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UPSC CSE age limit 2026

21 to 32 years as on 1 August 2026 for IAS, IFS, IPS and the other Civil Services — plus category relaxation and the attempt limit. Check your date of birth.

Last verified 30 October 2026 Age reckoned as on 1 August 2026 Source UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 notice About 933 vacancies (33 reserved for PwBD)
Check your eligibility

No sign-up, no storage. Your date of birth is processed in your browser and never sent anywhere.

What you get
A verdict for your date of birth — not a generic age-limit article.

Eligible or not, the cycles you have left, and the post groups where a lower age cap applies. Then the exceptions most pages miss.

Built from UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 notice
Eligible

Age on the cutoff date
Cycles remaining
Last year to apply
Study groups check this together.
The table

Age limit by category

UPSC CSE 2026 · age reckoned as on 1 August 2026
CategoryUpper age limitBorn on or afterNotes
General / EWS 32 years 02.08.1994 Base category · 6 attempts
OBC — Non-Creamy Layer 35 years 02.08.1991 Must be eligible for OBC reservation · 9 attempts
SC / ST 37 years 02.08.1989 No attempt limit
PwBD — General / EWS 42 years 02.08.1984 Benchmark disability · 9 attempts
PwBD — OBC 45 years 02.08.1981 3 + 10 years, cumulative per Note-I
PwBD — SC / ST 47 years 02.08.1979 5 + 10 years, cumulative per Note-I
Ex-serviceman / ECO / SSCO (5 years' service) 37 years 02.08.1989 Released on completion of assignment, disability or invalidment
Defence personnel disabled in operations 35 years 02.08.1991 Disabled in hostilities or a disturbed area and released as a result
Upper-age relaxation per para 3(II)(2) of the CSE 2026 notice. SC, ST and OBC candidates who are also ex-servicemen or PwBD get both relaxations added together (Note-I). The minimum age of 21 is never relaxed.
Before you apply

Four things most pages get wrong

01 · The cutoff

Age is counted on 1 August 2026

You must be born not earlier than 2 August 1994 and not later than 1 August 2005. The date of the prelims or mains does not matter.

02 · Attempts

Six attempts for General and EWS, nine for OBC

SC/ST candidates have no attempt limit. PwBD candidates get nine (unlimited if SC/ST). Appearing in any one prelims paper counts as an attempt.

03 · Cumulative

SC/ST/OBC relaxation adds to PwBD or ex-servicemen relaxation

An OBC candidate with a benchmark disability gets 3 + 10 = 13 years, so the upper limit is 45 on 1 August 2026.

04 · The floor

21 is the minimum for every category

Relaxations raise only the upper limit. A candidate born after 1 August 2005 cannot apply for CSE 2026 in any category.

Post-wise

One more thing about the posts

One age window (21–32) covers every service filled through CSE 2026, including IAS, IFS and IPS. What limits candidates more often is the attempt cap, not a post-wise age limit.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

The queries people actually search
What is the age limit for UPSC CSE 2026?+
21 to 32 years as on 1 August 2026 for General and EWS candidates — born between 2 August 1994 and 1 August 2005.
What is the UPSC age limit for OBC candidates?+
35 years as on 1 August 2026 — three years above the base 32, for OBC candidates eligible for reservation. OBC candidates get nine attempts.
What is the UPSC age limit for SC/ST candidates?+
37 years as on 1 August 2026, five years above the base, with no limit on the number of attempts.
How many attempts are allowed in UPSC CSE?+
Six for General and EWS, nine for OBC and for PwBD candidates in General, EWS or OBC, and unlimited for SC/ST. Each attempt still has to fall inside your age limit.
Does appearing in the prelims count as a UPSC attempt?+
Yes. Under the CSE 2026 notice, appearing in even one paper of the preliminary exam counts as an attempt, even if your candidature is later cancelled.
Can I apply for UPSC at 33?+
Not as a General or EWS candidate under CSE 2026. At 33 you are inside the limit only with a relaxation, such as OBC (35), SC/ST (37), PwBD or ex-servicemen.

Where to go next

Our own sites — useful once you know your age
Find scholarshipsIndiaScholarships.in — Verified Indian scholarships, matched to your category, state and family income. Check live vacanciesRozgaro.in — Government job notifications, tracked from the official notices every three hours.
Trust layer — why this page is different

We show you the date we checked.

Every number on this page comes from the official notification, and every page carries the date it was last verified. When a notification changes, the page changes with it — and the changelog says what changed.

Sources

This page

  • Last verified: 30 October 2026
  • Next review: 30 April 2027
  • Cutoff used: 2026-08-01

How we handle errors

  • Spotted a mistake? Report it — we correct and log it.
  • Corrections appear in the changelog below.
  • No data is invented to fill a gap.
Changelog
2026-10-30Page built from the UPSC CSE 2026 notice (dated 4 February 2026). Age reckoned on 1 August 2026. Closing date (27 February 2026, 6:00 pm) taken from the live UPSC examination page.