Eligibility for Indian Economic Service Exam 2023

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Nationality Requirement for IEcoS

A candidate must be either:

  1. A citizen of India, or
  2. a subject of Nepal, or
  3. a subject of Bhutan, or
  4. a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India. Or
  5. a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Srilanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories above shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

Age Limits Requirement for IEcoS

A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years.

The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable in the following cases:

  • Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe: Upto a maximum of five years.
  • Other Backward Classes: Upto a maximum of three years.
  • State of Jammu & Kashmir (Domiciled during the period from the 1st January, 1980 to 31st December, 1989: Upto a maximum of five years) .
  • Defence Services personnel (disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof) : Upto a maximum of five years.
  • Ex-servicemen including Commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service and have been released on completion of assignment otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or on invalidment upto a maximum of five years.
  • ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three month՚s notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment: Upto a maximum of five years.
  • Blind, deaf-mute and Orthopaedically handicapped persons: Upto a maximum of ten years.

Cumulative Age relaxation: Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs who are also covered under other clauses mentioned above will be eligible for grant of cumulative age-relaxation under both the categories.

Ex-servicemen eligibility: The term ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from time to time. The age concession will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including ECOs/SSCOs, who are released on own request.

Date of Birth Certificate

The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a University, which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the university or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination certificate.

No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted. Once the date of birth is recorded in the Commission, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other Examination of the Commission) on any grounds whatsoever.

Educational Qualifications Requirement for IEcoS

For admission to the examination, a candidate must have:

  • Post-graduate degree in Economics/Applied Economics/Busines Economics/Econometrics for IEcoS
  • Degree should be from a University incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutes established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or a foreign university approved by the Central Govt. From time to time.

A candidate who has appeared in an exam required as a qualification but has not received the result or plans to appear in exam may apply for admission to the examination. These candidates would be considered as provisional and they will be required a proof of passing at a later stage.

In exceptional cases, the UPSC may treat a candidate who has none of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that they has passed examination conducted by other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission, justifies their admission to the examination.

Candidates who have taken a degree from a foreign University can apply to the Commission but will be admitted only at the discretion of the Commission.

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