The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday declared results of the prestigious civil services examination.

This year’s topper, Nandini K R , is an officer of the Indian Revenue Service, and at present undergoing training at the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics in Faridabad.

Anmol Sher Singh Bedi is the topper among male candidates securing overall second rank. He is an engineering graduate in computer science from BITS, Pilani.

Ronanki Gopal Krishna from Palasa in Srikakulam district has bagged the 3rd rank.

The top 25 candidates comprise 18 men and 7 women.

An Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Nandini, who hails from Kolar (known for gold mining) in Karnataka, cracked the exam in her fourth attempt.

“It is like a dream come true. I always wanted to be an IAS officer,” she told PTI from the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics in Faridabad, where she is undergoing probation.

“I put in a lot of effort. After getting selected in the IRS in 2014, I had taken the exam again in 2015 but could not crack it. I took the test again and topped it. It is a wonderful experience,” she says.

Nandini got 849 rank in the 2014 civil services exam and was alloted IRS (Customs and Central Excise).

A total of 1,099 candidates (846 men and 253 women), including 500 in General category, 347 belonging to Other Backward Class, 163 from Scheduled Caste and 89 from Scheduled Tribe, have been recommended for appointment to various central government services, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said.

They include 44 physically handicapped candidates (22 orthopedically handicapped; seven visually challenged and 15 hearing impaired).

A total of 1,209 vacancies were notified by the government, which were to be filled through the civil services examination 2016.

The civil services examination is conducted by the UPSC annually in three stages — preliminary, mains and interviews — to select candidates for the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.