Ganesh Kumar Baskaran, 27, bagged the seventh rank in the country and the top rank in Tamil Nadu in the civil services examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The main examinations were held in September 2019 and the results were declared on Tuesday.

According to a report in Times of India, he aims to secure a post in Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and represent the country on the global stage.

Ganesh hails from Madurai district and his father is a civil servant as well. As a result, he underwent his schooling in various parts of the country. Ganesh completed his engineering in IIT-Kanpur and his MBA in IIM-Ahmedabad. While working as a product manager in a company in Bengaluru, Ganesh gave his first attempt in the Prelims exams conducted in 2018, but failed to clear it. He then came back home to Nagercoil in February 2019 after quitting his job and gave his second shot at Prelims exam in May 2019. He focussed on Mathematics as his main subject, which he said it was easy for him since he is an engineer.

In a short interview with Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel, Ganesh said that he was confident of securing a rank within the top 100, but the seventh rank was a happy surprise. “I didn’t expect the seventh rank. I wrote with an aim of getting a Foreign Service posting to get into top 100 ranks,” he said.

A total of 829 candidates were declared pass by the UPSC on Tuesday and were recommended for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among other civil services, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said in a statement.

The UPSC also placed 182 candidates on the reserve list and the results of 11 candidates have been withheld by the Commission.