Indian Forest Service (IFoS): Same Prelims, Different Mains

The Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is one of the three All India Services, with the IAS and the IPS. It is not filled through the Civil Services Examination: it has its own examination, the Indian Forest Service Examination. But the first stage of that examination is the same Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. You apply for both through one common application, write one prelims, and UPSC then prepares separate lists for the CSE Main and the IFoS Main.

UPSC's calendar for 2027 puts the notification on 13 January 2027 and the common prelims on 23 May 2027. The IFoS Main starts on 21 November 2027 and runs for 7 days. The details below are from the IFoS 2026 notice; check the 2027 notice when it comes out.

Who can apply

• Degree. Stricter than the CSE: a bachelor's degree with at least one of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology, or a bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Forestry or Engineering, or an equivalent qualification.
• Age. For the 2026 examination, at least 21 and under 32 on 1 August 2026, with relaxations, for example up to five years for SC and ST and up to three years for OBC candidates.
• Attempts. Six; nine for OBC candidates and for persons with benchmark disability in the General and EWS categories; no limit for SC and ST candidates. Appearing in the prelims counts as an attempt.

Same prelims, separate cut-offs

The prelims is a screening test only: its marks do not count in your final rank. After the common test, UPSC prepares separate lists for the two Mains. Both need at least 33% in General Studies Paper II; the IFoS list then depends on the General Studies Paper I marks that the Commission fixes for the IFoS vacancies. About twelve to thirteen times the vacancies are admitted to the IFoS Main. See the prelims syllabus and CSE cut-offs.

The IFoS Main is a different examination

Paper	Marks
Paper I: General English	300
Paper II: General Knowledge	300
Papers III to VI: two optional subjects, two papers each	200 per paper
Interview for Personality Test	300

• English only. Every Main paper is set in English and must be answered in English. Each paper lasts three hours.
• The optional subjects. You choose two from Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Forestry, Geology, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Statistics and Zoology. Some pairs are not allowed: Agriculture with Agricultural Engineering, with Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science or with Forestry; Chemistry with Chemical Engineering; Mathematics with Statistics; and more than one engineering subject.
• Level. The notice puts the optional papers at roughly honours-degree level: above a bachelor's degree and below a master's.
• Interview. About twice the vacancies are called. The interview has no minimum qualifying mark, and your final rank comes from the written papers and the interview together.

Vacancies

The IFoS 2026 notice expected about 80 vacancies: 33 unreserved, 21 OBC, 12 SC, 8 EWS and 6 ST. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had also reserved posts for persons with benchmark disability: one each for blindness or low vision and for deafness or hard of hearing, and three for locomotor disability, two of them backlog.

Training at IGNFA, Dehradun

New IFoS officers train at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), set up in 1987 by renaming the Indian Forest College of 1938. It sits in the New Forest campus of the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. IGNFA says its training lasts 20 months, after the Foundation Course at LBSNAA. The Indian Forest Service (Probationers' Training and Evaluation) Rules, 2023 set out those 20 months:

Phase	Length	Where
Phase IA	13 months	At the Academy
Phase IB	4 months	Internship and on-the-job training in your cadre state or Union Territory
Phase II	3 months	Back at the Academy

You are evaluated out of 2,000 marks: 1,300 for core courses, exercises and tours, 400 for projects, electives and on-the-job reports, and 300 for internal assessment. You need at least 50% in each assessment or examination, and you must also clear qualifying tests worth 75 marks. Later, IGNFA runs mid-career training in three phases, at about 7 to 9, 16 to 18 and 26 to 28 years of service.

Pay and grades

The Indian Forest Service (Pay) Rules, 2016 start a direct recruit at the first cell of Level 10 of the pay matrix, ₹56,100. They make you eligible for the Senior Time Scale after 4 years, the Junior Administrative Grade after 9, the Selection Grade after 13, Conservator of Forests (Level 13A) after 14 and Chief Conservator of Forests (Level 14) after 18. Above that come the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests at Level 15 and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests posts at Level 16; the apex-scale post at Level 17 is filled by selection from them. When UPSC asks for it, you also give your order of preference among the state cadres, including your home state.

The Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is a different service from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), which you join through the Civil Services Examination. See the IFS career journey.