NDA & CDS Photo and Signature Requirements 2026

NDA and CDS have a requirement no other Indian competitive exam does: your full name and the date you took the photo must be printed on the image itself. Get that wrong and even a perfectly sized, correctly formatted photo is grounds for rejection. The other complication is the photo shape — both exams require a square minimum crop, not the portrait rectangle IBPS and SBI candidates prepare. This guide covers the confirmed specs for both exams (they're identical), exactly how to add the name and date, and a workflow that gets both files ready before the portal opens.

What are the photo and signature specs for NDA and CDS?

Both NDA and CDS use the same UPSC OTR portal for applications. The specifications are identical for both exams, as confirmed in NDA NA II 2026 (Notice 10/2026) and CDS II 2026 (Notice 11/2026), both released by UPSC on 20 May 2026. Both exams are scheduled for 13 September 2026.

Always confirm the current cycle's exact figures in your notification PDF at upsc.gov.in before applying. For a side-by-side comparison of all major exam specs, see the photo and signature size guide for all exams.

Does NDA require your name and date on the photo — and how do you add it?

Yes — for both NDA and CDS. Your full name (as it appears on the exam notification) and the date the photograph was taken must appear as printed text at the bottom of the image. This is added digitally to the photo file before uploading. It is not handwritten on the back of a physical print.

The text goes in a strip at the bottom of the image frame, inside the photo itself. Use the photo-with-name-date tool — it adds a clean, correctly formatted text strip in one step. The format UPSC expects is your full name on the first line and the date in DD/MM/YYYY format on the second line. Do this step before running the image through the resizer, so the output already contains the text at the correct scale.

One detail that catches CDS candidates specifically: for CDS, the photo date must be within 10 days of the CDS application start date. This is stricter than NDA's general 6-month recency rule. A photo taken for NDA 1 in January may fail the CDS 2 application in May, even though it is less than 6 months old. Check the date on your photo file before uploading. For the full step-by-step guide on adding the text, see how to add name and date on an exam photo.

Why is the NDA/CDS photo square — and why your banking exam photo won't work?

The UPSC OTR portal requires a minimum square crop: 350 × 350 px. Most banking exam portals, including IBPS and SBI, require a portrait rectangle — typically 200 × 230 px. These are not interchangeable. Uploading the IBPS portrait crop to the UPSC portal fails the pixel check immediately.

This catches more candidates than you'd expect. Someone applying to both IBPS PO and NDA II in the same window often prepares one photo file, uses it for the banking form, then uploads the same file to the UPSC portal — and gets an error. The fix is the UPSC photo resizer, which outputs a square crop at the correct dimensions. In practice, “square minimum” means the face centred with equal space on the left and right — a slightly wider field of view than a portrait passport crop.

For the IBPS PO checklist, see the IBPS PO 2026 photo & signature checklist. Applying to UPSC CSE as well? Note that CSE adds a live webcam matching step and a 10-day recency rule not present in NDA — see the UPSC CSE / IAS photo and signature guide. For SSC's live-capture system, see the SSC CGL / CHSL photo and signature guide.

What background, dress code, and framing does UPSC require?

The UPSC OTR portal specifies a plain white background, formal attire, face covering at least 75% of the frame, and no spectacles. These rules apply to both NDA and CDS applications.

• Background: plain white only. Not off-white, cream, or light grey. The portal validator checks the pixel distribution behind the face — off-white walls are a common cause of rejection.
• Spectacles: banned, including prescription glasses. UPSC updated its guidelines for defence exam photographs and permits no exceptions other than a specific medical certificate mentioned in the notification.
• Headgear: allowed only for religious reasons (turban, hijab) if worn consistently in your identity documents. Otherwise, remove it.
• Framing: head and shoulders, face at least 75% of the frame. Don't stand too far from the camera — closer than a standard passport portrait.
• Attire: formal. A dark, solid-colour shirt reads cleanly against a white background. Avoid white tops — shoulder edges blur into the background.
• Expression: neutral, mouth closed, both eyes fully open, looking directly at the camera.

How do I prepare my signature for NDA and CDS?

Sign on plain white A4 paper in black or blue ink — black is strongly preferred. Cursive or running hand only; all-capitals signatures are rejected. The file size band is 20–300 KB, which is far more permissive than SSC's 10–20 KB range, so aggressive compression is not needed here.

• Paper: plain white A4, no lines. Lined or coloured notepaper makes the background hard to clean to true white.
• Ink: black ballpoint strongly preferred; blue accepted. Gel pens are fine at this file size.
• Style: cursive or connected running hand. If you normally sign in block capitals, practise a simple flowing version — the portal flags all-capitals patterns.
• Photography: lay the paper flat, hold your phone directly above it, even light, no shadows across the signature.
• Resize and clean: run the image through the UPSC signature resizer. It removes the paper background, trims whitespace, and outputs a clean JPG inside the 20–300 KB band. Nothing leaves your browser.

What are the most common NDA and CDS photo rejection reasons?

Most rejections at the UPSC portal trace back to four causes: missing name and date text, a portrait crop instead of a square, a file below the 20 KB minimum, and a non-white background. The portal returns a generic error without specifying which check failed — so it pays to fix all of these before uploading.

For the full breakdown of rejection patterns across all Indian exam portals, see why exam photos and signatures get rejected.

How to prepare your NDA and CDS photo and signature — complete workflow

For the photo, do these steps in order — name and date first, resize second, so the text appears at the correct scale in the final file:

1. Take a clear photo against a plain white wall, no glasses, formal attire, face centred and filling most of the frame.
2. Add name and date. Open the photo-with-name-date tool, enter your full name and the date in DD/MM/YYYY format. Download the result.
3. Resize for UPSC. Run the downloaded image through the UPSC photo resizer. It outputs a square JPG at 350 px or larger, inside the 20–300 KB band.
4. Save as photo.jpg. The UPSC portal expects this exact filename — rename the file before the upload session.

For the signature, prepare offline before the application window opens:

1. Sign on white A4 paper in black ink, cursive hand.
2. Photograph flat in even light — no shadows across the signature.
3. Run through the UPSC signature resizer. It cleans the background and outputs a JPG in the 20–300 KB band.

For UPSC-specific requirement details and links to the official notification PDFs, see the exam requirements directory.