'An economy allergic to failure': Tech CEO says UPSC is where India buries its ambition

Only about 1,000 out of 13 lakh candidates make it into India’s civil services each year. But according to CoinSwitch founder Ashish Singhal, the real loss isn’t just the 99.9% who don’t make it—it’s how the system redirects the nation’s brightest minds into cycles of repetition, not creation.

Singhal’s LinkedIn post, sparked by the release of the UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) results, cut through the usual discussion of merit and perseverance. “We’re not losing talent to failure,” he wrote. “We’re losing it to rote learning and repetition.”

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2024, over 13.4 lakh candidates registered for the UPSC CSE. Roughly 5.8 lakh actually appeared for the Prelims. Just 14,627 cleared it. Fewer than 3,000 advanced to interviews. And typically, only about 1,000 are finally selected—an acceptance rate under 0.1%.

“Thousands of sharp, capable young people spend 4–5 years stuck in the loop,” Singhal observed. “Chasing stability over creativity. Security over ambition.”

His critique isn’t of the exam’s difficulty—considered among the toughest globally—but of the ecosystem around it. “We’ve built an economy flooded with coaching centres, obsessed with credentials, allergic to failure,” he said.

In a country where civil service still represents one of the few stable paths to socio-economic mobility, UPSC is more than an exam—it’s a national funnel. But Singhal suggests that funnel may be narrowing India’s potential.

“What if just 10% of these aspirants were nudged toward startups, product-building, or tech?” he asked. “What if we gave our brightest minds more than one way to build something valuable?”

With its vast syllabus, unpredictable questions, and multi-stage eliminations, UPSC demands immense intellectual energy. But Singhal’s point is clear: that same energy could help power India’s next wave of innovation—if it weren’t stuck in exam halls.

“India doesn’t lack talent,” he concluded. “Its efforts are misplaced.”