DEFENCE · MAP #28
CDS — one exam, four academies, and the allotment that decides whether you get a pension
Clear the CDS after your degree and you are commissioned an officer at 22 or 23. Which academy you are sent to decides the rest: IMA, INA and AFA lead to a permanent commission and a pension, while OTA is ten years, extendable to fourteen, with a gratuity at the end and no pension. Of the 451 seats in the current notification, 293 are OTA.
10 min read
At a glance
- Entry Exam
- UPSC CDS — 300 marks with maths for IMA, INA and AFA, 200 without it for OTA → SSB → medical
- Starting Level
- Level 10 (₹56,100 basic) on commission, plus MSP ₹15,500
- Starting In-hand
- ₹1.03L–₹1.10L as a Lieutenant (August 2026, DA @ 60%) Derived from basic, MSP and DA, after NPS and AGIF deductions, and identical on both paths. What differs between IMA and OTA is not the pay, it is how long you draw it and whether a pension follows.
- Typical Postings
- Anywhere the service sends you. Field, high-altitude and counter-insurgency included
- Working Pattern
- Permanent commission through IMA, INA and AFA. Ten to fourteen years through OTA
- Best For
- A graduate who wants to be an officer and has read the difference between the two commissions
The 30-year journey
What happens, year by year
Every other career on this site forks somewhere in the middle. This one forks at the door. You sit one exam, clear one SSB, and land on one merit list. Then you are allotted an academy, and that allotment settles whether you are starting a career or a decade. Both paths pay the same on day one, wear the same uniform and carry the same rank badges. Only one of them ends with a pension.
- Year 0 Exam
Clearing CDS
Written paper, then five days at an SSB centre
You apply after a degree, between 19 and 24, unmarried. The paper you sit depends on the academy you want: English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics for IMA, INA and AFA, and only the first two for OTA. Then the SSB runs five days on psychology, group tasks and interview, and it rejects people the written paper passed. Look at the two papers again before you choose your preferences. The one without maths leads to the commission without a pension.
- Year 0–1.5 Stipend
Cadet at your allotted academy
₹56,100 basic · ₹56,100 fixed stipend in-hand The ₹56,100 stipend figure is carried over from the NDA research. Confirm it applies to CDS entrants at all four academies.
IMA Dehradun, INA Ezhimala, AFA Hyderabad or OTA Chennai
The merit list and the vacancies decide where you go, not your preference alone. IMA runs about 18 months. OTA runs 49 weeks for men and 11 months for women. The stipend is the same ₹56,100 a month wherever you are sent, and so is the training rigour. What has already been decided by the time you arrive is the shape of the next thirty years.
On allotment
Two commissions
OTA — Short Service
293 of 451 seats. Ten years, or fourteen, then a gratuity
- Year 1.5–8 L10
Lieutenant, then Captain
₹56,100 basic
Your first unit, then sub-unit responsibility
The same rank, the same pay slip and the same work as the officer commissioned from IMA on the same day. Nobody in your unit treats you differently and there is no reason they should. The difference is written in your commission rather than in your day: yours runs ten years.
- Year 8–10 L11
Major, and the ten-year decision
₹69,400 basic The share of Short Service officers granted a permanent commission is not published anywhere we could verify. One figure circulating is around 5%, from an unsourced forum answer, so treat it as small and vacancy-dependent rather than as a number you can plan on.
Company second-in-command, staff appointments
Major arrives at six years, the same as anyone else. Then the ten-year mark comes and it is a real decision rather than a formality. You can take the extension to fourteen years. You can apply for a permanent commission at around eleven or twelve years, which is granted on your record and on vacancies and goes to a small share of those who ask. Or you can leave at 32 with the gratuity.
- Year 10–14 L11
The extension, then release
₹69,400 basic
Wherever the service still needs you
Fourteen years is the ceiling. You are released in your mid-thirties with gratuity and leave encashment, no pension, and a decade of having commanded soldiers. Employers value it and many officers land well. It is still a job search at 36, run against people who spent those years building civilian careers, and it is the part of this route that the seat numbers never mention.
- Year The court Note
What the 2026 judgment did, and did not do
₹0 basic Judgment of 24 March 2026, Wing Commander Sucheta Edan and others, decided under Article 142 with benefits from 1 January 2025 and arrears of pay excluded. Verify the scope against the judgment text before relying on this summary.
Supreme Court, 24 March 2026
The Court held that women Short Service officers denied a permanent commission through evaluation it found arbitrary are entitled to full pensionary benefits, deeming them to have completed the twenty years a pension requires. It is worth knowing precisely what that covers, because the headlines do not. It was a one-time measure for officers considered in the selection boards of 2019, 2020 and 2021. It did not attach a pension to the Short Service Commission for anyone applying now. If you sit CDS this year and go to OTA, your commission still ends without one.
IMA, INA, AFA — Permanent
158 of 451 seats. A full career, pension at 20 years
- Year 1.5–8 L10
Lieutenant, then Captain
₹56,100 basic · ₹1.03L–₹1.18L in-hand
Your first unit, then sub-unit responsibility
Commissioned at 22 or 23 with a permanent commission, which is to say without an end date. Captain arrives at two years of service on time scale. From here the career is the one the NDA map traces rung by rung, and the only difference is that you reached it with a degree behind you and three years less seniority.
Via IMA, INA or AFA allotment.
- Year 8–20 L11–L12A
Major, then Lieutenant Colonel
₹69,400 basic · ₹1.22L–₹2.05L in-hand
Company second-in-command, staff and instructional tenures
Major at six years of service, Lieutenant Colonel at thirteen, both on time served. Twenty years of qualifying service is also where your pension vests, which is the line an OTA contemporary will never reach. Somewhere in this stretch the selection board that governs the rest of the career starts reading your file.
Via time scale, as on the NDA path.
- Year 20+ L13+
Colonel and above, by selection
₹1,30,600 basic · ₹2.10L–₹2.90L in-hand This rung is compressed on purpose. The full ladder to Lieutenant General, the select-versus-time-scale split and the pay at each rank are all in the NDA map.
Unit command, then brigade, division and corps appointments
Colonel comes by selection at around 15 to 18 years, or on time scale at 26 without a unit command, and everything above it is selection only. The NDA map lays that fork out properly, including the point where Military Service Pay stops. Read it there rather than twice.
Via the selection board.
Before you commit
Is this your kind of job?
The decision most CDS candidates think they are making is whether they can clear the exam. The one that will shape their forties is which academy they put first, and many fill that form without reading what separates the two commissions. Start there.
A good sign if…
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You want to be an officer and you have your degree
CDS is the graduate door into the same academies NDA feeds. You arrive three or four years older, with a degree in hand and a decision made by someone more formed than a seventeen-year-old.
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You have read the difference between the two commissions
IMA, INA and AFA mean a permanent commission and a pension. OTA means ten years, or fourteen. If you know that before you set your preferences, you are already ahead of most of the people in the hall.
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Ten years in uniform would be worth it on its own
Some people want the service, the command and the years, and are content to build something else afterwards. For them the Short Service Commission is not a consolation prize. It is the deal they would have chosen.
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You can carry the maths paper
The three-paper exam is what opens IMA, INA and AFA. Elementary Mathematics is the paper that decides whether the permanent-commission academies are on your list at all.
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You would rather be posted than settled
Field, high-altitude and counter-insurgency postings, with moves every couple of years. Both commissions carry that, for as long as they last.
Think twice if…
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You are treating OTA as a slightly lesser IMA
It is a different commission, not a lower rank. Same pay, same uniform, same work, and an end date in your mid-thirties with a gratuity instead of a pension. Going in without seeing that is how people end up bitter at 33.
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You are counting on converting to a permanent commission
You can apply at around eleven or twelve years, and it is granted on your record and on vacancies. The share who get it is small and not published. If your plan needs the conversion, you do not have a plan.
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You read the 2026 pension ruling as covering you
It was one-time relief for women officers considered in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 boards. A candidate applying now is still on a commission without a pension, and this is the misreading most likely to cost someone a decade.
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You are a woman applying for a permanent commission through this exam
Every one of the 18 women's seats in the current notification is at OTA. The pension question falls hardest on exactly the candidates the courts have spent six years litigating for, and you should check the live notification rather than take that as settled.
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A settled home matters more than the work
Postings are the service's to decide, separations are normal, and a spouse's career bends around yours. That cost is the same on both paths.
CDS is the cleanest graduate route into an officer's uniform, and on the permanent-commission side it is the same career the NDA map traces, reached with a degree behind you. The thing to be clear-eyed about is arithmetic rather than ambition: 293 of the 451 seats lead to a commission that ends in your mid-thirties without a pension, and the paper that opens the other 158 is the one with maths in it. If ten years in uniform is worth it on its own terms, OTA is an honest deal. If you are after the career, put the maths paper and the permanent-commission academies first, and if the wait is what stops you, NDA takes you into the same IMA three years sooner.
What nobody tells you
The cost of the job
Pay is easy to look up. The other costs aren't. Here's what you take on when you take this job.
The allotment decides the pension, and 65% of seats are OTA
One exam, one merit list, four academies. IMA, INA and AFA carry a permanent commission and a pension at twenty years of qualifying service. OTA carries ten years, extendable to fourteen, with gratuity and leave encashment at the end. In the current notification that is 158 seats against 293. You state preferences, and the merit list and the vacancies decide.
Two papers or three, and the difference is a pension
IMA, INA and AFA need English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics, 300 marks. OTA needs the first two, 200 marks, and takes candidates up to 25 rather than 24. The lighter paper is the one that leads to the commission without a pension, so the exam design itself nudges a candidate weak at maths toward the shorter career.
The Short Service Commission ends in your thirties
Ten years, or fourteen with the extension, and then release at 32 to 36 with a gratuity. A permanent commission can be applied for at around eleven or twelve years, granted on your record and on vacancies, and it goes to a small and unpublished share of those who ask. What you carry out is a decade of command and a job search against people who spent it building civilian careers.
What the courts changed, and what they left alone
Babita Puniya in 2020 and the judgments after it opened permanent commission consideration to women Short Service officers on the same terms as men. On 24 March 2026 the Supreme Court went further and granted full pensionary benefits to women officers denied that commission through processes it found arbitrary, deeming them to have completed twenty years of service. Read the scope carefully. It was one-time relief for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 boards, and the Short Service Commission still carries no pension for anyone applying today.
Salary projection
If you joined today
What each commission pays at every step, in today's rupees.
7th CPC defence pay matrix, Military Service Pay ₹15,500 for officers up to Brigadier, DA @ 60%, X-city HRA, after NPS and AGIF deductions. Army ladder used after commissioning.. The two columns are identical for the first eight years and that is the point: same rank, same pay, same work. They separate at ten years, when one commission offers an extension and an exit and the other simply continues. The gap that matters is not in this table at all, because a pension does not show up as monthly pay. 7th-CPC DA revises about every six months. We update this every year.
| Year | Milestone | OTA — Short Service 293 of 451 seats. Ends at 10 to 14 years | IMA, INA, AFA — Permanent 158 of 451 seats. Pension at 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Commissioned (Lieutenant) | L10 · ₹1.06L Both paths identical so far · Lieutenant | |
| 6 | Major, on time scale | L11 · ₹1.26L Both paths identical so far · Major | |
| 10 | The ten-year mark | L11 · ₹1.26L Extend to fourteen years, apply for a permanent commission at around eleven or twelve, or leave at 32 with the gratuity. Major, deciding whether to extend | L11 · ₹1.26L No decision to make. Lieutenant Colonel arrives on time scale at thirteen years. Major, continuing |
| 14 | Fourteen years in | Out · ₹0k The Short Service ceiling. Released in your mid-thirties with a gratuity and no pension. This row is zero because the commission has ended, not because the pay was. Released, gratuity and leave encashment | L12A · ₹2L On time scale at thirteen years, with the selection board and the rest of the ladder ahead. See the NDA map for how that fork runs. Lieutenant Colonel |
| 20 | Twenty years in | Out · ₹0k Not projectable, and this map will not invent a figure. Twenty years of qualifying service is where a pension vests, which is the line this path does not reach. Civilian, six years on | L13 · ₹2.15L By selection at around 15 to 18 years, or on time scale at 26 without a unit command. Pension vests at twenty years of qualifying service. Colonel |
In-hand figures are derived from basic, MSP and DA @ 60% and are not quoted from a pay order. The Short Service column stops because the commission does. Snapshot dated August 2026.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between IMA and OTA in CDS?
- IMA, INA and AFA lead to a permanent commission, which is a full career with a pension after twenty years of qualifying service. OTA leads to a Short Service Commission of ten years, extendable to fourteen, ending with gratuity and leave encashment but no pension. In the current notification 158 of the 451 seats are permanent and 293 are at OTA.
- Do OTA officers get a pension?
- No. A Short Service Commission ends after ten years, or fourteen with the extension, and carries gratuity and leave encashment rather than a pension. The one way to a pension is a permanent commission, which can be applied for at around eleven or twelve years of service and is granted on your record and on available vacancies.
- Does the 2026 Supreme Court ruling mean SSC officers now get a pension?
- Not for anyone applying now. On 24 March 2026 the Court granted full pensionary benefits to women Short Service officers who had been denied a permanent commission through evaluation it found arbitrary, deeming them to have completed the twenty years a pension requires. It was a one-time measure covering officers considered in the selection boards of 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Short Service Commission itself still carries no pension.
- How many marks is the CDS exam?
- 300 marks for IMA, INA and AFA, made of English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics at 100 each. 200 marks for OTA, which drops the mathematics paper. Every paper runs two hours, and 0.33 marks are deducted for a wrong answer. The SSB follows the written exam.
- What is the CDS age limit?
- Roughly 19 to 24 for IMA and INA, 20 to 24 for AFA, and 19 to 25 for OTA, and candidates must be unmarried. The exact windows are set by date of birth in each notification, so read the live one rather than a summary.
- Should I take CDS or NDA?
- NDA takes you at 16.5 to 19.5 from school, and every NDA seat carries a permanent commission. CDS takes graduates into the same academies, with the pension question depending on which one you are allotted. NDA gains you about three years of seniority. CDS gains you a degree and a decision made when you know yourself better.
Other jobs to compare
Trying to decide between options?
CDS sits between two other doors into the same forces, and beside a third that leads somewhere else entirely. Here is how they differ.
Defence
NDA
The same Indian Military Academy, entered from school instead of after a degree.
Decided at 16.5 rather than after graduation, and every NDA seat carries a permanent commission. You gain three years of seniority and give up the degree and the extra time to be sure.
View mapDefence
Agniveer (Indian Army)
The other Army entry with an end date written into it from day one.
Four years rather than ten to fourteen, as a soldier rather than an officer, on a package rather than a pay level. Both routes end without a pension for most of the people who take them.
View mapUniformed Services
CAPF Assistant Commandant
A permanent armed-officer career for the same graduate, through a different UPSC exam.
Every seat is permanent with a pension, and there is no Short Service split. The costs are elsewhere: no Military Service Pay, and an IPS-deputation ceiling at the top.
View mapSources
Where these numbers come from
Pay scales and career structure cross-referenced against official sources. If you notice anything outdated, the email below is the fastest way to fix it.
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UPSC CDS (II) 2026 notification — upsc.gov.in
The authority for the seat split across IMA, INA, AFA and OTA, eligibility, and the exam scheme. Seats are tentative and revisable by Services HQ.
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CDS (II) 2026 — 451 vacancies across the four academies — oswaalbooks.com/blogs/cds/cds-2-2026-notification-451-vacancies-guide
Source for IMA 100, INA 26, AFA 32, OTA 275 men and 18 women, and the 13 September 2026 exam date.
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CDS exam pattern and marking scheme — www.studyiq.com/articles/cds-exam-pattern/
Source for 300 marks with Elementary Mathematics for IMA, INA and AFA against 200 marks for OTA, and the 0.33 negative marking.
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Short Service Commission — tenure and terminal benefits — ncaacademy.com/short-service-commission-vs-permanent-commission-indian-army-2026/
Source for ten years extendable to fourteen, and for gratuity and leave encashment in place of a pension.
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The Week — Supreme Court grants pension to women SSC officers, 24 March 2026 — www.theweek.in/news/india/2026/03/24/scs-landmark-verdict-grants-pension-benefits-to-women-ssc-officers-in-defence.html
Source for the judgment, the Article 142 deeming of twenty years of qualifying service, and the one-time scope covering the 2019, 2020 and 2021 boards.
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OTA and IMA compared — training and commission — www.ssbcrack.com/2024/09/ota-vs-ima-know-the-difference-between-ota-and-ima.html
Source for IMA at about 18 months and OTA at 49 weeks for men and 11 months for women.
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Indian Army rank-wise pay under the 7th CPC — www.godigit.com/guides/defence-forces/ranks-and-salary-of-indian-army
Source for officer pay levels, starting basics and Military Service Pay of ₹15,500 up to Brigadier.
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Map by Gaurav Srivastava. Last reviewed 13 August 2026.
Seat numbers are from the current notification, are marked tentative and are revisable by Services HQ, so read the live UPSC notification before setting your preferences. Pay figures are derived from the 7th CPC defence pay matrix with Military Service Pay and DA at 60%, not quoted from a pay order. The scope of the March 2026 pension judgment is summarised here from reporting rather than from the judgment text. Not legal or financial advice.