Exam resources

UPSC Assistant Director, IEDS (Food) 2026

Notification Out

UPSC recruits Assistant Director Grade-I and Grade-II (Food) officers for the Indian Enterprise Development Service (IEDS), Office of the Development Commissioner (MSME).

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) recruits Assistant Director Grade-I and Grade-II (Food) officers for the Indian Enterprise Development Service (IEDS), under the Office of the Development Commissioner (MSME). The 2026 cycle has seven Food posts: three Grade-I and four Grade-II. Applications closed on 12 June 2026; the combined offline recruitment test is scheduled for 11 October 2026, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.

Conducted by: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

See Essential qualifications for the applicable requirements and their source.

2026 combined recruitment-test notice (opens on the official site) UPSC Advertisement No. 05/2026 (opens on the official site) 2025 combined recruitment-test notice (opens on the official site) UPSC recruitment-test notices (opens on the official site) UPSC final-result archives (opens on the official site)

Refer to the current official notification for the complete syllabus and eligibility requirements, which may change between examination cycles.

Who can apply

For the 2026 Food posts, UPSC accepts a B.Tech in Food Technology or a Post Graduate Diploma in Fruits Technology. Applications for this cycle closed on 12 June 2026.

Grade-I (Vacancy No. 26050521623): 3 posts — UR 1, OBC 1, SC 1; Pay Level 10; age 30 years UR, 33 OBC, 35 SC
Grade-II (Vacancy No. 26050522623): 4 posts — UR 2, OBC 1, ST 1; Pay Level 7; age 30 years UR, 33 OBC, 35 ST
Essential qualification for both posts: B.Tech Food Technology or PG Diploma in Fruits Technology from a recognised university or institute
Combined offline test: 11 October 2026, 2:00-4:00 PM; objective, English and Hindi, with one-third negative marking

This is a sourced summary, not a verbatim copy or confirmation of a new recruitment cycle. Check the applicable notice for age, reservations, experience and accepted qualifications.

Source: UPSC Advertisement No. 05/2026 ↗. Source: UPSC 2026 combined RT notice ↗. Checked 2026-09-13.

Source status: The section figures below describe the papers available on this site unless an official scheme is expressly identified. A past paper or mock is not proof of the next recruitment’s pattern. Check the examining body’s current notice before relying on question counts, duration or marking.

Every section is compulsory, with no choice between them, and the paper is timed at 120 minutes.

Sections, questions and marks
Section	Questions	Marks	Status
General Studies and Engineering Aptitude	120	300	Compulsory
Paper total	120	300

The 2026 UPSC notice fixes a two-hour bilingual (English and Hindi) objective paper with equal marks and a one-third penalty for each wrong answer. It does not state the question count or total marks; 120 questions and 300 marks are taken from both actual 2024 IEDS General Aptitude Test booklets supplied with these resources.

The 2026 rows are the current advertised vacancies; applicant counts are not yet published. The 2024 cut-offs are for Assistant Director Grade-II (Food), IEDS, Advertisement No. 10/2024 (Vacancy No. 24051023625). A dash means UPSC did not report a figure in the supplied result sheet.

Vacancies and applicant volume

Vacancies and applicants by recruitment cycle
Year	Post	Vacancies	Category split	Applicants / appeared	Source
2026	Assistant Director Grade-I (Food)	3	UR 1, OBC 1, SC 1	Not published	UPSC Advertisement No. 05/2026 ↗
2026	Assistant Director Grade-II (Food)	4	UR 2, OBC 1, ST 1	Not published	UPSC Advertisement No. 05/2026 ↗
2025	Assistant Director Grade-I (Food)	17	Category split not stated in the supplied test-date notice	2,089 (Gen 759, OBC 850, EWS 102, SC 307, ST 71)	UPSC notice ↗ Applicant-count reply ↗
2025	Assistant Director Grade-II (Food)	4	Category split not stated in the supplied test-date notice	1,324 (Gen 535, OBC 575, EWS 74, SC 112, ST 28)	UPSC notice ↗ Applicant-count reply ↗
2024	Assistant Director Grade-II (Food)	19	UR 1, OBC 8, SC 6, ST 2, EWS 2; one vacancy reserved for PH-HI	402 appeared in the recruitment test	UPSC marks and cut-off sheet ↗

Category-wise cut-off marks

Category-wise cut-off marks by year
Year	Stage	UR	OBC	SC	ST	EWS	PH-HI	Source
2024	Recruitment Test (out of 300)	100.83	70.83	57.50	55.00	63.33	15.00	UPSC result sheet ↗
2024	Interview (out of 100)	50	45	40	40	50	40	UPSC result sheet ↗
2024	Final selection (out of 400)	—	142.00	127.50	136.50	139.83	69.00	UPSC result sheet ↗
2024	Highest marks	—	155.83	142.83	140.18	163.18	69.00	UPSC result sheet ↗

These changes are derived from a comparison of consecutive papers for the same post. They do not represent an official announcement.

Detected changes between consecutive papers
Change	Compared papers	Before	After	What changed
2025	UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2025 — General Studies & Engineering Aptitude → UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2025 — General Aptitude Test	100 q 200 marks 120 min 1 section	100 q 200 marks 120 min 1 section	Dropped General Studies & Engineering Aptitude Added General Aptitude Test
2024	UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2023 — General Studies & Engineering Aptitude → UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2024 — Grade-II Preview	100 q 200 marks 120 min 1 section	10 q 25 marks 10 min 1 section	Questions 100 → 10 Duration 120 → 10 min Marks 200 → 25 Dropped General Studies & Engineering Aptitude Added Current Affairs
2024	UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2024 — Grade-II Preview → UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2024 — Grade-I Preview	10 q 25 marks 10 min 1 section	10 q 25 marks 10 min 1 section	Dropped Current Affairs Added General Aptitude
2024	UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2024 — Grade-I Preview → UPSC IEDS Previous Year Paper 2024 — General Studies & Engineering Aptitude	10 q 25 marks 10 min 1 section	100 q 200 marks 120 min 1 section	Questions 10 → 100 Duration 10 → 120 min Marks 25 → 200 Dropped General Aptitude Added General Studies & Engineering Aptitude

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