Indian Foreign Service Exam

The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is one of the most prestigious careers in India. Lakhs of candidates appear for the Indian Foreign Service exam every year out of which a very small fraction clear it. It is a part of the Central Civil Services under the Government of India. IFS is a foreign diplomatic service under the Foreign Secretary of India. IFS was created in October 1946, by the Government of India, but originally introduced under the British Raj. IFS officers are recruited on the recommendations of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The High Commissioner, Ambassador, Consul General and Foreign Secretary, are some of the offices held by IFS officers. Image credit: sites.tufts.edu

IFS Eligibility

• He/She must be a citizen of India
• Should be between 21 - 32 years of age as on 1 August of each calendar year. For General Category maximum age limit is 32 years, OBCs up to 35 years and SC/STs up to 37 years.
• Should be a graduate or equivalent degree from a recognized university in India.
• A maximum of 6 attempts is allowed for GN, up to 9 for OBCs and an unlimited number of attempts for SC/ST.

Exam Pattern

All IFS aspirants need to appear for the UPSC Civil Services Examination in 3 phases - Prelims, Mains and Personality Test.

Prelims

The Civil Services Aptitude Test (Prelims) has objective type questions and carries a negative marking of 1/3 for each wrong answer. It consists of two papers of 200 marks for each paper. The Prelims is basically a screening test and its performance is not taken into consideration for ranking in the final selection. The Paper I tests a candidate’s knowledge of current affairs and general awareness, whereas Paper II is more analytical in nature.

Mains

The Mains is the 2nd stage of the Civil Services Exam. It is designed to test the academic intelligence of a candidate and to gauge his ability to express critical thoughts clearly in written format. The Mains exam checks the overall mental sharpness, ability to cope with situations and decision-making capacity, of a candidate.

The nature of exam is of descriptive type with a total of 9 papers. Paper A (2 papers) and Paper B (7 papers). Out of the 9 papers, two papers are of qualifying nature - 1) Modern Indian Language and 2) English (each of the qualifying papers is of 300 marks each). Under the new Civil Services Exam pattern, the Mains consist of two General Studies papers each carrying a total of 300 marks, making a total of 600 marks. Candidates are given the option to choose One Optional paper, which consists of two papers each carrying a total of 300 marks. The difficulty level of the Optional paper is higher than degree level and lower than the master’s level. There is also an Essay paper of 200 marks.

The final round is the Personality Test which tests a candidate’s personality whether he is suitable for a public office. Social cohesion, ability to analyze a situation critically, mental alertness, the balance of judgement, and moral integrity, are key requisite skills in an Indian Foreign Service officer. The Interview carries a total of 300 marks.

Roles and responsibilities of IFS officers

The Indian Foreign Service officer is an Indian diplomat who needs to project India’s interests, within the country and abroad on a range of issues including bilateral & economic cooperation, trade & investment, press & media liaison, building cultural ties and a host of multilateral issues.

Following are the major roles & functions of IFS officers:

• Representing India in its Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, and Permanent Missions to multilateral organizations like UN
• Protecting India’s national interests in the country of his/her posting
• Promoting friendly relations with the receiving state as also its people, including NRI / PIOs
• Reporting accurately on developments in the country of posting which are likely to influence the formulation of India’s policies
• Negotiating agreements on various issues with the authorities of the receiving state and
• Extending consular facilities to foreigners and Indian nationals abroad
• At home: Ministry of External Affairs is responsible for all aspects of external relations. Territorial divisions deal with bilateral political and economic work while functional divisions look after policy planning, international relations, multilateral organizations, cultural relations, regional groupings, legal matters, disarmament, protocol, consular, Indian Diaspora, press and publicity, administration and other aspects

IFS Selection Procedures

Best of the best talents compete for this extremely tough exam, so becoming an IFS officer is not a piece of cake. Candidates need to appear for the Civil Services Exam and qualify in it to become an IFS officer. The competitive exam for aspiring IFS candidates is the same as to that of IAS and IPS.

The selection duration of IFS officer is pretty long, from the time of appearing for the Prelims exam till the end of the selection process, it takes almost 12 months. The total number of selected IFS officers ranges around 0 - 20 every year. The sure success rate of becoming an IFS is very low, even when you clear the Civil Services exam. At present, a total of 800 IFS officers are posted around the world and in various Indian missions and few are placed in the Ministry of External Affairs at home.

IFS Training

Applicants who have successfully cleared the written round and face-to-face interview will be hired and trained at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. Once training is completed in Mussoorie, the Probationers are sent to the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi for more training. The total training period is around 36 months during which probationers will require to travel within India and abroad.

After completion of training, probationers will be assigned a Compulsory Foreign Language (CFL). The probationers basically will be stationed under the Ministry of External Affairs for a short period then will be posted at a foreign country where the probationer’s CFL is the native language. All the probationers have to pass an exam on their selected CFL to continue to work as an Indian Foreign Service Officer.

Indian Foreign Service Designations & Rankings

Following are the designations & rankings of the IFS officers in the ascending order:

At an Embassy

1. Third Secretary (entry level)
2. Second Secretary (promotion upon being confirmed in service)
3. First Secretary
4. Counsellor
5. Minister
6. Deputy Chief of Mission/Deputy High Commissioner/Deputy Permanent Representative
7. Ambassador/High Commissioner/Permanent Representative

At the Ministry of External Affairs

1. Under Secretary
2. Deputy Secretary
3. Director
4. Joint Secretary
5. Additional Secretary
6. Secretary
7. Foreign Secretary of India

Indian Foreign Service Salary Range:

Grade	Pay scales		Designation in Field	Designation in Headquarters
Junior time scale	8000-275-13500		Attaché / Third secretary	Under secretary
Senior time scale	10650-325-15850		Second / First secretary	Under secretary
Junior administrative grade	12000-375-16500		First secretary	Deputy secretary
Selection grade IV	14300-400-18300		Director	Counselor Director
Senior administrative grade	18400-500-22400		Minister/DCM Ambassador	Joint secretary
	22400-525-24500		Ambassador/high Commissioner	Additional secretary
	26000 (fixed)		Ambassador/High Commissioner	Secretary

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