Vacancies in IAS Posts Despite Increase in Intake through UPSC Exams
There are over 22% vacancies in IAS posts all over the country both at the centre and the states. The DoPT data report reveals that more than 1,000 Indian Administrative Services (IAS) posts are vacant.
According to the reports, 22% sanctioned IAS posts are lying vacant in the country. The seats are lying vacant both at the centre as well as states which is further leading to a major crunch in the posts of Indian Administrative Services (IAS).
The data report from the Department of Personnel and Training - DoPT has revealed that as of now there are around 5,104 IAS officers against 6,553 posts out of which 523 are promotion posts and 926 are direct recruitment posts.
The current UPSC recruitment of 5,014 officers is the highest figure in many years. The number of seats lying vacant is due to the fact that each year around 150-160 officers retire from IAS posts but the annual net addition is only about 30-40 IAS officers. If the same scenario continues and no new posts are added, it may take 35 years or so to fill up the gap of IAS officers.
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The crisis started in the late 1990s when the annual intake of IAS officers was low. This is one of the major factors due to which there are many vacancies in IAS positions. It will take many years to fill the gap but there has been a subsequent improvement in the IAS recruitment in 2007
IAS Recruitment Data
The date below reveals the number of IAS recruitment from the year 1998-2008.
| Year | Number of IAS Recruitment |
| 1998-2001 | 50 to 59 candidates |
| 2001-2003 | 59 to 63 candidates |
| 2004-2007 | 83 to 91 candidates (There is a subsequent increase in the number of IAS recruitment) |
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Also, 40% of the total IAS vacancies are from the states including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The highest number of vacant posts is in Bihar (110) and followed by West Bengal (107).