| Service overview | |
_logo.jpeg){kind=logo} Motto: "Excellence in action" | |
| Founded | 1858 IAS(During British rule) 26 January 1950 |
|---|---|
| Country |  India |
| Staff college | Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand |
| Cadre controlling authority | Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions |
| Minister responsible | Prime Minister of India and Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions |
| Legal personality | Governmental; Civil Service |
| Cadre strength | 4,926 members (3,511 officers directly recruited by the Union Public Service Commission and 1,415 officers promoted from state civil services)[1][2] |
| Selection | Civil Services Examination |
| Association | IAS (Central) Association |
| Head of the Civil services | |
| Cabinet Secretary of India | T. V. Somanathan, IAS |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of India |
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 India portal |
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India.[3] The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. Members of these three services serve the Government of India as well as the individual states. IAS officers are also deployed to various government establishments such as constitutional bodies, staff and line agencies, auxiliary bodies, public sector undertakings, regulatory bodies, statutory bodies and autonomous bodies.
As with other countries following the parliamentary system of government, the IAS is a part of the permanent bureaucracy of the nation;[4] and is an inseparable part of the executive of the Government of India. As such, the bureaucracy remains politically neutral and guarantees administrative continuity to the ruling party or coalition.[4]
Upon confirmation of service, an IAS officer serves a probationary period as a sub-divisional magistrate. Completion of this probation is followed by an executive administrative role in a district as a district magistrate and collector which lasts several years. After this tenure, an officer may be promoted to head a whole state administrative division as a divisional commissioner.
On attaining the higher scales of the pay matrix, IAS officers may lead government departments or ministries. In these roles, IAS officers represent the country at international level in bilateral and multilateral negotiations. If serving on a deputation, they may be employed in International organization such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or the United Nations, or its agencies. IAS officers are also involved in conducting elections in India as mandated by the Election Commission of India.
- ^ "CADRE STRENGTH OF INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE (AS ON 01.01.2017)" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. 1 January 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:3was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Service Profile for the Indian Administrative Service" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b Bhattacharjee, Subhomoy (22 June 2017). "In defence of administrative continuity". Business Standard. New Delhi. OCLC 496280002. Archived from the original on 29 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.