IPS Officer Career Journey: From ASP to DGP

An IPS officer's first posting is as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in the state cadre: the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad, which trains every IPS officer, says its trained officers are posted as ASP in their states. Training comes first. Once UPSC recommends you and the Government allots you the Indian Police Service, you spend two years on probation, training first with the other services and then at SVPNPA.

From ASP, the Indian Police Service (Pay) Rules, 2016 set every grade up to Director General of Police (DGP), with its pay level and, for the early steps, the year you become eligible: the Senior Time Scale after 4 years, Deputy Inspector General after 14 and Inspector General after 18. From the Selection Grade up, each step is also by selection and needs a vacancy.

The IPS cadre is controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, as SVPNPA describes it. If you want the IPS, the CSE notice asks you to give a home cadre preference when UPSC calls for it. The Government reported 150 IPS vacancies for CSE 2025 and 147 for CSE 2024.

Training: two years on probation

The IPS (Probation) Rules, 1954 fix the order: the Foundation Course, then SVPNPA, then practical training in the state you are posted to. You return to the Academy for Phase II and the final examination.

Your record is marked at each stage. Under the probation rules, LBSNAA awards up to 470 marks for the Foundation Course, and the SVPNPA Director awards up to 400 for your record at the Academy and in the state. The final examination carries 1,200 marks for indoor subjects such as investigation and forensics, and 600 for outdoor subjects such as drill, weapon training and equitation. You must score at least 50% in every compulsory subject.

Pay grades and when they come

Each IPS grade sits on a level of the 7th Pay Commission's pay matrix. The Super Time Scale has two steps of its own: Deputy Inspector General of Police at Level 13A and Inspector General of Police at Level 14.

How promotion works

• Time-bound eligibility. Rule 3 makes you eligible for the Senior Time Scale after 4 years, the Junior Administrative Grade after 9, the Selection Grade after 13, Deputy Inspector General after 14 and Inspector General after 18. The years count from your year of allotment.
• Training is a condition. You move to the Junior Administrative Grade only after Phase III of the mid-career training, and to Inspector General only after Phase IV. After 28 years of service, your next increment is paid only once you complete Phase V.
• Selection, not seniority alone. From the Selection Grade upwards, appointment is by selection on merit, with due regard to seniority. It also needs a vacancy, and the state must get the Central Government's prior agreement on the number of vacancies.
• Paperwork counts. Since a 2021 amendment, you must file your Immovable Property Return for the previous year by 31 January to be considered for the next pay level.

Mid-career training at SVPNPA

SVPNPA runs the compulsory mid-career phases that the pay rules tie to promotion and, in the last phase, to your increment:

Phase	Needed for	Taken in	Length
Phase III	Superintendent of Police (Senior Scale) to Superintendent of Police (Junior Administrative Grade)	7th to 9th year of service	4 weeks
Phase IV	Deputy Inspector General to Inspector General	14th to 16th year	4 weeks: 3 in India, 1 abroad
Phase V	The annual increment after 28 years of service	24th to 26th year	2 weeks in India

The ranks along the way

SVPNPA names the first ranks: you start as an ASP, and the Academy prepares you to lead police stations and districts, later in the rank of Superintendent of Police. The pay rules name the senior ranks: Deputy Inspector General, Inspector General, Additional Director General and Director General of Police. The post of DGP (Head of Police Force) is at Level 17 and is filled by selection from officers holding DGP posts at Level 16.

The rules list the senior posts cadre by cadre, so the top rank is not the same everywhere. In the Goa list, for example, the DGP post is held in the rank of Additional DGP at Level 15. The badge each rank wears is set by the IPS (Uniform) Rules; see IPS salary, ranks and insignia.

Serving at the Centre

IPS officers also serve on deputation with the Government of India. Schedule II of the pay rules lists the central posts IPS officers held as on 1 January 2016. At the top of that list, the Directors of the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the Directors General of the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, National Security Guard, Railway Protection Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and NIA, are all at Level 17. The Director of SVPNPA itself is at Level 16.

If your pay on deputation works out lower than what you would have drawn in your cadre, the difference is protected as personal pay (rule 7, as amended in 2017).

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