| Conducting body | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Official website ↗ |
|---|---|
| Posts | Indian Economic Service, Junior Time Scale (16), Indian Statistical Service, Junior Time Scale (28) |
| Qualification | IES: a postgraduate degree in economics, applied economics, business economics or econometrics. ISS: a bachelor's degree with statistics, mathematical statistics or applied statistics as a subject, or a master's in one of these. For ISS, statistics must have been studied in all years of the bachelor's course. |
| Age limit | 21–30 years on 1 August 2026 (general category) |
| Domicile | Not required |
| Selection stages | Written exam: six papers, 1000 marks → Viva voce (interview) of 200 marks |
| Latest notification | Indian Economic Service / Indian Statistical Service Examination 2026 notice (No. 07/2026-IES/ISS) · 44 vacancies |
Last checked . Sources
About UPSC IES ISS
This combined exam recruits economists into the Indian Economic Service and statisticians into the Indian Statistical Service. The 2026 notice lists 16 IES and 28 ISS vacancies. You pick one service; both share the General English and General Studies papers, and the rest of the written test is subject-specific.
Eligibility
Age limit
General category: 21–30 years, counted on 1 August 2026.
Age relaxation
- OBC: 3 years
- SC: 5 years
- ST: 5 years
- PwBD: 10 years
- Ex-servicemen: 5 years
- General category candidates must be born between 2 August 1996 and 1 August 2005.
- Defence personnel disabled in operations get up to 3 years.
Qualification
IES: a postgraduate degree in economics, applied economics, business economics or econometrics. ISS: a bachelor's degree with statistics, mathematical statistics or applied statistics as a subject, or a master's in one of these. For ISS, statistics must have been studied in all years of the bachelor's course.
Other conditions
- Fee is Rs 200. Women, SC, ST and PwBD candidates are exempt.
Selection process
- Written exam: six papers, 1000 marks
- Viva voce (interview) of 200 marks
Exam pattern
Written exam: Indian Economic Service
Mode: Descriptive · Duration: 3 hours for each paper
| SUBJECT | MARKS |
|---|---|
| General English | 100 |
| General Studies | 100 |
| General Economics I | 200 |
| General Economics II | 200 |
| General Economics III | 200 |
| Indian Economics | 200 |
Written exam: Indian Statistical Service
Mode: Statistics I and II objective (80 questions each in 2 hours); other papers descriptive (3 hours each) · Negative marking: One third of the marks for a question is cut for each wrong answer in the objective papers.
| SUBJECT | QUESTIONS | MARKS |
|---|---|---|
| General English | 100 | |
| General Studies | 100 | |
| Statistics I (objective) | 80 | 200 |
| Statistics II (objective) | 80 | 200 |
| Statistics III (descriptive) | 200 | |
| Statistics IV (descriptive, choose two of seven sections) | 200 |
Viva voce
| SUBJECT | MARKS |
|---|---|
| Interview | 200 |
UPSC IES ISS syllabus
Common papers
- General English: essay, comprehension, summary or precis
- General Studies: current events, everyday science, Indian polity and Constitution, Indian history and geography
IES: General Economics I to III
- Consumer demand, production, value and distribution theory, welfare economics
- Mathematical, statistical and econometric methods
- Economic thought, national income, employment, inflation, money and finance
- Financial markets, growth and development, international economics, balance of payments, global institutions
- Public finance, environmental economics, industrial economics, state, market and planning
IES: Indian Economics
- History of planning and development strategy
- Federal finance, budgeting and fiscal policy
- Poverty, unemployment and human development
- Agriculture, rural development, urbanisation and migration
- Industry, labour and foreign trade
ISS: Statistics I to IV
- Statistics I: probability, statistical methods, numerical analysis, computer applications and data processing
- Statistics II: linear models, statistical inference and hypothesis testing, official statistics
- Statistics III: sampling techniques, econometrics, applied statistics
- Statistics IV (two of seven): operations research and reliability, demography and vital statistics, survival analysis and clinical trials, quality control, multivariate analysis, design of experiments, computing with C and R
What they ask
Both services write the same 100-mark General English and General Studies papers. IES candidates then write four descriptive economics papers of 200 marks each, three on economic theory and one on the Indian economy. ISS candidates write two objective statistics papers of 80 questions in two hours, then two descriptive papers where half the marks are short problems and half are long answers. In Statistics IV you choose two of seven sections.
How to prepare
- For ISS, choose your two Statistics IV sections early from the seven on offer, and study only those two in depth.
- Practise 80-question objective sets in two hours for Statistics I and II, since these papers reward speed as well as accuracy.
- For IES, keep a notebook of recent Indian data on budgets, federal finance, poverty and foreign trade, since the Indian Economics syllabus names all of these.
- Do not neglect General English. It is only 100 marks, but it counts in the total and asks for an essay and a precis.
- Solve the official IES/ISS papers on the UPSC website to see the length expected in descriptive answers.
Practise UPSC IES ISS syllabus topics a few minutes a day with short quizzes in the Improvam app.
Previous papers and answer keys
UPSC IES ISS FAQs
A postgraduate degree in economics, applied economics, business economics or econometrics.
Sources
- UPSC IES/ISS Examination 2026 notice (No. 07/2026-IES/ISS) ↗ (official, checked )
- UPSC exam page: Indian Economic Service - Indian Statistical Service Examination 2026 ↗ (official, checked )
Checked against official sources on . Rules change with each notification, so read the latest one before you apply.
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