformly by the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016.

Is there a minimum tenure for IAS postings?

Rule 7(c) of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 lets the Centre, in consultation with the State, fix the tenure of cadre posts. An officer posted to such a post holds the minimum tenure except on promotion, retirement, deputation outside the State or training exceeding two months, and may be transferred earlier only on the recommendation of a Committee on Minimum Tenure chaired by the Chief Secretary, or of a Civil Services Board where the State has entrusted the work to one.

Is mid-career training compulsory for IAS promotion?

Yes. The provisos to rule 3(2) of the IAS (Pay) Rules, 2016 allow appointment to the Junior Administrative Grade only after completing Phase III of the mandatory Mid Career Training Programme, and to the Super Time Scale only after Phase IV. Rule 8(9) makes the increment after 28 years of service payable, with retrospective effect, only after Phase V. LBSNAA runs Phase III for officers of 7 to 9 years’ seniority, Phase IV at 14 to 16 years and Phase V at 26 to 28 years.

Where are IAS officers trained?

At the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, established in 1959 by amalgamating the IAS Training School, Delhi and the IAS Staff College, Shimla. The induction sequence is the 14-week Foundation Course shared with other services, about 20 weeks of Phase I, 52 weeks of district training, an Assistant Secretary attachment in a central ministry, and about 8 weeks of Phase II.

Which conduct and discipline rules apply to the IAS?

The All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 and the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, both made under section 3 of the All India Services Act, 1951. Retirement age and premature retirement for every member, and pension for officers appointed before 1 January 2004, fall under the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958. The CCS (Conduct) Rules, CCS (CCA) Rules and CCS (Pension) Rules do not apply to an IAS officer.

What is the difference between the IAS, the IPS and the IFoS?

All three are All India Services under the 1951 Act with state cadres, but each has its own Recruitment, Cadre, Pay and Probation Rules. Only the IAS gets two additional increments on promotion at Levels 11, 12 and 13 under its 2016 Pay Rules, and only the IAS ladder reaches Level 18, reserved for the Cabinet Secretary. The Indian Foreign Service, also filled through the Civil Services Examination, is a Central Group A service with no state cadre.

When was the IAS created?

The IAS succeeded the Indian Civil Service at Independence. The Ministry of Personnel states that it was constituted in 1946. Article 312(2) of the Constitution, in force from 26 January 1950, deems the services known at its commencement as the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service to be services created by Parliament, and the All India Services Act, 1951 gave the service its statutory rule-making basis.

External references

References

Constitution of India, Article 312; All India Services Act, 1951 (Act 61 of 1951), sections 2, 2A and 3.
Indian Administrative Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, rules 4, 6, 8 and 9, as amended by DoPT Notification No. 14015/51/96-AIS(I) dated 31 December 1997 (G.S.R. 729(E)) (DoPT compilation, All India Services Rules Volume II).
Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Promotion) Regulations, 1955, regulations 3 and 5, with G.S.R. 605(E) dated 4 September 2025; Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Selection) Regulations, 1997.
Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, rules 3 to 7 and the Schedule; Indian Administrative Service (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1955.
Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 2016, G.S.R. 870(E) dated 8 September 2016, rules 3(1), 3(2) provisos, 5(1), 8(9) and Schedule II.
DoPT Annual Report 2024-25, paragraphs 2.13, 5.14, 7.26 and 8.1.2 to 8.1.9; Secretary (Personnel) D.O. No. 11011/02/2012-Trg.(MCT) dated 1 February 2012; DoPT D.O. No. T-17012/1/2024-Acad.Desk dated 30 September 2024.
Lok Sabha written reply of 24 March 2021 (PIB release 1707273); Rajya Sabha written reply of 12 February 2026 (PIB release 2226914); Lok Sabha written reply of 25 March 2026 (PIB release 2244918); IAS e-Civil List 2026, released 22 June 2026.
All India Services (Compensatory Allowance) Rules, 1954; All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968; All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969; All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.
Constituent Assembly Debates, 10 October 1949; Ministry of Personnel backgrounder, PIB, 26 January 2022.
DoPT OM No. 13013/01/2024-AIS-I dated 23 January 2026 (cadre allocation policy).