CGLTyping
If Kruti Dev feels outdated, that's because it is — it predates Unicode standardisation by years. And yet it remains a hard requirement in several state government recruitment exams today. Here's why that's the case, where it shows up most, and how to confirm what your specific exam actually needs.
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Why a "Legacy" Font Is Still an Exam Requirement
The short answer is institutional inertia. Many state government departments built their document templates, data-entry systems, and record archives around Kruti Dev years — sometimes decades — before Unicode Hindi became the standard. Migrating an entire department's legacy systems and archived records to Unicode is a significant undertaking, and until that migration happens, new hires are trained and tested on the same font the existing systems expect. This is a systems-continuity issue more than a deliberate technology choice.
Where Kruti Dev Shows Up Most
Based on common recruitment patterns, Kruti Dev tends to appear most often in state-level exams from Uttar Pradesh (UPSSSC and related boards), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, typically for clerical and data-entry posts that include a Hindi typing component. This isn't an exhaustive or permanent list — requirements shift between recruitment cycles, and other states can and do specify it for specific posts too. Treat this as context for what to expect, not a substitute for checking your own notification.
How to Confirm What Your Exam Actually Needs
The only reliable source is your specific recruitment's official notification. Look for the exact font name stated for the typing component:
- If it says "Kruti Dev" (with or without a version number like 010 or 055), you need the legacy glyph-based layout — see our Kruti Dev Hindi Typing guide.
- If it says "Unicode" or "Mangal," you need standard Hindi Unicode typing — see our Hindi Typing Test.
- If it doesn't specify, or you're unsure, contact the recruiting body directly rather than assuming based on the state or a previous cycle's format.
What If You're Preparing Before the Notification Is Out?
If you're preparing ahead of a specific recruitment cycle's notification, check the previous cycle's requirement for the same post as a starting reference point — but treat it as a starting point, not a guarantee, since requirements do change between cycles. Building general Devanagari touch-typing fluency (finger placement, rhythm, sustained accuracy) via Unicode Hindi practice is a reasonable way to prepare productively either way, since those fundamentals transfer to Kruti Dev once you learn its specific key layout on top.
Kruti Dev Is Also Used Beyond Hindi
Because Kruti Dev is a Devanagari-script font, it also gets applied to Marathi typing in some Maharashtra government exams — the same font technology, just used for a different language's text. See our Kruti Dev Marathi Typing Test page for specifics if that applies to you.
Not sure which typing test you need?
See the full breakdown of government exam typing tests on this site.
