Banking | IBPS

IBPS RRB PO 2026-27 cycle

Officer Scale I recruitment for Regional Rural Banks, with a short composite Preliminary paper, a Main exam offering a Hindi option, and an interview.

Awaiting notification3 stages

Overview

Conducting body: IBPSwww.ibps.in
Age limit: 18 to 30 years
Application fee: ₹175 to ₹850
Vacancies: To be announced
First stage duration: 45 min
Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

IBPS Common Recruitment Process for Officers Scale I in Regional Rural Banks is conducted by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection. Selection runs through 3 stages: Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, Interview.

Clear the Preliminary examination, an 80-mark screening paper taken in 45 composite minutes.
Qualify the Main examination, which carries 200 marks and offers a choice between the English and Hindi language papers.
Attend the interview, which carries 100 marks with a minimum qualifying score of 40% or 35% for reserved categories.
The final merit list combines the Main examination and interview scores in an 80:20 ratio.
Provisional allotment to a participating Regional Rural Bank follows from the merit list and your preferences.

Important dates

Important dates
Event	Date	Status
Notification release IBPS has published the RRB notification around the middle of the year in recent cycles, ahead of the PO and Clerk cycles.	To be announced	Not announced
Online registration window Usually open for about three weeks. A single registration covers Officer Scale I, Scale II, Scale III and Office Assistant posts.	To be announced	Not announced
Preliminary examination Usually held in the monsoon months.	To be announced	Not announced
Main examination Usually held a few weeks after the Preliminary result.	To be announced	Not announced
Interview	To be announced	Not announced
Provisional allotment	To be announced	Not announced

Eligibility

Educational qualification

A bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university, or an equivalent qualification.

Preference is given to candidates holding a degree in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, veterinary science, agricultural engineering, pisciculture, accountancy, finance, banking, law, economics or management, which reflects the rural lending focus of these banks. Proficiency in the local language of the state or union territory you apply to is required, and working knowledge of computers is expected.

Age

18 to 30 years as on the cut-off date stated in the official notification.

Upper age relaxation

SC and ST+5 years
OBC (non-creamy layer)+3 years
Persons with Benchmark Disability+10 years
Ex-servicemen+5 years
Widows and divorced women who have not remarried+9 years

Nationality

A candidate must be one of the following:

A citizen of India
A subject of Nepal or Bhutan
A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 intending to settle permanently
A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam intending to settle permanently in India

Application fee

Category	Fee
General, OBC and EWS Application fee including intimation charges, non-refundable.	₹850
SC, ST and PwBD Intimation charges only, non-refundable.	₹175

Fees have been stable across recent cycles but are the kind of detail a notification can revise. Confirm on the official notification before paying.

Exam pattern

Stage by stage structure with question counts, marks, timing and the marking scheme.

Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

Computer based testQualifying only

Section	Questions	Marks
Reasoning	40	40
Quantitative Aptitude	40	40
Total	80	80

Duration: 45 min|Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

80 questions for 80 marks in a composite 45 minutes, with no separate clock per section.
Only two sections and no English paper, which makes this the shortest Preliminary paper among the major banking exams.
Because the time is composite you can move freely between the two sections, unlike IBPS PO and Clerk.
Screening only. These marks do not enter the final merit list.

Stage 2: Main Examination

Computer based test

Section	Questions	Marks
Reasoning	40	50
Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation	40	50
General Awareness	40	40
English or Hindi Language	40	40
Computer Knowledge	40	20
Total	200	200

Duration: 2 hr|Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

200 questions for 200 marks in a composite 120 minutes.
You choose either the English or the Hindi language paper, which no other major banking exam offers. Pick at registration and prepare accordingly.
Computer Knowledge has 40 questions worth only 20 marks, so each question is worth half of a General Awareness question.
Carries 80% weight in the final merit list.

Stage 3: Interview

Interview

Duration: Varies|Negative marking: None

Carries 100 marks with a minimum qualifying score of 40%, relaxed to 35% for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD candidates.
Conducted by the Nodal Regional Rural Bank in coordination with IBPS and NABARD.
Carries 20% weight in the final merit list.

Syllabus

Reasoning Ability

Puzzles and seating arrangement
Syllogism
Inequality
Blood relations and direction sense
Order, ranking and comparison
Coding and decoding
Alphanumeric series
Input and output
Data sufficiency
Statement and assumption

Quantitative Aptitude

Simplification and approximation
Number series
Data interpretation: tables, bar, line, pie and caselets
Quadratic equations
Percentage, ratio and proportion
Average, ages and partnership
Profit, loss and discount
Simple and compound interest
Time, speed, distance, boats and trains
Time and work, pipes and cisterns
Mixture and alligation
Mensuration
Permutation, combination and probability

General Awareness

Regional Rural Bank structure, sponsorship and the role of NABARD
Rural credit, priority sector lending and Kisan Credit Card
Agriculture and rural development schemes
Reserve Bank of India functions and monetary policy
Banking terminology and financial inclusion
Union Budget highlights relevant to agriculture and rural economy
Static awareness: capitals, currencies, important days and organisations
Current affairs of the previous six months

English Language

Reading comprehension
Cloze test
Para jumbles
Error spotting and sentence correction
Fill in the blanks
Vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms
For candidates choosing the Hindi paper: Hindi grammar, vyakaran, gadyansh and shabd gyan

Computer Aptitude

Computer fundamentals and generations
Hardware, software and memory
Operating systems and file management
MS Office and shortcut keys
Internet, email and networking
Computer security, viruses and firewalls
Abbreviations and number systems

How to apply

Register once for all RRB posts you qualify for
A single registration on ibps.in covers Officer Scale I, the higher scales and Office Assistant, though the fee and eligibility are checked per post.
Choose your bank and state
You apply to a specific Regional Rural Bank and must be proficient in the local language of the state it serves. Consider where you are willing to live, since postings are rural.
Choose your Main examination language
Decide between the English and Hindi language papers at this stage. This option is unique to the RRB cycle and is worth using if Hindi is your stronger language.
Upload your photograph, signature, thumb impression and declaration
IBPS specifies exact pixel dimensions and file sizes for each image as JPEG files.
Pay the fee and save the receipt
Pay online, then download the e-receipt and application printout for later stages.

Documents to keep ready

Valid photo identity proof such as Aadhaar, PAN, passport, driving licence or voter ID
Graduation mark-sheets and the degree certificate
Proof of proficiency in the local language of the applied state, where available
Caste or EWS certificate in the prescribed format, where applicable
PwBD certificate issued by the competent authority, where applicable
Recent passport-size photograph, signature, thumb impression and handwritten declaration as uploaded

Salary and job profile

Pay and allowances

Pay scale:: Officer Scale I in the Regional Rural Bank officer pay structure
Initial basic pay:: To be announced
Approximate in-hand:: To be announced

Allowances

Dearness Allowance revised periodically
House Rent Allowance
City Compensatory Allowance based on place of posting
Special Allowance

Perks

Medical benefits
Leave Fare Concession
Concessional interest on staff loans
Pension under the National Pension System
Gratuity and provident fund

Regional Rural Bank pay broadly tracks the public sector bank scales but is set by each bank under its own service regulations. Confirm the figures from the notification and the sponsoring bank.

What the job involves

Branch banking in predominantly rural and semi-urban locations.
Agricultural and rural credit appraisal, including Kisan Credit Card and self-help group lending.
Implementing government financial inclusion and subsidy transfer schemes.
Deposit mobilisation and customer relationships in the local community.
Branch administration, with early independent charge more likely than in larger banks.
Promotion to Officer Scale II and Scale III through internal channels.

How to prepare for IBPS RRB PO

The composite clock changes strategy completely. Practise allocating your own time across sections rather than following a fixed 20-minute rhythm, because nobody will stop you at a section boundary.
45 minutes for 80 questions in the Preliminary paper is roughly 34 seconds a question. Speed matters more here than in any other banking Preliminary paper.
Decide the Hindi or English question early and commit. Switching your reading practice a month before the exam wastes the advantage the option gives you.
General Awareness in this cycle leans towards agriculture, rural credit and NABARD. A generic banking awareness source will leave gaps, so read the rural finance material specifically.
Computer Knowledge is 40 questions for 20 marks and is almost entirely recall. It is the cheapest 20 marks in the paper and should be locked down early.

Frequently asked questions

Can I write the Main examination in Hindi?

Yes. The RRB Main examination lets you choose between an English and a Hindi language paper, which none of the other major banking exams offer. Choose at registration based on which language you read faster, not which you think looks better.

Why is there no English section in the Preliminary paper?

The RRB Preliminary paper tests only Reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude, 80 marks in 45 composite minutes. Language is tested in the Main examination instead.

Is there sectional timing?

No. Both the Preliminary and Main papers run on a single composite clock, so you can move between sections freely. This is a real advantage over IBPS PO and Clerk, where a section closes for good once its time is up.

Where will I be posted?

Within the operating area of the Regional Rural Bank you applied to, which is mostly rural and semi-urban. If you want metro postings, the public sector bank cycles are a better fit.

Does an agriculture degree help?

It is listed as a preferred qualification, reflecting the rural lending focus, but a degree in any discipline makes you eligible. The preference does not translate into extra marks in the exam.

How is Officer Scale I different from Office Assistant?

Scale I is the officer cadre with an interview stage and an upper age limit of 30. Office Assistant is the clerical cadre with no interview and an upper age limit of 28. The exam pattern is otherwise closely parallel.

Last verified 28 July 2026(today, by editorial)

Not yet confirmed for this cycle: the schedule, the vacancy count, basic pay, gross pay, in-hand pay and the application fee. Where we have a figure from previous cycles we show it and label it as expected; where we do not, the page says "to be announced". Check the official source below before you rely on any of it.

Official sources

IBPS official website (official portal)
IBPS online application portal (official portal)

Found something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it, citing the source.