page_title: Indian Foreign Service
section_title: Selection
hierarchical_section_title: Indian Foreign Service / Selection
caption_attribution_description: English: Scans of Indian Official and Diplomatic Passports
context_page_description: The Indian Foreign Service is the diplomatic civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services of the executive branch of the Government of India.
  The service is entrusted to conduct diplomacy and manage foreign relations of India. It is the body of career diplomats serving in more than 162 Indian Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations around the world. In addition, they serve at the headquarters of the Ministry of External affairs in Delhi and the Prime Minister's Office. They also head the Regional Passport Offices throughout the country and hold positions in the President's Secretariat and several ministries on deputation.
  The administrative and political heads are respectively the Foreign Secretary and the External Affairs Minister.
context_section_description: Officers of the IFS are recruited by the Government of India on the recommendation of the Union Public Service Commission. In 1948, the first group of Indian Foreign Service officers recruited under the combined Civil Services Examination administered by the Union Public Service Commission joined the service. This exam is still used to select new foreign service officers. Previous to 1948, some were appointed directly by the then Prime Minister and included former native rulers of India who had integrated their provinces into India apart from known persons like Mohammed Yunus. 
  Fresh recruits to the IFS are trained at Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute after a brief foundation course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. In recent years, the intake into the Indian Foreign Service has averaged between 25-30 persons annually.
caption: An Indian Diplomatic Passport and an Official Passport. As opposed to the deep blue passport issued to ordinary Indian citizens, the diplomatic passport is maroon-coloured with golden 'Diplomatic Passport' engraved on it in English and Hindi.
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