Even though UPSC had earlier declared that there is no vacancy for Indian Economic Service, it has decided to conduct the exam from October 16-18, 2020. The official notice for the same is scheduled to be released on August 11, 2020.

When the lack of vacancies was declared earlier in June 10, UPSC also stated that the IES exam for 2020 will not be conducted. This is because no official report regarding vacancies were shared by the Department of Economic Affairs. However, the notice has been revoked on a special request of the department and the exam is finally going to be conducted this year. The first notice regarding this matter was released in June 5, where notice of IES and ISS exam was released. Both the exams were to begin the application procedure from June 10 and the last date would have been June 30. But later the Union Public Service Commission published a second notice declaring the cancellation of Indian Economic Service exam for 2020.

What is IES?

Often confused with Indian Engineering Service which is now popularly known as ESE, the Indian Economic Service exam is conducted to recruit suitable candidates for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It comes under group A of Central Civil services for the Government of India. If you have the eligibility for the exam and can qualify it, IES is a lucrative Central government job.

A few important highlights about the Indian economic Service exam:

• A candidate can have 6 attempts at most for the exam.
• It is pen and paper based offline exam which is conducted yearly.
• The candidate must have Post-graduation degree in economics in order to be eligible for the exam. There is no minimum required marks though.
• Candidates can be between 21 and 30 years of age for appearing in this exam.
• There is age relaxation as well for aspirants from reserved categories.
• There are cadre posts as well as deputation post for various UN bodies, foreign ministries, regulatory bodies etc. The qualifying candidates are also employed for posts in Central Government Ministries and department under the Central Staffing Scheme.

The sudden announcement of the IES exam going to be conducted this year might prove to be challenging for many candidates who did not take any preparation so far thinking the exam will be cancelled. But with smart planning and preparation strategy, you can still ace the IES syllabus and have enough time for revision.