UPSC IAS Exam Centers 2026: City-wise Test Centers for Prelims Exam

IAS Prelims 2026 Exam Date

24 May '26

Updated on Dec 8, 2025 00:08 IST

By Rachit Kumar Saxena, Manager-Editorial

Overview

The Union Public Service Commission will release the Civil Service (IAS) exam centre list in the IAS 2026 notification. The Commission conduct the Civil Sercice (IAS) Prelims in all the major cities a state capitals. The exam will be conducted in offline mode across the nation on May 24, 2026. The candidates will be required to select the IAS exam centre in the application form.

The UPSC allot the Civil Service exam centre in first apply first allot basis. So it is suggested that to get the exam centre of one choice, one should apply as early as possible. The Civil Service (IAS) application will start on January 14, 2026. The Commission will inform the candidates about their exam centre only through their admit card.The Commission is expected to release the UPSC IAS admit card by May 10, 2026.

Table of contents

UPSC IAS Exam Centres List - Prelims
UPSC IAS 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule
UPSC IAS Exam Centres List - Main Exam
UPSC IAS Exam Centres 2026 FAQs

UPSC IAS Exam Centres List - Prelims

The number of UPSC IAS prelims exam centres are as follows.

Agartala	Gorakhpur	Patna
Agra	Gurgaon	PortBlair
Ajmer	Gwalior	Puducherry
Ahmedabad	Hyderabad	Pune
Aizawl	Imphal	Prayagraj (Allahabad)
Aligarh	Indore	Raipur
ALMORA (UTTARAKHAND)	Itanagar	Rajkot
Anantpuru (Andhra Pradesh)	Jabalpur	Ranchi
Aurangabad	Jaipur	Sambalpur
Begaluru	Jammu	Shillong
Bareilly	Jodhpur	Shimla
Bhopal	Jorhat	Siliguri
Bilaspur	Kochi	Srinagar
Chandigarh	Kohima	Srinagar (Uttarakhand)
Chennai	Kolkata	Surat
Coimbatore	Kozhikode (Calicut)	Thane
Cuttack	Leh	Thiruvananthapuram
Dehradun	Lucknow	Tiruchirapalli
Delhi	Ludhiana	Tirupati
Dharwad	Madurai	Udaipur
Dispur	Mumbai	Varanasi
Faridabad	Mysuru	Vellore
Gangtok	Nagpur	Vijayawada
Gaya	Navi Mumbai	Vishakhapatnam
Gautam Buddh Nagar	Nasik	Warangal
Ghaziabad	Panaji (Goa)	Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh)
Mandi, (Himachal Pradesh)

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is the duration of IAS prelims exam?

The IAS prelims exam is conducted offline in a pen and paper mode. The IAS prelims exam is conducted in two shifts on a single day. The candidates are required to appear in both the papers and clear both of them. The IAS prelims result is prepared based on the marks scored in the General Studies paper 1. The IAS prelims General Studies paper 2 is qualifying only.

The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the IAS 2026 exam on May 24, 2026. The Commission is expected to release the IAS admit card online in the last week of April 2026.

Q: How many exam centres are there in IAS prelims exam?

The Union Public Service Commission mention the number and names of the exam cities in the official notification. The UPSC IAS Notification 2026 has been released at upsc.gov.in. The IAS prelims exam is conducted offline simultaneously across the nation. The candidates are required to opt for three exam centres in the IAS application and the Commission allots the exam centre on first apply first allot basis.

UPSC IAS 2026 Exam Dates & Schedule

Take a look at the table below for the complete schedule of IAS 2026 exam

Dates	Upcoming Exam Dates
May ' 26	IAS Prelims Admit Card 2026 Issue Date TENTATIVE
24 May ' 26	IAS Prelims 2026 Exam Date

Dates	Past Exam Dates
04 Feb ' 26 - 24 Feb ' 26	UPSC IAS 2026 Application Dates
22 Aug ' 25 - 31 Aug ' 25	IAS Main 2025 Exam Date
25 May ' 25	IAS Prelims 2025 Exam Date
View More Past Events (13)

UPSC IAS Exam Centres List - Main Exam

The UPSC IAS main exam is conducted on weekends and most of the time it takes two weekends to complete. The candidates need to make accommodations or travel various times to the exam centre. So the candidates need to include the travelling time to the UPSC IAS exam centres in their UPSC IAS preparation plan to avoid the hassles of the last minute. The candidates can see the UPSC IAS exam centre list for IAS main exam as notified by the UPSC.

Ahmedabad	Dehradun	Mumbai
Aizawl	Delhi	Patna
Prayagraj (Allahabad)	Dispur (Guwahati)	Raipur
Bangaluru	Hyderabad	Ranchi
Bhopal	Jaipur	Shillong
Chandigarh	Jammu	Shimla
Chennai	Kolkata	Thiruvananthapuram
Cuttack	Lucknow	Vijayawada

Note: The official website informs that the exam centres (for both preliminary and mains) will be allotted on a first-apply-first allot basis. Once the capacity of a particular UPSC IAS exam centre is attained, the same will be frozen and applicants will have to choose a centre from the remaining options. Applicants are, therefore, advised to apply early so that they can get an exam centre of their choice.