UPSC CSE 2025 Topper List: A Doctor at AIR 1, an Engineer at AIR 2 – Full Results Breakdown

The wait is finally over. The Union Public Service Commission declared the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025 final result on March 6, 2026, and the country has a new batch of officers ready to step into administration, diplomacy, and policing. A total of 958 candidates have been recommended across services including IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, and other Group A and B central services. Check UPSC toppers list 2026

This year’s result carries a few genuinely interesting stories. The topper is a doctor who traded prescriptions for policy files. The female topper is an engineer who had previously topped a state-level civil services exam. The third-ranker is a commerce graduate who had been refining his preparation across multiple attempts. The diversity of backgrounds in the top ranks is one of the more encouraging trends in this cycle.

Quick Facts: Result Date: March 6, 2026  |  Total Selected: 958 candidates  |  AIR 1: Anuj Agnihotri  |  Female Topper: Rajeshwari Suve M (AIR 2)  |  Marks release: within 15 days (by March 20, 2026)

UPSC CSE 2025 Top 10 Toppers List

Here is the complete top 10 list as officially released by UPSC:

The official merit list PDF, containing names and roll numbers of all 958 recommended candidates, is available on the UPSC website at upsc.gov.in. Detailed marks for all candidates will be published within 15 days of the result, which means by around March 20, 2026.

UPSC CSE 2025 Ranks 11 to 20

The list does not stop at 10. Ranks 11 through 20 are equally competitive and represent candidates from varied states and academic backgrounds:

Meet the Toppers: Who They Are and Where They Come From

AIR 1

Anuj Agnihotri — The Doctor Who Became a Bureaucrat

Anuj Agnihotri is from Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, a small town known largely for its nuclear power plant where his father works. He completed his MBBS from AIIMS Jodhpur in 2023, which alone is no small achievement. He cracked the civil services on his third attempt, and has been serving in DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service), a Group B gazetted service, before this result elevated his career trajectory significantly.

His story is particularly compelling because he comes from a non-coaching hub, smaller-town background, and still managed to outperform lakhs of candidates who had spent years in Delhi’s coaching corridors. His transition from medicine to administration has drawn wide attention, and he’s already become a reference point for aspirants who come from technical or science backgrounds.

AIR 2 — Female Topper

Rajeshwari Suve M — The Deputy Collector Who Aimed Higher

Rajeshwari Suve M is from Vadipatti in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu. She is an Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from Anna University, Chennai, and chose Sociology as her optional subject for the UPSC examination. She appeared in the Civil Services Preliminary Examination five times before this breakthrough, which speaks volumes about her perseverance.

What makes her story particularly interesting is that she was not starting from scratch. Rajeshwari had already cracked the TNPSC Group I examination and was serving as a Deputy Collector in Tamil Nadu when this result came in. Going from state-level topper to national-level AIR 2 while holding a public service posting is a rare kind of achievement, and her family’s strong academic background, with her mother serving as an Associate Professor, clearly played a role in shaping her outlook.

AIR 3

Akansh Dhull – From Commerce to Civil Services, the Persistent Haryanvi

Akansh Dhull hails from Rohtak in Haryana and completed his schooling in Chandigarh before pursuing a B.Com (Hons) from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), University of Delhi. He chose Commerce and Accountancy as his optional subject, a relatively uncommon choice that he handled exceptionally well.

Dhull had already cracked the examination in earlier cycles, securing AIR 342 in 2023, and continued appearing with improved preparation each year. His story is a good reminder that there is no fixed timeline for success in UPSC, and that iterating on your strategy while keeping your motivation steady is what separates those who eventually make the top ranks from those who stop midway.

“My parents nudged me to do this, and I was good in academics, so I thought it could be a good opportunity for me to try. I come from Haryana, and I have firsthand seen how civil services can impact the lives of people.”

AIR 4

Raghav Jhunjhunwala

Raghav Jhunjhunwala completed his B.A. (Hons) in Economics from the University of Delhi and went with Economics as his optional subject, building on his strong academic foundation in the discipline. His rank is a result of deep subject mastery combined with consistent performance across the mains papers.

AIR 5 to AIR 10

Ishan Bhatnagar, Zinnia Aurora, A R Rajah Mohaideen, Pakshal Secretry, Astha Jain, Ujjwal Priyank

The remaining top 10 represent a geographically and academically diverse set of candidates. A R Rajah Mohaideen’s presence at AIR 7 is worth noting as it reflects strong representation from southern India in this cycle. Zinnia Aurora at AIR 6 adds to the strong women’s showing in this year’s results. Full details including marks and optional subjects for these candidates will be available once UPSC releases the detailed scorecard by around March 20.

How Many Vacancies Are There in IAS, IPS and IFS?

UPSC had announced 1,087 vacancies for the Civil Services Examination 2025 cycle. Here is how the major services break down:

Out of the 958 recommended candidates, 38 positions are reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD). Category-wise, 317 of the total 958 selected candidates belong to the General category, and 104 are from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category. The remaining selections cover OBC, SC, and ST categories as per reservation norms.

Importantly, actual appointments to individual services will depend on the specific number of vacancies reported by the government for each service, candidate preferences, and category-wise merit. The service allocation process comes after the final merit list is released.

How Does the UPSC Service Allocation Actually Work?

A lot of aspirants understand the examination process but are less clear on what happens after the result. Here is how it works in practice.

Once the merit list is published, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) takes over and issues appointment letters. Selected candidates are called for a foundation course, after which they proceed to their respective training academies. IAS officers go to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie, IPS officers head to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, and IFS officers go through the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi.

The cadre allocation for IAS is based on a mix of rank, home state preference, and category. Higher-ranked candidates have more say in which state cadre they are allotted. For IPS, zonal allocation operates similarly. IFS postings are handled by the Ministry of External Affairs and are central service deployments across embassies and consulates.

UPSC CSE 2025: Key Exam Timeline

One thing worth noting: UPSC wrapped this result just seven days after the interviews concluded on February 27. That is consistent with recent years, where the commission has been increasingly efficient in closing out the cycle quickly after the personality test ends.

What Can Aspirants Learn From This Year’s Toppers?

If there is one takeaway from the UPSC CSE 2025 topper list, it is that there is no single template for success. The AIR 1 is a doctor. The AIR 2 is an engineer who chose Sociology as her optional and cleared the exam on her fifth try. The AIR 3 is a commerce graduate. Raghav Jhunjhunwala at AIR 4 is an economics graduate who matched his academic background with his optional subject choice.

What cuts across all these backgrounds is the quality of preparation rather than the discipline or the degree. Optional subject selection, consistent answer writing practice, newspaper reading habits, and performance in the personality test together determine final rank. There is no shortcut, but there is clearly no single right path either.

A few practical patterns visible in recent years worth keeping in mind for UPSC 2026 preparation:

• Multiple attempts are normal: Rajeshwari Suve M appeared five times before her breakthrough. Anuj Agnihotri cracked it in his third. Persistence with refinement is what works.
• Optional subject alignment matters: Choosing a subject you genuinely understand and can write well about, rather than what coaching centres recommend, has produced strong results.
• Interview preparation is not optional: The personality test carries 275 marks out of a total of 2025, and a strong performance there can make the difference between an IAS rank and a lower-preference service.
• Technical and science graduates are doing well: Anuj Agnihotri and Rajeshwari Suve M both come from STEM backgrounds, showing that analytical training from engineering and medicine translates well into UPSC mains answer writing.

UPSC Result Trends Over the Years: A Quick Look Back

The 2025 cycle selected fewer candidates (958) compared to 2024 (1,009) and 2023 (1,016), largely because the government advertised fewer vacancies this year at 979 compared to 1,105 in 2024. The slight dip in total selections is a direct reflection of vacancy reporting, not any change in difficulty or standards of the exam.

How to Check Your UPSC CSE 2025 Result

If you appeared for the examination and want to verify your status, here is how to do it:

1. Visit the official UPSC website at upsc.gov.in.
2. Look for the “What’s New” section on the homepage, or navigate to “Final Results.”
3. Click on the link titled “Final Result: Civil Services Examination 2025.”
4. The PDF will open containing the roll numbers and names of all recommended candidates.
5. Use Ctrl + F to search for your roll number or name within the document.

Candidates who have qualified will receive official communication from DoPT regarding the next steps, including document verification and training schedules. For any queries, UPSC’s Facilitation Counter is reachable on working days between 10 AM and 5 PM at 23385271, 23381125, and 23098543.

Final Thoughts

The UPSC CSE 2025 result is more than just a list of names and ranks. Behind every single one of those 958 selections is a multi-year journey of reading, revising, failing, recovering, and pushing forward again. Anuj Agnihotri topping with a medical background, Rajeshwari Suve building on a state-level posting to crack the national examination, and Akansh Dhull improving from AIR 342 to AIR 3 across attempts, these are the kinds of stories that make this examination unique in its character.

For those still preparing, UPSC 2026 prelims are scheduled for May 24, 2026, with mains on August 21, 2026. The window to start your preparation, or recalibrate it, is right now.

We will update this post as UPSC releases the detailed marks sheet and further information on service allocation. Bookmark this page and check back.

Source: Official UPSC merit list PDF (upsc.gov.in), PTI