Army Height and Weight Requirements: Complete Guide

"What is the height requirement for Army?" doesn't have one answer — it depends heavily on whether you're targeting Agniveer (soldier-level) entry or NDA/CDS (officer-level) entry, since these use genuinely different baseline standards. A lot of online confusion comes from mixing these two up, or from Agniveer's own regional and category relaxations being presented without the baseline they're relaxing from. This guide separates them clearly.

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Agniveer (Soldier) Entry: Height, Weight and Chest

General category baseline: there is no single national number for men. Agniveer (General Duty) recruits through domicile-linked recruiting zones, and each zone's current notification sets its own baseline — recent 2025-26 cycles range from 163 cm (Uttarakhand/Garhwal zone) to 168 cm (Madhya Pradesh) to 169 cm (Bihar). Do not treat 170 cm as a hard national floor; check the notification for your own recruiting zone on joinindianarmy.nic.in. For women entering through Corps of Military Police (General Duty) / WMP, the minimum is a confirmed 162 cm, consistent across recruiting zones.

Weight has no separate regional discount. It is read directly off the Army's official height-and-age weight chart — the same chart for officer and Agniveer entry, and for every region. As a guide, the minimum for a candidate aged 17–20 is roughly 52 kg at 170 cm and roughly 47 kg at 162 cm. A category with a lower required height (Scheduled Tribe candidates at 162 cm, for instance) has a lower minimum weight purely because its height requirement is lower on the same chart — not because of a "Himalayan" or regional weight relaxation, which does not exist as a separate rule.

Chest (male candidates): 77 cm unexpanded, with a mandatory 5 cm expansion to 82 cm; female candidates are assessed for a chest expansion capability of 5 cm rather than a fixed minimum measurement.

Regional and Category Relaxations (Agniveer Entry)

This works differently for women and men, and conflating the two is the single most common mistake made about this topic.

Women (Agniveer GD/WMP): candidates from the North East Region (Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam, plus Kalimpong and Darjeeling districts of West Bengal in some zones), Gorkhas, Garhwalis, Ladakhis and Tribals of recognised tribal areas each get a flat 4 cm height relaxation off the 162 cm baseline, to 158 cm.

Men (Agniveer GD): there is no matching 4–5 cm relaxation list. Instead, Gorkhas and Ladakhis are held to a fixed 157 cm standard and Tribals of recognised/authorized tribal areas to 162 cm — cuts of roughly 6 to 13 cm off a typical zone baseline, not a uniform 4–5 cm. Garhwal-domiciled candidates aren't a separate relaxation category at all: they fall under their recruiting zone's own lower general baseline (163 cm in the Uttarakhand zone). "Kumaonis" does not appear as a named category in current notifications checked. If you are recruiting under the men's Agniveer scheme, check your specific zone's notification for the exact figure that applies to you — do not apply the women's relaxation figures to a male application.

Weight for a relaxed height category is read off the same chart at that lower height, which is why it comes out lower — not because of a separate weight relaxation line item.

Sportsperson relaxation: outstanding sportspersons in certain categories and services can receive additional relaxation (height, chest and weight), subject to producing valid sporting achievement certificates alongside the standard eligibility documents.

Documentation: any relaxation claim requires the relevant official certificate — domicile certificate, caste/tribal certificate, or sporting achievement certificate as applicable — presented at the recruitment rally. Claiming a relaxation category without the correct supporting document typically means being assessed against the general baseline instead.

NDA/CDS (Officer) Entry: A Different, Lower Baseline

This is the point most likely to cause confusion: NDA and CDS (Army and Navy wings) use a materially lower height baseline than Agniveer entry — widely cited as 157 cm for male candidates and 152 cm for female candidates. A note on sourcing, worth being honest about: neither the UPSC NDA notification nor the Army's own published medical standards policy states these figures in centimetres — both defer to an internal Joint Manual of Medical Standards that isn't published. The 157/152 cm figures are extremely consistent across secondary and coaching sources, but treat them as widely repeated rather than officially citable, and confirm at your Service Selection Board or medical board. For the same reason, we can't confirm whether a North East/Gorkha/Garhwal-style regional relaxation applies to NDA/CDS entry at all — do not assume the Agniveer relaxation figures carry over to officer entry. Chest and weight standards for officer entry also follow a different assessment approach — chest around 77 cm with 5 cm expansion as a general baseline, and weight assessed against the same kind of height-and-age chart used for Agniveer entry rather than a single fixed figure. See our NDA guide, CDS guide and Defence Physical Test guide for the full officer-entry standards and how they compare across exams.

Why the Difference?

The gap between Agniveer's zone-dependent baseline (commonly 163–169 cm depending on where you recruit) and NDA/CDS's widely-cited ~157 cm figure isn't a typo or inconsistency between sources — they're genuinely different standards, set separately for soldier-level physical/combat roles versus officer-level entry. If you've seen very different height figures for "Army" in different places, that's the likely explanation — but confirm the NDA/CDS figure with your Service Selection Board, since it isn't published in the notification itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum height for the Indian Army?

It depends on entry type, and for Agniveer there is no single number: male Agniveer (soldier) entry runs commonly 163–169 cm depending on your recruiting zone, versus a widely-cited but not officially published ~157 cm for male NDA/CDS (officer) entry. These are different standards for different entry levels, not conflicting figures for the same thing — check your own recruiting zone's notification rather than a flat national figure.

Is there height relaxation for hill-state or North Eastern candidates?

It depends on gender. For women's Agniveer GD/WMP entry, yes: North East Region states, Gorkhas, Garhwalis, Ladakhis and Tribals of recognised tribal areas get a flat 4 cm relaxation off the 162 cm baseline. For men, the mechanism is different — Gorkhas and Ladakhis are held to a fixed 157 cm and Tribals of recognised areas to 162 cm, rather than a uniform 4–5 cm relaxation, and "Kumaonis" does not appear as a category in current notifications. Check the current official chart for your specific category and gender.

What is the weight requirement for Army Agniveer?

There's no single fixed number, and no separate regional discount — weight is read directly off the Army's official height-and-age weight chart, the same one used nationwide and for officer entry too. As a guide, minimum weight for a candidate aged 17–20 is roughly 52 kg at 170 cm and roughly 47 kg at 162 cm; a shorter relaxed-height category has a lower minimum weight purely because of its lower height on the same chart.

Do women have the same height requirement as men for Army Agniveer?

No — the minimum height for women entering through Corps of Military Police (General Duty) / WMP is a confirmed 162 cm, with its own 4 cm regional relaxation for specific categories. The male general-category baseline is not a single number at all — it is set per recruiting zone, commonly 163–169 cm in current notifications — so treat any male/female height comparison as illustrative rather than exact.

Why do I see different height figures for "Army" in different places?

Most likely for two reasons at once: Agniveer (soldier) entry and NDA/CDS (officer) entry use genuinely different height baselines (Agniveer's zone-dependent baseline, commonly 163–169 cm, versus NDA/CDS's widely-cited but unpublished ~157 cm), and within Agniveer entry itself the baseline varies by recruiting zone. Many sources don't specify which entry type or which zone their figure refers to.

Where can I check the exact current height/weight chart for my category?

The official Indian Army recruitment site (joinindianarmy.nic.in) publishes category- and region-specific charts for each recruitment cycle — this is the authoritative source, since third-party figures (including general guides like this one) can lag behind the latest notification.

In Summary

Army height and weight requirements genuinely differ by entry type — Agniveer (soldier) entry uses a higher baseline (~170 cm) than NDA/CDS (officer) entry (~157 cm) — and by region and category within each. Confirm which entry type you're targeting first, then check the exact current chart for your specific category on the official Army recruitment site, since regional relaxation figures are detailed enough that generic guides (this one included) should be treated as directional rather than the final word for your specific case.

Sources

• Agnipath terms and the Seva Nidhi package: Ministry of Defence, Agnipath scheme