Govt to select 980 officers through civil services exam

New Delhi: As many as 980 officers will be selected through civil services examination 2017, over 200 less than last year's intake, the government said today.

Thousands of aspirants appear in the examination conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

"The number of vacancies that are proposed to be filled by civil services examination-2016 is 1,209.

"In civil services examination, 2017, 980 vacancies have been fixed tentatively, which are subject to further change based on the firm number of vacancies to be received from the cadre controlling authorities," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The cadre controlling authorities of the respective services report their annual vacancy indents to the government and Union Public Service Commission, which conducts the test.

The proposed recruitment of 980 officers is 229 less than last year's notified vacancy. The vacancies for this year's test are the lowest advertised in the past five years by the government.

The result of civil services examination 2016 is yet to be declared.