Cadre Allocation: Groups, Home Cadre and the 2026 Policy

If you are allotted the IAS or the IPS, you are also allotted a cadre: the state, or the group of states and Union Territories, whose cadre posts you will hold when you are not on deputation. The Central Government makes the allocation in consultation with the states, and the CSE Rules 2026 say it follows the cadre allocation policy in force at the time. For CSE 2026 onwards, that is DoPT's policy of 23 January 2026, which replaced the old system of five zones with four groups of cadres.

This guide walks through that policy step by step: how vacancies are worked out, how you can get your home cadre, and how everyone else is spread across the cadres.

What a cadre is

The IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 constitute an IAS cadre for each state or group of states: a "State Cadre" or a "Joint Cadre". Each cadre's strength is fixed by regulations and re-examined, ordinarily, every five years. The IPS has cadre rules of its own made in the same way, and the 2026 policy covers the IAS, the IPS and the Indian Forest Service together. There are 25 cadres, which the policy arranges alphabetically into four groups:

Step 1: the vacancies

• Vacancies for each cadre are worked out from the "cadre gap" as on 1 January of the year after the exam year.
• States must send their requisitions by 31 January of that year; late requisitions are not counted.
• The cadre controlling authority (DoPT for the IAS, the Ministry of Home Affairs for the IPS) splits each cadre's vacancies into unreserved, SC, ST and OBC, and into "insider" and "outsider" vacancies, using the cadre's rosters. EWS vacancies count as part of the unreserved ones.
• The vacancies are sent to the states and published, preferably before UPSC's final result.

Step 2: insiders, or getting your home cadre

An insider is a candidate allotted to the cadre of his or her home state. The policy's rules are strict:

• Willingness is required. A list of allotted candidates is drawn up in order of merit with each one's home state and willingness to serve there. If you do not express that willingness, you are not considered for your home cadre at all.
• Merit and cycles. Insiders are placed strictly by rank and by the vacancies available at their turn. Because there are 25 cadres, the merit list is read in cycles of 25: serial numbers 1 to 25 form the first cycle, 26 to 50 the second, and so on. If two insiders fall in the same cycle, the lower-ranked one moves to the next cycle.
• Reserved categories. SC, ST and OBC candidates are placed the same way within their categories. A reserved-category candidate selected on general merit can first take an unreserved insider vacancy, and otherwise one of his or her own category.
• Unfilled insider vacancies. If no suitable insider is available even after the exchanges between categories the policy allows, the vacancy becomes an outsider vacancy for that year. It is not carried forward.

Step 3: outsiders and the four groups

• PwBD candidates first. PwBD candidates not allotted their home cadre are allocated right after the insiders, before any other outsider. When they give their home state, they may name one other cadre, and they are allotted to it, with an extra vacancy created there if needed.
• Then the roster. The remaining candidates are arranged in order of merit and allotted in cycles. The first cycle begins with the Group I cadres, giving one candidate to each cadre that has not received an insider in that cycle; the second cycle begins with Group II, the third with Group III, the fourth with Group IV, and the fifth again with Group I.
• No accidental home cadre. If the roster lands an outsider on his or her own home cadre, the candidate is swapped with the one next below.
• The order rotates. The next year, the cadres are arranged again with the previous year's Group I at the bottom, so the list begins with Group II; the year after, with Group III.

The policy asks for the IAS cadre allocation to be finished, preferably, before the professional course at LBSNAA begins, and for the IPS and Indian Forest Service allocation immediately after appointment.

What you actually choose

Under the 2026 policy the candidate's choices are narrow: willingness to serve in the home cadre, and, for a PwBD candidate, one more cadre. The rest is decided by rank, category and the roster. The CSE 2026 notice asked IAS and IPS aspirants to give their home cadre preference when the Commission asked for it, and UPSC's note on the 2026 prelims result opened a window from 19 to 28 June 2026 that included filling in the cadre preference.

This replaced the earlier policy, under which cadres were divided into five zones and candidates ranked the zones and the cadres within each. If you read older advice about "choosing zones", it no longer applies. The step-by-step of giving preferences is in service preference and the DAF.

Where the cadre lists are published

DoPT posts the IAS cadre allocation for each exam year on its CSE Plus site, with the category-wise and insider/outsider split of vacancies that comes before it. For CSE 2024, the vacancy split was posted on 21 May 2025 and the cadre allocation on 7 December 2025, revised on 25 March 2026. For CSE 2025, the vacancy split was posted on 27 May 2026; the cadre allocation had not been posted when we checked on 13 October 2026.

After allocation

Changing cadre later is hard. Under DoPT's consolidated guidelines of November 2022, an inter-cadre transfer is allowed on marriage to another All India Service officer, or on grounds of extreme hardship in the rarest of cases, and never into the officer's home state. Officers can also go on deputation outside the cadre, to the Centre or elsewhere, with the concurrence of the governments concerned. What officers do in their cadre is covered in what IAS officers do.