'UPSC is much tougher than IIT JEE': IIT graduate who took both exams tells Anand Mahindra

Anand Mahindra, who has in the past praised 12th Fail and actor Vikrant Massey for his performance in the film, on Sunday shared that the movie inspired him to seek more details about how aspirants prepare for the exam and how difficult it is to clear it. In doing so, an IIT graduate who had also taken the UPSC exams apparently told him that the latter was more difficult.

The film that triggered the discussion, 12th Fail, is based on the life of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, who overcame extreme poverty to become a police officer.

"After seeing 12th Fail I checked around and spoke to a number of young people about the relative difficulty of our entrance exams. One of them was a graduate of IIT who is involved in a business startup but who has also taken the UPSC exam," Anand Mahindra wrote on X. "He stated EMPHATICALLY that UPSC is much tougher than the IIT JEE."

The Mahindra Group chairperson also shared a post on 10 of the toughest exams in the world which featured three from India -- IIT JEE at number 2, UPSC at number 3, and GATE at number 8. Mahindra said that if the feedback he received was true then the global rankings should be updated to reflect it.

Reacting to the post, X users, however, differed in their opinions about the exams.