UPSC Mains Books, Complete Booklist for IAS Mains 2025

1. Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania
2. The Wonder That Was India by A.L. Basham

1. Ancient History: Ancient India by R.S. Sharma
2. Medieval History: History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra
3. Modern India History: India's Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra
4. Post-Independence History: India after Independence by Bipan Chandra
5. World History: History of the World by Arjun Dev

1. India Physical Environment (NCERT Class XI)
2. India - People and Economy (NCERT Class XII)
3. Geography of India by Majid Husain

1. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (NCERT Class XI)
2. Fundamentals of Human Geography (NCERT Class XII)
3. Goh Cheng Leong - Certificate Physical and Human Geography

1. NCERT Class XI – Sociology: Understanding Society
2. NCERT Class XII – Indian Society
3. NCERT Class XII – Social Change and Development in India
4. Social Problems in India, by Ram Ahuja

1. Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth
2. PW Udaan

1. Governance in India by M. Laxmikanth
2. 2nd ARC Reports
3. Strategy for New India @ 75 – NITI Aayog

1. UPSC Wallah Social Justice
2. Social Problems In India by Ram Ahuja
3. Strategy for New India @ 75 – NITI Aayog

1. Class 12th Political Science- Contemporary World Politics
2. Challenge and Strategy: Rethinking India's Foreign Policy by Rajiv Sikri
3. Global Politics by Andrew Heywood

1. Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
2. Economic Survey (latest)
3. Indian Budget (latest)

1. Selective NCERTs
2. ICSE Environment Education Std 10
3. Physics Wallah UPSC Environment & Ecology

1. Science and Technology by Ravi. P. Agrahari
2. PW UDAAN 3.0 Science & Technology

1. Challenges to Internal Security of India by Ashok Kumar IPS

1. Disaster Management in Brief by B. Singh
2. Disaster Management: Warning Response & Community by Kamal Kishore and Muzamil M.

1. PW Current Affairs books
2. Yojana & Kurukshetra

1. Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude by Subba Rao
2. A Practical Approach to Ethics Integrity and Aptitude by By D.K Balaji
3. Lexicon for Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

1. 2nd ARC Reports
2. Prahaar Ethics by PW OnlyIAS.
3. UPSC Essence GS Paper IV by PW OnlyIAS

• Agronomy By Yellamananda Reddy
• Soil Science – D.K Das Or Brady
• Genetics By B.D.Singh
• Entomology – Vasantha Raj & David

• Taxonomy: Nair, along with Datta
• Embryology: Bhojwani and Bhatnagar
• Physiology and Biochemistry: Salisbury and Ross or Fritz and Noggle
• Economic Botany: Kochar or Verma

• International Economics – Bo Soderston
• National Income Accounting – Bakerman
• Banking – S.B. Gupta
• International Trade – Bo Soderston

• Sociology: Themes and Perspectives by Haralambos and Holborn.
• Sociological Theory by George Ritzer
• Indian Society by S.C. Dubey.
• Rural Sociology – S L Doshi
• Modernization Of Indian Tradition, Yogendra Singh

• N. Hasnain: Tribal India
• Herskovits: Cultural Anthropology
• Surender Nath: Forensic Anthropology
• Herskovits: Cultural Anthropology
• Stein & Rowe: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology

• History of Modern India – Shekhar Bandopadhyaya/Bipan Chandra
• India’s Ancient Past – R.S. Sharma
• The Wonder That Was India – A.L. Basham
• Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas – Romila Thapar
• India’s Struggle For Independence – Bipan Chandra and Others

• Ordinary Differential EQs:- MD Raising Lumina, Golden series-NP Bali
• Real Analysis – Shanti Narayan, Royden
• Linear Programming – SD Sharma
• Solid Mechanism – Kazmioo

• Physical Geography by Savindra Singh
• Geomorphology by Savindra Singh
• Oceanography by Savindra Singh
• Climatology by D S Lal
• Environment Geography by Savindra Singh
• Models in Geography by Majid Husain

• An Introduction To Political Theory- O.P Gauba
• Fifty Major Political Thinkers- Ian Adams And R W Dyson
• A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx – Subrata Mukherjee And Sushila Ramaswamy
• An Oxford Companion To Politics In India – Niraja Gopal Jayal And Pratap Bhanu Mehta

• Psychology XI & XII Std NCERT
• Introduction to Psychology Morgan & King
• Psychology by Ciccarelli
• Social Psychology Baron & Byrne
• Psychology Robert A Baron
• The Psychology of Small Groups Shaw

• Financial: Pandey/Chandra/Khan & Jain/Bearley
• Economics: Any good economics book
• Operations: Adams/Taha
• Organisational Design: Khandwala; Madhukar Shukla

• Modern Central Engineering – Ogata
• Electromagnetic Waves and Field – R.N. Singh
• Surveying and Levelling – T P Kanetakar
• Heat Conversion – Arora & Kundwar

NCERT Books for UPSC Mains Exam

• Old NCERT - Ancient India – R S Sharma, Medieval India – Satish Chandra

1. New NCERTs - Class 6th to 12th
2. NCERT Class 11th - Introduction to Indian art
3. NCERT Class 12th - Living Craft Traditions of India

1. Class VI – The Earth Our Habitat
2. Class VII – Our Environment
3. Class VIII - Resource and Development
4. Class IX – Contemporary India – I
5. Class X – Contemporary India – II
6. Class XI – Fundamentals of Physical Geography, India Physical Environment
7. Class XII – Fundamentals of Human Geography, India - People and Economy

1. Class XI - Chemistry Chapter No 14
2. Class XII - Biology Chapter No 13,14,15,16
3. Class VIII to XI Geography NCERTs - Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Chapters from Std 8-11

1. Class IX – Democratic Politics - I
2. Class X – Democratic Politics - II
3. Class XI – Indian Constitution at Work
4. Class XII – Politics in India Since Independence

1. Class IX – Economics
2. Class X – Understanding Economic Development
3. Class XI – Indian Economic Development
4. Class XII – Introductory Macroeconomics

1. Class VI to X – Science NCERTs for basic concepts
2. Class XI NCERTs –  Chemistry Unit 14, Biology Units 4 & 5
3. Class XII NCERTs – Chemistry Unit 16, Biology Units 8, 9 & 10

1. Class XI – Understanding Society
2. Class XII – Indian Society
3. Class XII – Social Change and Development in India

 Books for UPSC Mains 2025