Know How to become an Indian Foreign Services Officer (IFS Officer)

Do you always wonder how major countries in the world maintain good relations with each other? If you said yes then you must also be aware of the importance of foreign services for a country, especially for its economic and political development. Do you wish to serve India’s interests in foreign countries? Do you think you would be able to deliver key decisions on behalf of India to other countries? Would you love to take up the major responsibilities that come with such a powerful position? Are you up for a challenging role till you really retire? If you have already said yes to the above few questions, then you are in for a treat as you’d learn a lot about this really interesting and challenging civil service. But remember only the extremely hard-working aspirants make it to the top list. If you think you have the potential then read more!

Indian Foreign Service is the diplomatic Civil Service of the executive branch of the Government of India. One of the major objectives of the Indian Foreign Service is building and integrating mutual understanding among the diplomats of the associated countries. As an Indian Foreign Service Officer, one of your many responsibilities would be to take decisions considering the foreign policies which are usually self-interest strategies that the state chooses so as to protect the national interests. When two or more countries plan to enter into democratic relations there are some aspects that one needs to look after for the success of the strategic dealings and interests.

Why become an Indian Foreign Service Officer (IFS Officer)?

Indian Foreign Service is the administrative diplomatic civil service of India. This is one of the All India Services under the Government of India (the other two are IAS and IPS). Indian Foreign Service Officers work at the office of the Ambassador of India at different Indian embassies across the world; at the office of the Indian High Commissioner and at Indian Consulates in various foreign countries; at the office of the Permanent Representative of India at the United Nations and at similar other representative offices at various intergovernmental organizations; and at the various offices of the Ministry of External Affairs of India inside India including the office of the Foreign Secretary of India.

Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officers work as Diplomats, representing India in several countries with which India has a diplomatic relationship

IFS Officers play the role of a diplomat when posted abroad. A Diplomat is an official who is appointed by a country (referred to as the home country) to conduct diplomacy with one or more countries (referred to as the host country/countries). Some of the functions in which the diplomats are involved are: 

• Developing and maintaining good relationships with other countries in the world.
• Representing the home country in the host country where a diplomat is posted; sharing and protecting the opinions and the political, business, economic, and other interests of the home country.
• Developing and maintaining good working relationships with the high-ranking officials, political leaders, business leaders, social leaders, and distinguished citizens of the host country in which a diplomat is posted as well as with the diplomats of other countries posted in the host country.
• Protecting the interests of the nationals of the home country when they are traveling to the host country in which a diplomat is posted; protecting the interests of the persons staying in the host country who are originally from the home country (such as the PIOs – Persons of Indian Origin staying, say, in the USA).
• Negotiating and facilitating various strategic trade deals and various political, business, economic, and other agreements between the home country and the host country.
• Facilitating business and trade relationships between the home country and the host country by organizing meetings, conventions, conferences, etc.
• Facilitating business, technological, defense, and several other types of deals between the home country and the host country.
• Facilitating cultural exchanges between the home country and the host country.
• Facilitating consular services to foreign nationals and also to the Indian nationals who are in the host country (consular services include – providing travel documents, approval of VISA, assistance and support to Indian nationals when they are in the foreign country, helping Indian nationals during crisis situations, liaison with officials, police, political leaders and others to help Indian nationals in the foreign country, and similar other services).

As an IFS officer, you will handle a whole lot of critical aspects of India’s relationships with other countries

As an Indian Foreign Service Officer, one of your many responsibilities would be to take decisions regarding foreign policies which are usually self-interest strategies that the country chooses so as to protect the national interests. 

When two or more countries plan to enter into a diplomatic relationship, there are some aspects that one needs to look after for the success of the strategic dealings and interests. Therefore as an Indian Foreign Officer, you would exclusively project and scheme India’s interests both internationally and nationally on matters such as global economy, foreign policies, strategic planning, terrorism, international law, and UN Reforms among many others. You would also impart India-specific judgments and solutions in the international territory such as India’s foreign policy, relations with neighboring countries, nuclear policy, and economy, etc.

You will be working at Indian Embassies, Indian High Commissions, and Indian Consulates

Most countries have a representative in various other countries to keep the political, business, economic, and cultural relationships between the two countries going. As an Indian Foreign Officer, you would be working for and under various capacities at the Indian Embassies in other countries, at the Indian High Commissions and at Indian Consulates (Consulates are departments of Embassies or High Commissions of a country at one or more locations in a host country).

An Embassy is a diplomatic mission (a group of officers) that represents a home country to a foreign country (or host country). A High Commission is a diplomatic mission of a commonwealth country to another commonwealth country (countries that were ruled by the British over the years are known as the commonwealth countries). For example, India’s diplomatic mission to the USA is called the Indian Embassy but that to England is called the High Commission of India.

The “Head of Mission” at an embassy is called an Ambassador and the chief diplomatic officer at a High Commission is called a High Commissioner. As an IFS officer either at the Embassy or at the High Commission of India in a host country, you would be a part of India’s Diplomatic Missions abroad. 

Well, you might be posted at home too after your initial stint abroad

You might be posted at the various departments and organizations of the Ministry of External Affairs in India. You will be working to formulate, implement, and monitor India’s foreign policies and relationship courses with various countries. You will be dealing with bilateral relationships with various countries and also engage in various dealings with representatives of foreign countries in India or abroad. 

You might have to look into various services to Indians in India such as the issue of passports, providing and extending VISA of foreigners in India, services for overseas citizens of India as well as services for the PIOs (Persons of Indian Origins, who are citizens of a foreign country but may hold a special passport meant for the PIOs). 

You might also have other roles such as public relations within and outside India; communicating with Indian and foreign media; organizing conventions and conferences, etc.

What does an Indian Foreign Service Officer do? 

As an Indian Foreign Service Officer at the Ministry of External Affairs, you would be responsible for the following major key roles and responsibilities:

• You would be responsible for all aspects of external relations in such a way that the territorial divisions would deal with bilateral political and economic work while the functional divisions would look after policy planning, multilateral organizations, regional groupings, legal matters, disarmament, protocol, consular, Indian Diaspora, press and publicity, administration and other aspects.

As an Indian Foreign Service Officer at an Indian Embassy or High Commission, you would be:

• Representing India in the allotted Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, and Permanent Missions to multilateral organizations like the UN.
• Protecting India’s national interests in the country of your posting
• Promoting friendly relations with the receiving state as also its people, including NRI/PIOs
• Reporting accurately on developments in the country of posting which are likely to influence the formulation of India’s policy to secure its national interests which include securing our borders to protect territorial integrity, countering cross-border terrorism, energy security, food security, cybersecurity, creation of world-class infrastructure, non-discriminatory global trade practices, equitable global responsibility for the protection of the environment, reform of institutions of global governance to reflect the contemporary realities, disarmament, regional stability, international peace and so on.
• Negotiating agreements on various issues with the authorities of the receiving state, extending consular facilities such as providing a provision of replacement travel documents, advice, and support in the case of an accident, serious illness, or death, to foreigners and Indian nationals abroad.

As an Under Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, you would be responsible for:

• You would supervise the overall Consular section. 
• You would deal with inquiries relating to the whereabouts of Indians abroad and their relatives in India and the whereabouts of foreigners in India. 
• You would handle complaints from abroad against individuals/firms in India and from India against individuals/firms etc. abroad 
• You would be accountable for the issue of the ‘No Objection’ to Return to India certificate to Indian Nationals from migration to foreign countries. 
• You would provide assistance to Indians abroad under the Baggage Rules and Transfer Rules of Residence Rules. 
• You would be involved in accounting procedures relating to Miscellaneous Consular work. 
• You would be involved in court-related matters for the settlement of bills in India from foreigners or in abroad from Indians. 
• You would also be holding Consular dialogues between India and other countries
• You would provide assistance in passport policy on diplomatic and official passports and Visa and e-Visa policy for various countries 
• You would also be responsible for the issuance of an extension of visas to diplomatic/officials assigned to foreign missions/consular posts

As a Deputy Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, you would be responsible for the following roles and responsibilities:

• You would consult directly with the relevant Minister, providing accurate information, interpretation of planning and decision influences, and timely responses to sensitive or contentious issues
• You would collaborate and maintain open relationships to expedite responses and information transfer
• You would negotiate budgets and resources consistent with strategic plans and goals
• You would alert to operational or service issues which may escalate or may have a State-wide impact
• You would communicate information related to performance against budget and potential variations which may have an impact on budgeting or budget performance
• You would set overall performance expectations and oversight the implementation of effective performance management frameworks and processes

Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary have interdependent roles and responsibilities. Asa Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs you would:

• Be in charge of the necessary measure of independent functioning and responsibility of the wing of the department allocated and entrusted to you
• Be in charge of exercising all administrative powers as head of the department wing of the ministry/department.
• Be responsible for filing all affidavits and responses before the Supreme Court of India.
• Report to your divisional/departmental additional secretary, departmental secretary, and ministerial/departmental cabinet minister.

As a Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, you would be responsible for:

• Acting as the administrative head of the ministry or department. 
• Acting as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.
• Representing the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.

How to become an Indian Foreign Service Officer – eligibility criteria 

To become an IFS Officer, you need to clear all three stages of the UPSC-conducted Civil Services Examination. Although the process of getting recruited is the same as an IAS officer, but your selection as IFS is majorly dependent on your ranking so you should be under the Top 100 or Top 30. The intake into the Indian Foreign Service has averaged between 16-20 persons annually.

To appear for Civil Services Examination, you must have a bachelor’s degree.  After pursuing your graduation, you can start preparing for UPSC. A post-graduation isn’t necessary to appear in this examination as the preparation for this examination is entirely different and is hardly dependent on your educational qualification.

UPSC Exam

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India. Generally, the recruitment process for the UPSC Indian Administrative Service comprises of three levels Preliminary Examination, Mains Examination, and Interview. The Preliminary Exam consists of two objective-type papers i.e. General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II which is also called CSAT, Civil Service Aptitude Test. The Main Examination consists of nine papers of the descriptive type followed by a Personal Interview or Personality Test. 

The Civil Services Preliminary examination comprises two compulsory papers of 200 marks each:

1. General Studies Paper I
   • Current events of national and international importance.
   • History of India and Indian National Movement.
   • Indian and World Geography
   • Indian Polity and Governance
   • Economic and Social Development 
   • General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change
   • General Science, Art, and Culture 
2. General Studies Paper-II- CSAT
   • Comprehension
   • Interpersonal skills 
   • Communication skills
   • Logical reasoning and analytical ability
   • Decision-making and problem-solving
   • General mental ability
   • Basic Numerical Ability & Data Interpretation

The Civil Services Main Examination comprises nine papers – two of the papers are of qualifying in nature (meaning that, you have to pass these two papers before being considered for ranking) and the rest of the seven papers are used for final ranking.

The two Qualifying Papers are:

Paper A: An Indian language of your choice (from various Indian languages such as Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, etc.)

Paper B: English

The other seven papers in the Main Examination are:

Paper 1: Essay

Paper 2: General Studies I (Indian heritage and culture, History and Geography of the world, and Society)

Paper 3: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice, International Relations)

Paper 4: General Studies III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security, Disaster Management)

Paper 5: General Studies IV (Ethics, Integrity, Aptitude)

Papers 6 & 7: Two optional papers as per your choice from the given list of papers (the list consists of papers like Agriculture, Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Literature (of a language of your choice), Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science & International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology, etc.)

The Personal Interview or Personality Test attempts to assess the suitability of a candidate for the Civil Services. It may assess the following attributes in a candidate (these are only indicative and do not comprise all the criteria):

• Analytical and logical abilities
• Balance of judgment
• Compassion and empathy
• Critical abilities
• Deductive and Inductive Reasoning abilities
• Ethical thinking
• Integrity and morality
• Intellectual abilities
• Interpersonal abilities
• Leadership abilities
• Multi-faceted interests and depth of interests
• Power of expression
• Self-awareness or intra-personal abilities
• Understanding of social issues and challenges

Educational Fees

The cost of studying to become an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer in India will depend on the educational path you take to qualify for the position.

To become an IFS officer, you will need to pass the Civil Services Examination (CSE), which is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) annually. The examination consists of three stages: the Preliminary examination, the Main examination, and the Personality Test (Interview).

The cost of preparing for the CSE will depend on several factors, including your educational background, your study materials, and the coaching classes you may choose to attend. Coaching classes for CSE preparation can range from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 or more, depending on the duration and quality of the program.

The application fee for the CSE is Rs. 100 for General/OBC category candidates, and there are no fees for candidates belonging to the SC/ST/PwD categories. If you qualify for the Main examination, you will need to pay an additional fee of Rs. 200 for the application.

Overall, the cost of studying to become an IFS officer in India can vary widely depending on your individual circumstances, but it is generally affordable compared to the potential rewards of this prestigious career.

Job Opportunities 

As a probationer, you would be trained at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. After training at LBSNAA, you would join the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi and later you would be assigned your compulsory foreign language (CFL). After a brief period of desk attachment in the Ministry of External Affairs as an Assistant Secretary, you will be posted to an Indian Mission abroad in a country where the CFL is the native language. Your first posting will be as a Third Secretary and you will spend one year in the position. You would then be spending another two years in the same Embassy as Second Secretary. After two postings abroad, you will be posted in India in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

As an Indian Foreign Service Officer, you may get to work in the following:

• Embassies and High Commissions in a foreign country

• Multilateral Organizations like United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Health Organization (WHO), and United Nations Environment Programme, etc.
• ​​​​​​​Ministry of External Affairs

Salary of Indian Foreign Service Officer (IFS Officer) 

As an IFS officer, one part of your earning will be a salary paid in Indian currency or equivalent foreign currency depending upon your country of posting. The following are the salaries as per the 7th pay commission.

As an Under-Secretary at the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) or as a Third Secretary at an Indian Diploma Mission abroad, you would earn around, Rs.56, 100 – 1,32, 000 per month.

As a Deputy Secretary at the MES or as a Second Secretary at an Indian Diplomatic Mission abroad, you would earn around, Rs. 67, 700 – 1,60,000 per month.

As a Director at the MES or as a Second Secretary at an Indian Diplomatic Mission abroad, you would earn around, Rs. 1,18,500 -2,14,100 per month.

As a Joint Secretary at the MES or as a Counsellor abroad, you would earn around, Rs. 1,44,200 – 2,18,200 per month.

As an Additional Secretary at the MES or as a Minister at an Indian Embassy or High Commission abroad, you would earn around, Rs. 1,82,200 – 2,24,100 per month.

As a Secretary at the MES or as a Deputy Chief of Mission/Deputy High Commissioner/Deputy Permanent Representative of an Indian Embassy or High Commission abroad, you would earn around, you will earn Rs. 2,25,000 per month.

As the top of your career, as the Foreign Secretary of India (posted at the MEA) or an Ambassador/High Commissioner/Permanent Representative at an Indian Diplomatic Mission abroad, you will earn around Rs.2,50,000 per month.

Foreign Services Allowance

Apart from your Indian Salary, if you are posted abroad, you will get a Foreign Services Allowance which is computed on the basis of the cost of living index of the foreign country where you are posted and your rank. This allowance could range from US dollars 2000 to 4000 or more in the currency of the country where you are posted. 

Other benefits

Apart from the Foreign Services Allowance, you will also get free housing, medical insurance, expenses for maids/other staff at home, an official car, etc. All these depend on your ranks, for example, when you join your first posting, you may be getting a 2BHK accommodation, but an Indian Ambassador may get a villa to live in and his personal chauffeur.

Career progression in Indian Foreign Service Officer Profession 

As Indian Foreign Service has both national and international positions, therefore career growth progression is different. Following are the career growth progressions:

At an Embassy or High Commission, you will grow as: Third Secretary/ Under Secretary – Second Secretary – First Secretary – Counsellor – Minister – Deputy Chief of Mission – Ambassador/ High Commissioner/ Permanent Representative

At the Ministry of External Affairs, you grow as: Under Secretary – Deputy Secretary – Director – Joint Secretary – Additional Secretary – Secretary – Foreign Secretary

What do industry trends say – Future Prospects

According to the 68th Annual Report provided by the UPSC, around 29,90,071 applications were received and processed, and 6,556 candidates were interviewed for Civil Services/Posts. A total of 4,829 candidates were recommended for appointment to various posts. A total of 3,323 candidates were recommended for Civil Services/Posts. The recruitment process usually depends on the ruling government policies and most importantly on the policies and requirements for administrative officers. Career growth in this field is very high as India’s role in the international markets has been growing significantly and there is an increasing demand for Diplomats to make international relations for economic growth and stability. Therefore, demand for Indian Foreign Officers is going to rise in the upcoming years.

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