NDA 1 2027: Exam Date, Notification, Age Limit and Eligibility

The next UPSC NDA & NA cycle — NDA (I) 2027 — is due to be notified on 2 December 2026, with applications closing on 22 December 2026 and the exam on Sunday 11 April 2027, according to UPSC’s Annual Calendar 2027. The one written test feeds the Army, Navy and Air Force wings of the National Defence Academy and the 10+2 Cadet Entry Scheme of the Indian Naval Academy. This guide sets out the dates, the exact eligibility rules UPSC applies — birth-date windows, not a vague age range — and what the recent 2026 cycles show.

UPSC Annual Calendar 2027; NDA & NA (I) and (II) 2026 notifications.

The pattern is steady: the (I) sitting is notified in the first half of December with a 20-day window and held on the second Sunday of April; the (II) sitting is notified in May and held in mid-September. In the 2025–2027 calendars NDA shares its notification and exam day with the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam. On the exam day there are two papers of 2½ hours each — in the 2026 sittings, Mathematics from 10:00 to 12:30 and the General Ability Test from 14:00 to 16:30; check your admit card for your own timings.

UPSC does not state an age range such as “16½ to 19½”. It states the dates between which you must have been born, and you prove your date of birth only with your Class 10 (Matriculation or equivalent) certificate; the date cannot be changed once submitted. Only unmarried men and women may apply, and candidates must undertake not to marry until training is complete.

Students currently in Class 12 may apply; they must prove they have passed by 10 December 2026 for the (I) 2026 cycle and by 10 June 2027 for (II) 2026. Class 11 students are not eligible. Candidates must be citizens of India, subjects of Nepal (Gorkha subjects need no certificate of eligibility) or persons of Indian origin who have migrated from the listed countries. Anyone who resigned or was withdrawn on disciplinary grounds from an armed-forces training academy, or was removed from an earlier NDA or INA course for lack of officer-like qualities, is not eligible.

The two 2026 cycles give a good picture of what (I) 2027 will involve. Each offered 394 seats — 208 Army, 42 Navy and 120 Air Force at NDA, and 24 at the Naval Academy, with 24 of the total for women. In (I) 2026, 7,879 candidates cleared the written exam (7,399 men and 480 women) and were called to the SSB, about 20 for every seat. The written result came on 8 May 2026, 26 days after the 12 April exam, and the SSB window in the notification was June to July 2026, for a course starting on 1 January 2027. If (I) 2027 follows the same shape, the written result would come in late April or May 2027 and the course would begin in January 2028 — but none of those dates is announced yet.

Because there is no correction window, the application has to be right the first time: the service preferences you rank (Army, Navy, Air Force, Naval Academy) cannot be changed later, and your date of birth is fixed to your Class 10 certificate. Choose the wings you are genuinely eligible for — PCM is required for everything except the Army — and check the headline physical standards in our guide to height and eyesight. If you are sitting Class 12 in 2027, keep in mind that proof of passing is due months after the exam, and that you must remain unmarried until training ends.