The Indian Communication Finance Service (ICFS), originally known as the Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS), is a group “A” Central Civil Service unit in India. ICFS After passing the Civil Services Exam, aspirants go through a four-month training programme with executives from other services such as the IAS, IFS, and others. This is followed by a six-month programme at the National Institute of Financial Management in Faridabad, which includes extensive financial planning, mentorship, and coaching.
It is an Indian Ministry of Finance-run specialised training academy. The service was founded in 1972 to provide specialised financial management for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). It was India’s leading provider of communication services.
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ICFS Recruitment 2024 Notification
The Indian Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is expected to release the ICFS 2024 announcement in the near future. The official announcement for the Indian Communication Finance Service 2024 is expected to be uploaded on the official website soon. Candidates are urged to check the UPSC’s official website for updates on the notification’s issuance on a regular basis.
ICFS Recruitment 2024 Exam Overview
Particulars | Details |
---|---|
Exam Name | ICFS Recruitment 2024 |
Organising Body | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
Exam Level | National |
Exam Frequency | Once a year |
Exam Stages |
|
Post Name/Purpose of the exam | For recruitment of candidates as Grade ‘A’ officers at |
Official Website | https://www.upsc.gov.in/ |
Relevant Links | ||
---|---|---|
EPFO Recruitment | MPSC | HPSC |
KPSC | JKPSC | IDAS Recruitment |
ICFS Recruitment Eligibility Criteria 2024
To be eligible to take the Indian Communication Finance Services recruitment 2024 exam, candidates must meet certain requirements.
Nationality
All applicants must meet one or more of the following criteria:
- A permanent resident of India, a Nepalese civilian, a Bhutanese subject, or a Tibetan migrant who landed in India before January 1, 1962.
- A person of Indian ancestry who has moved to India indefinitely from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, or East African countries like Kenya, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia, or Vietnam.
- Candidates in categories (2), (3), (4), and (5) must produce an admissibility certificate issued by the Indian government.
- 2024 ICFS Ex-Servicemen Eligibility
- Those who are categorised as ex-servicemen under the ex-servicemen legislation will be referred to as ex-servicemen.
Ex-Servicemen and commissioned officers, including ECOs/SSCOs, who are released of their own volition will be ineligible for age concessions.
Educational Qualifications
The educational requirements of candidates must meet the following enrollment criteria:
- A bachelor’s degree from a recognised university is required of the candidate.
- Applicants who have completed or will complete the qualifying examination and are awaiting results are also eligible.
- Candidates with government-recognized professional and technical qualifications, or equivalents, may also apply.
- Candidates who have passed the final year of their MBBS or any other medical examination but have not yet completed their internship are eligible to take the Mains Exam. Candidates in this situation must present a certificate from the relevant university demonstrating that they passed the final professional medical examination.
Age Criteria
A candidate must be at least 21 years old on August 1st of the examination year and not have reached the age of 30. The upper age limit for the following applicants will be lowered:
- Up to 5 years for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST).
- Up to three years if you’re on the OBC list.
- State of Jammu and Kashmir: Up to 5 years (Domiciled from January 1, 1980, to December 31, 1989).
- Armed services personnel (disabled in operations during conflicts with any foreign country or in a troubled area and freed as a result): up to 5 years
- Up to 5 years for ex-servicemen (including commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs).
- Up to ten years for the blind, deaf-mute, and orthopedically handicapped people.
Cumulative Age Relaxation
Individuals in the SC, ST and OBC categories who are also covered by the other clauses listed above are eligible for cumulative age relaxation in both classes.
Number of Attempts
Since the 1984 exam, there have been restrictions on the maximum number of attempts. If there are any further eligibility conditions, general candidates are limited to seven attempts. For SC/ST, there are no limits, while for OBC, there are nine opportunities.
ICFS Recruitment Exam Pattern 2024
Despite the fact that the UPSC Civil Services Exam is divided into two phases (Preliminary and Main Examination), it is actually a three-stage test. The third aspect is a character evaluation or interview.
According to the frame structure, applicants who pass the Prelims are qualified for the Mains, and those who pass the Mains advance to the interview stage.
Prelims Exam Pattern
The UPSC test pattern for the Preliminary stage of the ICFS recruiting process consists of two examinations that are administered on the same day. Multiple-choice responses are included in the objective-type questions on both exams.
The ICFS Prelims test is a screening process that determines who is eligible to take the Mains exam. Although the scores earned at this stage do not go toward the final merit list, applicants should study diligently for this exam because cut-offs vary from year to year and are calculated using the total average.
The UPSC Preliminary Examination Pattern is as follows:
Paper | Type | No. of questions | Total Marks | Duration | Negative marks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
General Studies I | Objective | 100 | 200 | 2 hours | Yes |
General Studies II (CSAT) | Objective | 80 | 200 | 2 hours | Yes |
Total UPSC marks for Prelims | 400 (where GS Paper II is qualifying in nature with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%) |
Main Exam Pattern
The UPSC Mains test is divided into nine sessions and is held over a five- to seven-day period. Only those who earned at least the stipulated cutoff in General Studies I and 33 per cent in General Studies II in the Prelims test would be allowed to sit the Mains exam.
According to the exam pattern, descriptive response style questions appear on all of the UPSC main examination papers. It’s a time-consuming process, and your UPSC Mains total score has a direct bearing on your overall score. As a result, UPSC Mains exam results are extremely essential because they are used to assess qualifications. The following is the UPSC exam pattern information, as well as their relative marks:
Paper | Subject | Duration | Total marks |
---|---|---|---|
Paper A | Compulsory Indian language | 3 hours | 300 |
Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 |
Paper I | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper II | General Studies I | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper III | General Studies II | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper IV | General Studies III | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper V | General Studies IV | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper VI | Optional I | 3 hours | 250 |
Paper VII | Optional II | 3 hours | 250 |
All of the main examinations are merit-based, with the exception of the language tests A and B. Papers A and B are qualifying papers, and applicants must score at least a quarter of a point in each to have their results from Paper I through Paper VII recognised.
Applicants from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim, as well as applicants with hearing impairment, are exempt from Paper A if they can establish that their respective boards or institutions have exempted them from such 2nd or 3rd English classes. The Indian Language paper describes any of the dialects mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
ICFS Recruitment Interview 2024
The interview is one of the most important components of the ICFS exam. It’s critical that you communicate well with the interviewers. As a result, you should focus on honing your communication skills and body language.
Certain abilities are innate in some applicants. On the other hand, a candidate must speak from the heart or honestly respond to all questions.
ICFS Recruitment Salary Structure 2024
Aside from the job description, another appealing feature for those contemplating a career in ICFS is the pay range and promotion chances. The table below contains detailed information on the Grade and Payscale for the ICFS 2024 recruiting exams.
Grade | DoT | DoP | Pay Scale (in INR) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
HQ | Field | HQ | Field | ||
Junior Time Scale | Assistant Chief Accounts Officer | Assistant Chief Accounts Officer | Assistant Chief Accounts Officer | Assistant Chief Accounts Officer | 15600-39100 + Grade Pay 5400 |
Junior Administrative Grade | Director | Joint Controller of Communication Accounts | Director | Director | 15600-39100 + Grade Pay 7600 |
Senior Administrative Grade | Deputy Director-General/Joint Administrator | Controller of Communication Accounts | Deputy Director-General/General Manager | General Manager | 37400-67000 + Grade Pay 10000 |
Senior Time Scale | Assistant Director-General | Deputy Controller of Communication Accounts | Assistant Director-General | Deputy Director | 15600-39100 + Grade Pay 6600 |
Higher Administrative Grade | Senior Deputy Director-General | Principal Controller of Communication Accounts | – | – | 67000(Annual increment at 3%)-79000 |
Higher Administrative Grade+ | Advisor (Finance) | – | – | – | 75500-80000 |
ICFS Recruitment Training 2024
The training begins at LBSNAA in Mussourie, much as it does for IAS employees. The following table summarises the training that the IP&TAFS probation officers received:
Module | Institution | Duration |
---|---|---|
Foundation Course | LBSNAA, Mussourie | 16 days |
Department Training | National Institute of Communication Finance, New Delhi | 36 weeks |
Professional Training Course | National Institute of Finance Management, Faridabad | 44 weeks |
ICFS Recruitment Roles and Responsibilities
The following are the roles and responsibilities of applicants selected through the ICFS 2024 recruiting examinations:
- Obtaining and evaluating licencing and spectrum usage costs from telecommunications companies.
- Conducting 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrum auctions.
- Policymaking in the telecommunications and postal sectors
- Budget management in telecommunications and postal services.
- Internal audits of telecom and postal agencies are being conducted.
- Accountancy in the telecommunications and postal sectors.
- Pensions in the telecom and postal sectors, as well as MTNL and BSNL, are being coordinated.
ICFS Recruitment Career Growth 2024
Officers in the ICFS cadre have the opportunity to work in a range of roles, as detailed below.
- Financial advisors and authorities in charge of information technology
- Budget and accounting supervisors
- Managers of finance and assets
- Spectrum allocators are officers that are in charge of allocating spectrum.
- As project supervisors in the communications section, internal auditing officers
- Revenue assessment and collection
- Officers in charge of disbursement for the management of rural projects.
ICFS Recruitment FAQs
It is made up of nine descriptive papers that must be completed within five days. Paper A (language paper, in which you can choose from a list of UPSC-approved languages.)
Paper A (necessary English language) and Paper B (which is not required for candidates from the North-Eastern states of India) are both admissible. The following tests, Papers I through VII, are worth 250 points each and are utilised to compute the Main Score.
The candidate’s category determines the number of times they attempt the civil service tests.
Candidates in the general category may take the exam up to seven times, while those in the OBC category may take the exam up to nine times.
Candidates belonging to the SC/ST category, on the other hand, are not excluded from taking the exam.
The ICFS recruitment 2024 examination is divided into three sections.
Preliminary Exam
Mains Exam
Interview
To sit for the Mains exam, a candidate must first pass the Preliminary exam. If you are shortlisted after the main exam, you will be contacted for an interview. When calculating the final ranking, both the Mains and the interview scores are taken into account.