Bank PO / RBI Grade B in India — eligibility, exams, fees, careers

A Probationary Officer (PO) is the entry-level officer post in India's public sector banks — Scale I of junior management — recruited through a national exam. IBPS runs a common process for eleven public sector banks, and SBI runs its own. RBI Grade B is a separate, harder exam for officer posts at the central bank. These routes suit graduates of any subject who want a secure, transferable government-sector career and are prepared for a year or more of focused exam preparation.

Know this. Families often count only the selection and not the odds: lakhs of candidates sit these exams for a few thousand posts, so most successful candidates clear on their second or third serious attempt. The other surprise is the job itself — a PO is a transferable officer with sales targets, rural postings and heavy workloads in the first years, not a desk job in the home city.

Getting in

Probationary Officer in public sector banks (IBPS PO, SBI PO) and Officer Grade B at the Reserve Bank of India

Who can apply

IBPS PO: a degree in any discipline, and you must already be a graduate with your result declared by the last registration date; age 20 to 30 years, with upper-age relaxation for reserved categories. SBI PO: a degree in any discipline; final-year students may apply provisionally if they can show they passed by the date SBI sets; age 21 to 30, with relaxation for reserved categories; general-category candidates get a maximum of six attempts at the Main exam. RBI Grade B (General): usually graduation with at least 60% marks or a postgraduate degree with 55% (lower for reserved categories), age 21 to 30, with limited attempts.

How admission works

Each process runs once a year. IBPS usually notifies its PO recruitment in mid-year, with a preliminary exam around August–October, a main exam in October–November, then a personality test and a common interview conducted by the participating banks; the final merit uses the main exam and interview in an 80:20 ratio, and selected candidates are provisionally allotted to one of the banks based on merit, preference and vacancies. SBI's process has a preliminary exam (English, quantitative aptitude, reasoning; 100 marks), a main exam with objective tests and a typed descriptive test, and a third phase with a psychometric test, group exercise and interview; the main exam and third phase are combined in a 75:25 weighting. Wrong answers carry a quarter-mark penalty in both banks' objective tests. RBI Grade B runs its own Phase I, Phase II (economic and social issues, English writing, finance and management) and interview.

Duration: Usually 1–2 years of exam preparation; selection takes about 6 months from notification to result, then 2 years of probation
Entrance: IBPS PO · SBI PO

What you study

Reasoning ability: puzzles, seating arrangements, syllogisms, inequalities
Quantitative aptitude and data interpretation
English language: reading comprehension, error spotting, para-jumbles
General, economy and banking awareness: current affairs, RBI policy, government schemes
Computer knowledge basics
Descriptive English: essay, letter or email writing (typed)
For RBI Grade B: economic and social issues, finance and management in depth
After joining: banking operations, credit, compliance and branch management through the bank's training

Specialisations: Branch banking and retail credit · Corporate and SME credit · Treasury and foreign exchange · Risk management and compliance · Specialist officer streams (IT, agriculture, law, HR, marketing) — recruited separately

Is it you?

A good fit if

You want a secure officer job with a clear promotion ladder and a pension-linked benefits package
You are good at timed aptitude tests and can keep practising for months
You are willing to be posted anywhere in India, including rural branches
You like dealing with customers, targets and a mix of desk and field work
You are a graduate from any subject — banks take engineers, arts and commerce graduates alike

Think twice if

You want to stay in one city for your whole career
Sales targets for loans, insurance and deposits would stress you
You want a specialist technical career rather than general banking
You are not ready to prepare seriously for a year or more with no guarantee
You dislike paperwork, audits and rule-bound work

The honest part

Competition is very high; plan preparation alongside a backup such as a job or further study.
IBPS requires you to be a graduate before registering, so final-year students can usually apply only to SBI.
Postings can be anywhere in India; the first branch is often rural or semi-urban.
SBI's joining bond means leaving within three years costs ₹2 lakh.
A poor loan repayment record in CIBIL can block joining at SBI until the dues are cleared.

What it costs

Government: Application fees are modest (for example ₹750 for general, EWS and OBC candidates at SBI and nil for SC, ST and PwBD). There is no tuition fee.
Private: Coaching, online test series and books usually cost ₹5,000–60,000 in total; many candidates prepare with online test series alone.
Help: Banks run free pre-examination training for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD candidates. SBI requires selected candidates to sign a ₹2 lakh bond to serve at least three years.

Rough 2026 ranges to compare routes. Fees differ by college and state and change every year.

After this

Study next

Or start work as

Probationary Officer, then Assistant Manager (Scale I) in SBI, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Canara Bank and other public sector banks
Branch manager after promotions
Credit officer or relationship manager in the bank
Officer Grade B at the Reserve Bank of India (through the RBI exam)

Starting pay

Scale I officers in public sector banks start on a basic pay of ₹48,480 in the ₹48,480–85,920 scale, plus dearness allowance, housing allowance and other benefits; in-hand pay in the first year is commonly around ₹70,000–95,000 a month depending on the bank and city. SBI states an approximate cost-to-company of about ₹22 lakh a year at Mumbai, which counts all benefits, not take-home pay. RBI Grade B pays noticeably more. These figures change with each wage settlement.

Or study it abroad

Careers this leads to

Each opens a full career guide — the work, a week in the life, skills and pay.

Questions families ask

Can I apply in my final year of college?

For SBI PO, yes — provisionally, if you can show you have passed by the date SBI sets. For IBPS PO, no — you must already be a graduate with your result declared by the last date of registration.

What is the difference between IBPS PO and SBI PO?

IBPS PO is a single process for eleven public sector banks, and you are allotted to one of them. SBI PO is only for SBI and has its own exam, a psychometric test and a group exercise. Pay scales are the same Scale I, but SBI has slightly different benefits and a service bond.

How many attempts do I get?

At SBI, general and EWS candidates get six chances, OBC and PwBD candidates nine, and SC and ST candidates have no limit; only appearing in the Main exam counts as a chance. IBPS limits you through the age band rather than a fixed number of attempts.

Is RBI Grade B the same as a bank PO?

No. RBI Grade B officers work in the central bank on regulation, supervision, policy and operations. The exam is harder, with more economics and finance, and the pay and posting pattern are different.

Do I need a commerce degree?

No. Any graduate can apply. Engineers make up a large share of selected candidates because they are comfortable with the quantitative sections, but commerce and arts graduates do well too.

Sources, checked 2026-09-28: IBPS — Notification CRP PO/MT-XVI (2026) · State Bank of India — Recruitment of Probationary Officers, Advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09

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