India gives NTA one month to fix problems as staffing gaps persist

The permanent workforce includes the Director General, Joint Secretaries, Directors, Joint Directors, Deputy Directors, Assistant Directors, and Senior Superintendents.

To meet operational demands, the NTA relies heavily on contractual and outsourced staff. The ministry reported the agency employs 73 contractual personnel, including one general manager, one senior advisor, three advisors, five senior consultants, 44 consultants, one senior software developer, one office assistant, and 17 young professionals. Another 124 outsourced personnel work as data analysts, consultants, legal associates, housekeeping staff, and support staff.

For actual examinations, the NTA engages thousands of field-level functionaries – observers, city coordinators, centre supervisors, and members of state and district coordination committees – in coordination with state governments, union territories, and various institutions.

Since its founding in 2018, the NTA has conducted more than 270 examinations covering over 6.6 crore candidate registrations. In 2026 alone, the agency has so far held 12 exams with more than 65 lakh registrations.

The government did not provide examination-wise fee collection or expenditure. It shared only the NTA's overall income and expenditure statements. Those figures show the agency's income more than doubled between 2019-20 and 2023-24, while expenditure grew even faster. Expenditure crossed ₹1,000 crore in 2023-24, reflecting a sharp expansion in financial operations from 2022-23 onward.