SSC CGL

The SSC Combined Graduate Level Examination, or SSC CGL, is the annual computer-based examination by which the Staff Selection Commission, an attached office of the Department of Personnel and Training, recruits graduates to Group B and Group C posts across central ministries, departments and constitutional and statutory bodies. The 2026 notice, F. No. HQ-C11018/1/2026-C-1, uploaded on 21 May 2026, lists 40 posts from Level 4 to Level 8 of the 7th CPC pay matrix, with entry basic pay from Rs. 25,500 to Rs. 47,600, and about 12,256 tentative vacancies.

The examination runs in two tiers. Tier-I, 100 questions for 200 marks, only shortlists. Tier-II decides everything else: under paragraphs 16.10 to 16.14 of the notice, the merit list is built on Tier-II marks alone, out of 390 for most posts and out of 590 for the statistics and audit posts that add a second paper. A candidate does not apply for a post. The candidate sits one examination, submits a preference order over all 40 posts online, and the Commission allots the first preference the merit rank reaches.

Because the post decides the pay level, the rank decides the pay. The same examination puts one candidate in a Level 4 Tax Assistant post at Rs. 25,500 and another in a Level 8 Assistant Audit Officer post at Rs. 47,600. This article covers the examination: posts by level, eligibility, the Tier-I and Tier-II scheme, marking, qualifying standards, how the merit list is built, allocation and document verification, and what changed between the 2022, 2024 and 2026 notices. The post-by-post pay, in-hand and promotion detail is on the SSC CGL salary page.

Posts and pay levels in the 2026 notice

Paragraph 2 of the CGL 2026 notice lists 40 posts across five pay levels, and the level of the post fixes its entry basic pay under the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 (G.S.R. 721(E), 25 July 2016), whatever the department.

Source: paragraphs 2.1 to 2.5 of the CGL 2026 notice. Each level link opens the salary by pay level calculator at that level.

The group column follows DoPT notification S.O. 3964(E) dated 9 August 2018, which classifies central civil posts at Levels 6 to 9 as Group B and Levels 1 to 5 as Group C. Only the three Level 8 posts are gazetted; the difference is explained in gazetted and non-gazetted posts.

Three titles cross levels. The Assistant or Assistant Section Officer post in other ministries appears at Level 7 (paragraph 2.2) and again at Level 6 (paragraph 2.3), so the cadre named on the allocation decides the pay. “Sub Inspector” is Level 7 in the CBI, Level 6 in the NIA and the Narcotics Control Bureau, and Level 4 in the Central Bureau of Narcotics. The Assistant Enforcement Officer in the Directorate of Enforcement is Level 7, not Level 8.

Eligibility: nationality, age and qualification

A CGL candidate must meet three conditions on the notice’s own reference date: nationality under paragraph 4, the age band of each preferred post under paragraph 5, and the educational qualification under paragraph 8, with age and qualification both reckoned as on 1 August 2026 for the 2026 cycle.

Nationality

Paragraph 4.1 of the 2026 notice admits a citizen of India, a subject of Nepal or Bhutan, or a person of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam to settle permanently in India. The non-citizen categories need a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India before an offer of appointment issues (paragraph 4.2). Paragraph 4.3 limits any vacancy in the Border Roads Organisation to male candidates.

Age bands

The upper age differs by post, so a candidate can be within age for some posts and outside it for others in the same cycle.

Source: paragraph 5.1 of the CGL 2026 notice and the age column of paragraph 2.

Age relaxation

Paragraph 5.2 adds relaxations on the upper age of the band:

Ex-servicemen reservation applies to Group C posts only (paragraph 3.3). A non-graduate ex-serviceman with 15 years’ service, or one who will complete 15 years within one year of the closing date, is eligible only for the ex-servicemen vacancies in Group C posts and not for any Group B post (paragraph 5.8). Reservation itself is set by each indenting department, not by the Commission (paragraphs 3.2 and 3.5); the rules are in reservation in central government jobs.

Educational qualification

A bachelor’s degree from a recognised university is the essential qualification for every post, and paragraph 8.4.1 applies it alone to every post not named in paragraphs 8.1 to 8.3. Four posts add a condition:

• Junior Statistical Officer (paragraph 8.2.1): at least 60% in mathematics at the 12th standard, or statistics as one of the subjects at degree level.
• Statistical Investigator Grade-II (paragraph 8.3.1): a degree in statistics, mathematics, economics, demography, population studies, operations research, information technology, computer science, computer engineering, computer technology, computer application, data science or artificial intelligence.
• Assistant Audit Officer (State Cadre) and Assistant Accounts Officer (State Cadre) (paragraphs 8.1.2.1 and 8.1.3.1): a Secondary School level certificate of proficiency in the regional or official language of the State.

The three Level 8 posts list chartered accountancy, cost accountancy, company secretaryship, an M.Com, a Masters in Business Studies, an MBA (Finance) or a Masters in Business Economics as desirable, not essential. A final-year student may apply, but paragraph 8.8 requires the result to have been declared by 1 August 2026; a result still being processed on that date does not count.

Application, fee and the 2026 schedule

Applications for the 2026 cycle were taken online at ssc.gov.in or through the mySSC mobile application from 21 May 2026 to 22 June 2026 (23:00 hours), with the fee payable until 23 June 2026 and a correction window from 29 June 2026 to 1 July 2026. Candidates who had registered only on the old ssc.nic.in website had to create a fresh one-time registration on the new site (paragraph 9.2).

The fee is Rs. 100 (paragraph 10.1). Women candidates, SC, ST and persons with benchmark disabilities, and ex-servicemen eligible for reservation pay nothing (paragraph 10.2). A correction after submission costs Rs. 200 for the first and Rs. 500 for the second (paragraph 11.4). The notice gave August to September 2026 as the tentative Tier-I schedule and December 2026 for Tier-II, and paragraph 13.5 states that the Commission announces any change only on its website.

Tier-I: the screening test

Tier-I of SSC CGL is a one-hour objective test of 100 questions for 200 marks, set in English and Hindi except for the English section, under paragraph 13.8 of the 2026 notice.

Each section has a 15-minute sectional timer, extended to 20 minutes for candidates eligible for a scribe. A wrong answer costs 0.50 marks (paragraph 13.8.2), against 2 marks for a right one.

Tier-I marks shortlist candidates category-wise for Tier-II and count for nothing after that (paragraphs 16.3 and 16.10). The shortlisting is done against separate cut-offs for three groups: Junior Statistical Officer and Statistical Investigator Grade-II candidates (who go on to Paper-I and Paper-II), Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer candidates (Paper-I and Paper-III), and everyone else (Paper-I only). A candidate can therefore clear the Tier-I cut-off for the general posts and miss it for the audit posts.

Tier-II: Papers I, II and III

Tier-II of SSC CGL has three papers held in separate shifts or on separate days, and only Paper-I is compulsory for every post (paragraphs 13.9.1 and 13.9.2 of the 2026 notice).

Paper-I

Paper-I is taken in two sessions on the same day. Session-I runs 2 hours 15 minutes and covers Sections I to III; after a break for re-registration, Session-II is the 15-minute Data Entry Speed Test.

Source: paragraphs 13.9, 13.9.5 and 13.9.10.2 of the CGL 2026 notice.

Each question in Sections I to III carries 3 marks and a wrong answer costs 1 mark (paragraph 13.9.8). Section-I and Section-II each close automatically after one hour, and the candidate must qualify every section of Paper-I separately (paragraph 13.9.6). Of the 450 marks in Sections I to III, only the 390 in Sections I and II enter the merit; the Computer Knowledge Test is qualifying.

Paper-II and Paper-III

Paper-II (Statistics) and Paper-III (General Studies, Finance and Economics) are each 100 questions for 200 marks in two hours, at 2 marks a question with 0.50 marks deducted for a wrong answer. Paragraph 13.9.3 restricts Paper-II to candidates shortlisted for Junior Statistical Officer in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Statistical Investigator Grade-II in the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, and Paper-III to candidates shortlisted for Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer. A candidate who does not sit Paper-III cannot be allotted a Level 8 post.

Qualifying marks, the Computer Knowledge Test and the DEST

Every scored stage of SSC CGL has a qualifying floor under paragraph 16.1 of the 2026 notice, and the two skill sections of Paper-I carry post-specific standards on top of it.

The marks floor applies to Tier-I and separately to Sections I, II and III of Paper-I and to Paper-II and Paper-III; the error ceiling applies to the Data Entry Speed Test (paragraph 16.2).

The Data Entry Speed Test is mandatory and qualifying for every post, not only for Tax Assistant (paragraph 13.9.10.3). Two lists raise the bar, and the notice closes each with “etc.”, so neither is exhaustive:

1. Computer-proficiency posts (paragraph 13.9.9), including Assistant Section Officer in CSS, MEA and AFHQ; Assistant in the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, the Geological Survey of India and the India Meteorological Department; the three CBIC Inspector posts and Executive Assistant; and Postal or Sorting Assistant. These need higher standards in both the Computer Knowledge Test and the DEST.
2. DEST posts (paragraph 13.9.10.4), including Tax Assistant in CBIC and CBDT and UDC or SSA in the Central Bureau of Narcotics. These need a higher DEST standard and the normal Computer Knowledge Test standard.

A candidate with an orthopaedic benchmark disability can be exempted from the DEST on a certificate from a Civil Surgeon, but not for any post on either list, except Tax Assistant in CBDT (paragraph 13.9.10.6).

How the SSC CGL merit list is built

The SSC CGL merit list, called the First Round of Tentative Allocation (FRTA) and then the final selection, is prepared on Tier-II marks only, and which Tier-II marks count depends on the post (paragraphs 16.10 to 16.14 of the 2026 notice).

Where papers run in several shifts, the scores are normalised by the procedure in the Commission’s notice of 2 June 2025 (paragraph 13.2), and the normalised scores set both the merit and the cut-offs. There is no re-evaluation (paragraph 13.7).

A tie in Tier-II marks is broken in order by the marks in Paper-III (for audit posts) or Paper-II (for statistics posts), then the marks in Section-I of Paper-I, then date of birth with the older candidate placed higher, then alphabetical order of name (paragraph 17.1). For all other posts the order starts at Section-I of Paper-I.

Preferences, allocation and document verification

SSC CGL allocates posts on merit-cum-preference: each candidate gets the first preference the rank reaches and is not considered for any other (paragraph 16.15 of the 2026 notice). Preferences are taken through an online option form before the FRTA, are final once submitted, and a candidate who misses the window is not considered for any post (paragraphs 15.5 and 15.6). The Commission keeps no waiting list; it uses a sliding mechanism whose first round is explained in its notices dated 3 March 2026 and 8 April 2026 (paragraph 15.3).

Document verification is done by the user ministry or department after the final result, not by the Commission before allocation (paragraph 15.1). Nine posts carry physical standards, physical tests and medical standards that the user department measures after final selection and nomination (paragraphs 15.7 and 15.9):

• Inspector (Central Excise), Inspector (Examiner) and Inspector (Preventive Officer) in CBIC
• Inspector and Sub-Inspector in the Central Bureau of Narcotics
• Sub-Inspector or Junior Intelligence Officer in the NCB
• Sub-Inspector in the CBI and in the NIA
• Posts in the Border Roads Organisation

A candidate allotted one of these who fails its standard is rejected outright and not moved to a lower preference (paragraph 16.16). Every CGL post carries all-India service liability (paragraph 16.22), and a user department may require proficiency in the language of the allotted State or zone for confirmation (paragraph 16.23). The three Level 8 posts add a condition of their own: a direct recruit must pass the Subordinate Audit or Accounts Service Examination during probation to be confirmed (paragraph 8.1.1.3).

Vacancies

The 2026 notice carries about 12,256 tentative vacancies (paragraph 3.1), down from about 17,727 in the 2024 notice, F. No. HQ-C11018/1/2024-C-1. The figure is tentative because the Commission recruits only against vacancies reported by user departments and has no role in fixing their number, the reservation roster or the carry-forward of backlog vacancies (paragraphs 3.5 and 15.2). Post-wise and category-wise figures are published on the Commission’s website under “Tentative Vacancy”; zone-wise and state-wise figures are not collected and have to be sought from the user departments.

Changes across the 2022, 2024 and 2026 notices

The two-tier structure is not new to 2026. The 2022 notice, F. No. HQ-PPI03/11/2022-PP_1 uploaded on 17 September 2022, already conducted the examination in two tiers under its paragraph 13.1, with Paper-III for the audit posts. The 2024 notice kept two tiers but listed no Level 8 post and set no Paper-III. The 2026 notice restores Level 8, now as three posts under the Comptroller and Auditor General against the two of 2022, and with it Paper-III.

The 2026 notice also brings allocation through the First Round of Tentative Allocation and a sliding mechanism, with preferences fixed before the first round (paragraphs 15.3 and 15.5); neither term appears in the 2024 notice. Document verification by the user departments after the final result is unchanged from 2024, whose paragraph 15.1 already provided for it.

Pay, allowances and pension after selection

Every SSC CGL post is paid on the same central government pattern: the entry basic of its level, dearness allowance at 60% from 1 January 2026 under Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, house rent allowance at 30%, 20% or 10% of basic by city class, and transport allowance by station. At the entry cell the monthly in-hand runs from Rs. 41,870 (Level 4, Z-class city) to Rs. 87,874 (Level 8, X-class city), and a Level 7 Inspector of Income Tax in an X-class city takes home Rs. 83,176. No CGL post pays income tax at its entry cell under the default regime. The SSC CGL salary page breaks those figures down, and the take-home salary article explains the build-up.

Pay then rises by one cell, about 3%, at each annual increment, by each dearness allowance revision, and by promotion or the Modified Assured Career Progression upgrade at 10, 20 and 30 years. Every CGL recruit joins after 1 January 2004 and is covered by the National Pension System under Ministry of Finance notification No. 5/7/2003-ECB-PR dated 22 December 2003, with a 10% employee contribution on basic pay plus dearness allowance. From 1 April 2025 the employee may opt for the Unified Pension Scheme under Department of Financial Services notification F. No. FX-1/3/2024-PR dated 24 January 2025. The Old Pension Scheme is not open to a CGL recruit.

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• Pay matrix
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• Dearness allowance
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• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Old Pension Scheme
• Income tax for government employees
• Central government employees in India
• Minimum pay
• Civil Services Examination
• Union Public Service Commission

External references

• Staff Selection Commission
• CGL 2026 notice of examination (Staff Selection Commission)
• Department of Personnel and Training
• Income Tax Department
• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India

References

1. Staff Selection Commission, Combined Graduate Level Examination 2026 notice, F. No. HQ-C11018/1/2026-C-1 (uploaded 21 May 2026), paragraphs 2 to 5, 8, 10, 13 and 15 to 17.
2. Staff Selection Commission, Combined Graduate Level Examination 2024 notice, F. No. HQ-C11018/1/2024-C-1, paragraphs 3.1 and 13.
3. Staff Selection Commission, Combined Graduate Level Examination 2022 notice, F. No. HQ-PPI03/11/2022-PP_1 (uploaded 17 September 2022), paragraph 13.1.
4. Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016, G.S.R. 721(E) (25 July 2016), pay matrix.
5. Department of Personnel and Training notification S.O. 3964(E) (9 August 2018), classification of posts.
6. Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) (22 April 2026), dearness allowance at 60% from 1 January 2026.
7. Ministry of Finance notification No. 5/7/2003-ECB-PR (22 December 2003), National Pension System; Department of Financial Services notification F. No. FX-1/3/2024-PR (24 January 2025), Unified Pension Scheme.