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DEFENCE · MAP #27

Defence →

NDA — the officer’s door you walk through at 16, and the board that decides the rest at 13 years

Clear the NDA at 16 or 17, train for four years, and be commissioned an officer at 21. Everything up to Lieutenant Colonel then comes on time served. What happens after that is decided by a selection board, and the officers it passes over reach Colonel thirteen years later than the ones it does not.

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KHADAKWASLA JOIN AT 16.5 TIME SERVED, NOT SELECTION Capt · 2 Maj · 6 Lt Col 13 yrs SELECTION BOARD Colonel ~18 yrs · command Brig Maj Gen Lt Gen MSP stops above Brig Lt Col, still, for another 13 years Colonel 26 yrs · no command same rank same pay

At a glance

Entry Exam
UPSC NDA & NA — Maths (300) + General Ability Test (600) → SSB interview (900) → 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. Not quoted from a pay order. One source computes this at DA 58% rather than the 60% used across this site, so the figure moves a little either way.
Typical Postings
Anywhere the service sends you. Field, high-altitude and counter-insurgency included
Working Pattern
Permanent commission. Four years of training first, then a full career in uniform
Best For
A student who is sure at 17, and who can accept that a board will decide the second half

The 30-year journey

What happens, year by year

You join at 16 or 17 and train for four years before you are commissioned. From there the first thirteen years are given to you: Captain at two years, Major at six, Lieutenant Colonel at thirteen, all on time served rather than on merit. Then a selection board takes over and the same ladder splits into two. One path keeps climbing on selection. The other keeps the rank badges coming, much later, without the command that goes with them.

  1. Year 0–3 Cadet

    Cadet, NDA Khadakwasla

    Three years at Khadakwasla, all three services together

    You arrive between 16 and a half and 19 and a half, out of school, having beaten roughly four to six lakh candidates for 394 seats. Three years follow at Khadakwasla with Army, Navy and Air Force cadets in the same squadrons. There is no stipend for these years. Training, education, food, quarters and uniform are paid for, so nothing is asked of your family either. What is asked is the decision itself, made at an age when most people are still choosing a degree.

  2. Year 3–4 Stipend

    Cadet, service academy

    ₹56,100 basic · ₹56,100 fixed stipend in-hand Whether this stipend year counts toward pension or toward your first increment is not stated in any source found. Worth asking before you plan around it.

    IMA for the Army, INA for the Navy, AFA for the Air Force

    The fourth year splits you by service. Now the stipend starts, fixed at ₹56,100 a month, and the training turns from general to specific. At the end of it you are commissioned: Lieutenant, Sub Lieutenant or Flying Officer, at about 21, with a permanent commission and a career that runs to your fifties.

  3. Year 4–6 L10

    Lieutenant

    ₹56,100 basic · ₹1.03L–₹1.10L in-hand

    Your first unit, as a troop or platoon commander

    At 21 you are an officer with soldiers under you, most of them older than you and several of them far more experienced. Level 10 basic is the same ₹56,100 an ISRO scientist starts on, but Military Service Pay of ₹15,500 sits on top and lifts the whole calculation, since DA is worked out on both. Your first posting is not yours to choose.

  4. Year 6–10 L10B

    Captain

    ₹61,300 basic · ₹1.12L–₹1.18L in-hand

    Sub-unit responsibility, courses, possibly a field tenure

    Two years of commissioned service and the rank comes. Nobody competes for it. This is the part of an Army career that a civilian ladder has no equivalent for: the promotions arrive because the calendar says so, provided you stay fit, stay clear of adverse reports and pass your courses.

  5. Year 10–17 L11

    Major

    ₹69,400 basic · ₹1.22L–₹1.30L in-hand

    Company second-in-command, staff appointments, instructional tenures

    Six years of service brings Major, with at least three of them in the field. You are experienced now, running things rather than learning them. Somewhere in this stretch the character of the career changes, because the selection board that decides the rest of it starts looking at the file you have been building since your first unit.

  6. Year 17–20 L12A

    Lieutenant Colonel

    ₹1,21,200 basic · ₹1.95L–₹2.05L in-hand Lt Col is the one rank that exists on both sides of the fork. It comes by time scale at 13 years, and also by selection, which is what puts an officer in line for command.

    Senior staff, second-in-command of a unit

    Thirteen years of service and the rank arrives on time, the last one that will. The jump in pay is the largest of the career, from ₹69,400 to ₹1,21,200 in basic. It is also the end of the automatic road. From here the Army stops handing you rank and starts choosing who gets it.

After Lieutenant Colonel

Two paths

Not selected

Colonel on time scale at 26 years, without commanding a unit

  1. Year 26 years L13

    Colonel, on time scale

    ₹1,30,600 basic Same Level 13 and the same ₹1,30,600 basic as a selected Colonel. The difference between the two paths at this rank is command and what comes after it, not money.

    Staff and administrative appointments, no unit command

    If the board passes you over you still become a Colonel, at 26 years of commissioned service. The pay is the same as the officer selected years earlier, and the badge is the same. What is missing is the command. You will not have led a battalion, and the ranks above are closed, because everything from here is selection only. Officers describe this as the quiet disappointment of the service, and a great many good ones live it.

  2. Year To retirement L13

    Colonel, to the end

    ₹1,30,600 basic

    Staff, training establishments, headquarters

    This is where a large share of an NDA batch finishes. It is a senior rank, a good pension and thirty-odd years of service that the country was glad to have. It is also not the career you pictured at 17, and the map would be lying to you if it put this rung anywhere other than at the centre of the picture.

Selected

Colonel with command, then the general officer ranks

  1. Year 15–18 L13

    Colonel, by selection

    ₹1,30,600 basic · ₹2.10L–₹2.20L in-hand

    Commanding Officer of a battalion or regiment

    Command of your own unit is the thing officers join for, and this is where it happens. Several hundred soldiers, your name on everything the unit does, and a tenure of two to three years that the rest of your career is judged on. The board that gave you this reads the same file every year from here.

    Via the selection board.

  2. Year 22–26 L13A

    Brigadier

    ₹1,39,600 basic · ₹2.25L–₹2.35L in-hand

    Brigade command, or a senior staff appointment

    A brigade is three or more battalions. Fewer officers pass this board than the last one, and the AV Singh Committee upgraded 1,896 posts across the services specifically to widen this part of the pyramid and bring down the age of commanding officers. Brigadier is also the last rank that draws Military Service Pay.

  3. Year 26–32 L14

    Major General

    ₹1,44,200 basic · ₹2.20L–₹2.30L in-hand This is derived arithmetic, not a sourced claim: (1,39,600 + 15,500) at DA 60% comes to more than 1,44,200 at DA 60%. Some other allowance may close the gap. Verify before relying on it.

    Division command, or a principal staff appointment

    General officer rank, a division of some 15,000 troops, and a seat where policy starts to be made rather than carried out. Look at the pay line and you will see something strange: the in-hand can sit lower than a Brigadier's. Basic rises by ₹4,600 while ₹15,500 of Military Service Pay stops.

    Via selection.

  4. Year 32+ L15

    Lieutenant General

    ₹1,82,200 basic · ₹2.75L–₹2.90L in-hand

    Corps command and the highest staff appointments

    A corps is three or four divisions. Above this sit the Army Commanders and the Chief, a handful of chairs in a service of over 42,000 officers. An NDA cadet who reaches here started as a schoolboy in a Khadakwasla squadron thirty-five years earlier.

    Via selection.

Before you commit

Is this your kind of job?

The hard part of this decision is its timing. You are being asked to choose a forty-year life at 16 or 17, against a written exam you can prepare for and an SSB you largely cannot. Look at the two things that decide whether you are happy at 45: whether you can live with a board holding the second half of your career, and whether the work itself is the point.

A good sign if…

  • You are certain, and the certainty is yours

    Plenty of NDA candidates are carrying a parent's ambition. The ones who last are the ones who would still choose it if nobody were watching. Sit with that question before the form, not after the SSB.

  • You want to lead early and you want soldiers, not staff

    At 21 you have a platoon. Almost no other career in India puts that in your hands at that age, and none of them mean it the way this does.

  • The first thirteen years being automatic suits you

    Captain at two years, Major at six, Lieutenant Colonel at thirteen. If you would rather build a record than compete for every step, this stretch of the career is unusually calm.

  • You can serve without command and still find it worth it

    Many officers never command a battalion. If a Colonel's rank, a full pension and thirty years of service would satisfy you even without that tenure, the fork loses much of its sting.

  • You would rather be posted than settled

    Field, high-altitude, counter-insurgency, and moves every couple of years. If the variety reads as the point of the job, the postings will not wear you down.

Think twice if…

  • You are not sure at 17

    Three years at Khadakwasla and a permanent commission is a heavy thing to enter on a maybe. CDS takes graduates into the same IMA. Waiting costs you three years of seniority and buys you a decision made with more of yourself formed.

  • Being passed over would define you

    Two officers commissioned the same day can reach Colonel thirteen years apart. If you would spend the second half of your career reading that gap as a verdict on your worth, weigh it now while it is still abstract.

  • You want your marks to be the whole test

    The written paper is the smaller half. The SSB runs five days on personality, group behaviour and how you think under watch, and it rejects candidates the written exam passed. There is no syllabus for it.

  • A settled home matters more than the work

    Postings are decided by the service, separations are normal, and a spouse's career bends around yours. This is the cost most often understated by people who have not lived it.

  • You are choosing it for the pay

    A Lieutenant at ₹1.03L is paid well for 21. Set against what the same student would earn in engineering or the private sector by 30, the money is not the argument, and the officers who joined for it are the ones who leave.

NDA gives you the earliest and cleanest run at an officer's career that India offers, and the first thirteen years of it arrive without a fight. Everything hangs on the board at the end of that stretch, so decide against the passed-over version of the career rather than the general officer one. If you are not certain at 17, CDS puts you in the same Indian Military Academy three years later with a degree behind you. If you want the Army now and the commitment is what stops you, Agniveer is four years rather than forty, and pays you at the end of it instead of the beginning.

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.

Thirteen years given, everything after earned

Captain at 2 years, Major at 6, Lieutenant Colonel at 13, all on time served. Then a selection board decides. Officers it passes over still reach Colonel, at 26 years of service, at the same pay and without a unit command. Two officers who joined on the same day can hold the same rank thirteen years apart, and only one of them has led a battalion.

You sign at 16, for a life you have not seen

The age window is 16.5 to 19.5, so the choice is made before Class 12 results in many cases. Three years at Khadakwasla follow with no stipend, then a service academy year, then a permanent commission at about 21. There is a route for people who want to be surer: CDS takes graduates into the same academies.

Under 0.1%, and the SSB is the real gate

394 seats against roughly four to six lakh candidates, twice a year. The written paper is 900 marks and the SSB is another 900 across five days of psychological tests, group tasks and interviews. Plenty of candidates clear the written exam and never clear the SSB, and no amount of preparation guarantees it.

A cadre that is short of you

The Army is running 8,443 officers short, 16.71% of an authorised 50,538 against a posted 42,095, and the intake of women is up 80% since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling opened NDA to them. The AV Singh Committee upgraded 1,896 posts to widen the senior pyramid and lower the age of commanding officers. The ladder is steep, and it is being worked on.

Salary projection

If you joined today

What each path 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. The Army ladder is used after commissioning.. The two columns hold the same rank at Colonel and differ in everything else. A selected officer reaches it around 15 to 18 years with command of a unit and the general ranks ahead; an officer on time scale reaches it at 26 years, on identical pay, with neither. Money is not what the fork costs you. 7th-CPC DA revises about every six months. We update this every year.

Year Milestone Not selected Colonel at 26 years, no unit command Selected Colonel with command, then general officer ranks
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
13 Lieutenant Colonel, then the fork L12A · ₹2L Both paths identical so far · Lieutenant Colonel
18 Paths split L12A · ₹2L An officer not selected stays a Lieutenant Colonel until the time-scale Colonel arrives at 26 years of service. Lieutenant Colonel, still L13 · ₹2.15L Selected Colonels take command of a battalion or regiment, typically for two to three years. Colonel, commanding a unit
26 Twenty-six years in L13 · ₹2.15L Same rank and same pay as the selected officer reached eight years earlier, without the unit command and with the ranks above closed. Colonel, on time scale L14 · ₹2.25L Military Service Pay of ₹15,500 stops above Brigadier while basic rises only ₹4,600, so the in-hand can sit below a Brigadier's. Derived arithmetic, verify. Major General

In-hand figures are derived from basic, MSP and DA @ 60% and are not quoted from a pay order. Military Service Pay stops above Brigadier, which is why the Major General line does not rise the way the rank suggests. Snapshot dated August 2026.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Frequently asked questions

What is the salary of an officer commissioned through NDA?
A Lieutenant starts at Level 10, ₹56,100 basic, plus Military Service Pay of ₹15,500. With DA at 60% that works out to roughly ₹1.03 lakh to ₹1.10 lakh in hand. During training there is no stipend for the three years at Khadakwasla and a fixed ₹56,100 a month for the academy year.
How long does it take to become a Colonel after NDA?
It depends on the selection board. Officers who are selected reach Colonel at roughly 15 to 18 years of service and command a unit. Officers who are not still reach Colonel, but on time scale at 26 years of commissioned service, on the same pay and without a unit command.
Are promotions in the Army automatic?
Up to Lieutenant Colonel they are. Captain comes at 2 years of service, Major at 6 with at least 3 in the field, and Lieutenant Colonel at 13, all on time served provided the qualitative requirements are met. Colonel and above are selection ranks, decided by boards convened under Paragraph 108 of the Regulations of the Army.
How many seats does NDA have and how many people apply?
394 vacancies were notified for NDA 2 2026 across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Naval Academy. Roughly four to six lakh candidates sit each cycle, which puts the success rate under 0.1%. The exam runs twice a year.
Can women join the NDA?
Yes, since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling, and the 2026 cycle includes seats for women. The exact number in the current notification has been revised, and the Naval Academy position has been reported differently in different places, so check the live notification rather than a coaching summary.
Should I take NDA or wait for CDS?
NDA takes you at 16.5 to 19.5 straight from school, with three years at Khadakwasla and a year at a service academy. CDS takes graduates into the same Indian Military Academy. NDA gains you seniority, CDS gains you a degree and a decision made three or four years later. If you are not certain at 17, that certainty is usually worth more than the seniority.

Other jobs to compare

Trying to decide between options?

NDA is one of four doors into a commission or a uniform, and they differ mostly in when you decide and how long you stay. Here are the closest.

Defence

Agniveer (Indian Army)

The same Army at the same age, entered at the other end.

Four years against forty. You would be a soldier rather than an officer, paid a package rather than a pay level, and paid out at 23 instead of pensioned at 54.

View map

Uniformed Services

CAPF Assistant Commandant

Armed officer service for a graduate, through the UPSC.

No Military Service Pay, and an IPS-deputation ceiling at the top rather than a selection board in the middle. You decide at 21 or later, not at 17.

View map

Civil Services

IAS

The other thing a top student at 17 is quietly weighing.

Decided after a degree, not before one. Authority through the district administration rather than through command, and no medical or SSB gate to pass.

View map

Sources

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.

  1. UPSC NDA & NA examination notification — upsc.gov.in

    The authority for seats, the age window, eligibility and the exam scheme. Open the current cycle notification.

  2. PIB archive — promotion of Army officers, select and non-select ranks — archive.pib.gov.in/archive/releases98/lyr2001/rdec2001/05122001/r0512200126.html

    Source for the split between time-scale ranks and selection ranks, and for Paragraph 108 selection boards.

  3. PIB — AV Singh Committee Phase-II approved — www.pib.gov.in/newsite/erelcontent.aspx?relid=43370

    Source for the upgrade of 1,896 posts to improve career mobility and lower the age of commanding officers.

  4. Time scale promotion in the Indian Army — www.ssbcrack.com/2018/08/time-scale-promotion-in-indian-army.html

    Source for Captain at 2 years, Major at 6, Lt Col at 13, and time-scale Colonel at 26.

  5. 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.

  6. NDA exam pattern and marking scheme — www.shiksha.com/exams/nda-exam-pattern

    Source for Maths 300, GAT 600 and the 900-mark SSB.

  7. Tribune — Army officer cadre short by 17 per cent, women intake up 80 per cent — www.tribuneindia.com/news/india/as-armys-officer-cadre-faces-shortage-of-17-per-cent-intake-of-women-up-by-80-per-cent/

    Source for the 8,443 shortfall against an authorised 50,538, and the rise in women joining.

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Found an error or have insider knowledge? Email admin@sarkarijobguide.com

Map by Gaurav Srivastava. Last reviewed 13 August 2026.

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, and DA revises about every six months. Promotion timings are the published time-scale norms and can vary with qualitative requirements, arm and vacancy. Seats and eligibility change every cycle, so read the current UPSC notification. Not legal or financial advice.