By Sumaila Zaman | Updated: March 13, 2026 9:34 AM IST
The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages -- preliminary, main and personality test (or interview) -- to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
The civil services (preliminary) examination, 2025 was conducted on May 25, last year. A total of 9,37,876 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 5,76,793 actually appeared in the test. As many as 14,161 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination which was held in August, 2025. Of these, 2,736 candidates qualified for the personality test (interview) of the examination.
The merit is determined out of the total of 2,025 marks -- the written or main exam is of 1,750 marks and the interview is of 275 marks.
Anuj Agnihotri, a graduate from AIIMS Jodhpur who topped UPSC's civil services examination 2025, secured 1,071 marks with a percentage of 52.88, according to the details of marks disclosed by the commission
Second-rank holder Rajeshwari Suve M has got 52.69 per cent. She scored 1,067 marks --865 in written part and 202 in interview. Rajeshwari (28), who has a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, got the second rank with sociology as her optional subject.
Akansh Dhull, who secured third rank, scored 52.19 per cent. He got a total of 1,057 marks -- 864 in written and 193 in interview.
Fourth and fifth rank achievers-- Raghav Jhunjhunwala and Ishan Bhatnagar -- have got 51.45 per cent and 51.25 per cent respectively. Jhunjhunwala, who has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics from University of Delhi, got 1,042 marks (847 in written and 195 in interview).
Bhatnagar, who holds BA LLB (Hons) from National Law University, Delhi, scored 1,038 (823 in main exam and 215 in interview).