New Delhi: Shruti Sharma, who has topped the UPSC civil services exam 2021, on Monday said her "extremely supportive" parents and friends helped her in her journey which required a lot of hard work and patience.

Delhi-based Sharma, an alumna of Delhi University's St. Stephen's College, said she was not expecting such a result and it was a pleasant surprise.

"Credit goes to everyone who was involved in my journey especially my parents. They were extremely supportive and friends who guided me,"' she said.

Sharma did her post-graduation from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and was preparing for the civils for the last four years and was a student of Jamia Millia Islamia's Residential Coaching Academy

The RCA is funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to provide free coaching and residential facilities to students belonging to categories such as the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, and minorities.

Ankita Agarwal and Gamini Singla have secured the second and the third rank in the result of the civil services examination 2021 announced by the UPSC on Monday.

As many as 685 candidates have qualified for the prestigious test, the UPSC said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages preliminary, main and interview to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.