Banking | SBI

SBI CBO 2026-27 cycle

Lateral officer recruitment for candidates who already have banking experience, selected through an online objective and descriptive test followed by screening and interview.

Awaiting notification3 stagesSectional timing

Overview

Conducting body: SBIsbi.co.in/web/careers
Age limit: 21 to 30 years
Application fee: ₹0 to ₹750
Vacancies: To be announced
First stage duration: 2 hr
Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

State Bank of India Recruitment of Circle Based Officers is conducted by State Bank of India. Selection runs through 3 stages: Online Examination (objective), Online Examination (descriptive), Screening and interview.

Meet the minimum banking experience requirement stated in the advertisement, which is verified at screening.
Clear the online examination, which has an objective paper of 120 marks and a descriptive paper of 50 marks.
Pass screening, where the committee checks eligibility and experience documents.
Attend the interview, which carries 50 marks.
The final merit list combines the online examination and interview in a 75:25 ratio, drawn separately for each circle.

Important dates

Important dates
Event	Date	Status
Notification release SBI runs this recruitment when circles report a need, so it does not follow as regular an annual rhythm as SBI PO or Clerk.	To be announced	Not announced
Online registration window Usually open for about three weeks from the advertisement date.	To be announced	Not announced
Online examination	To be announced	Not announced
Screening and interview	To be announced	Not announced
Final result	To be announced	Not announced

Eligibility

Educational qualification

A degree in any discipline from a recognised university, or an equivalent qualification recognised as such by the Central Government.

This post requires prior banking experience, which is what separates it from SBI PO. Candidates must have served as an officer in a scheduled commercial bank, or as an officer in an associate or regional rural bank, for the minimum period stated in the advertisement, which has been two years in recent cycles. Experience as a probationary officer under training is generally not counted.

Age

21 to 30 years as on the cut-off date stated in the official advertisement.

Upper age relaxation

SC and ST+5 years
OBC (non-creamy layer)+3 years
Persons with Benchmark Disability (General and EWS)+10 years
Persons with Benchmark Disability (OBC)+13 years
Persons with Benchmark Disability (SC and ST)+15 years
Ex-servicemen+5 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.	₹750
SC, ST and PwBD No fee in recent cycles.	₹0

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: Online Examination (objective)

Computer based testSectional timing

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
English Language	30	30	30 min
Banking Knowledge	40	40	40 min
General Awareness and Economy	30	30	30 min
Computer Aptitude	20	20	20 min
Total	120	120	2 hr

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

120 questions for 120 marks in 120 minutes, with a separate clock for each section.
There is no quantitative aptitude or reasoning section. The paper tests banking domain knowledge instead, which is why prior experience is a condition.
Banking Knowledge is the largest section at 40 marks.

Stage 2: Online Examination (descriptive)

Descriptive, typed

Section	Questions	Marks
English Language: letter writing and essay	2	50
Total	2	50

Duration: 30 min|Negative marking: None

Typed on the computer immediately after the objective paper.
Evaluated only for candidates who clear the objective cut-off.

Stage 3: Screening and interview

Interview

Duration: Varies|Negative marking: None

A screening committee reviews applications and eligibility before the interview call.
The interview carries 50 marks in recent cycles.
The final merit list combines the online examination and the interview in a 75:25 ratio.

Syllabus

English Language

Reading comprehension
Cloze test
Para jumbles
Error spotting and sentence correction
Fill in the blanks
Vocabulary and idioms
Business and official letter writing
Essay writing on banking and economic themes

Banking Awareness

Retail and corporate banking products
Credit appraisal, documentation and loan sanction process
Non-performing assets, provisioning and recovery mechanisms
KYC, anti-money-laundering and compliance norms
Negotiable Instruments Act and banking law basics
Priority sector lending norms and targets
Reserve Bank of India regulation and monetary policy tools
Basel norms and capital adequacy
Payment systems: NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, UPI and cheque truncation
Risk management in banking

General Awareness

Indian economy: national income, inflation and fiscal policy
Union Budget and Economic Survey highlights
Financial institutions: NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM, NHB and SEBI
Government schemes for financial inclusion
International bodies: IMF, World Bank, ADB and WTO
Capital markets and mutual funds
Current affairs of the previous six months, weighted towards banking and economy

Computer Aptitude

Computer fundamentals and terminology
Hardware, software and memory
Operating systems and file management
MS Office and shortcut keys
Internet, networking and topologies
Database basics
Banking technology: core banking, data centres and cyber security
Abbreviations

How to apply

Confirm your experience qualifies
Read the experience clause in the advertisement closely before paying. It specifies the type of bank, the cadre and the cut-off date for counting service, and applications are rejected at screening if the experience does not match.
Open the careers page and register
Go to the current openings section on the SBI careers site, open the Circle Based Officer link and choose New Registration.
Choose your circle
You may apply for one circle only and must be proficient in its official language. You will serve there for a minimum period.
Upload documents and images
Along with photograph and signature, this recruitment requires experience certificates from your current and previous employers in the format the advertisement prescribes.
Pay the fee and save the receipt
Pay by debit card, credit card, internet banking or UPI, then download the e-receipt and application printout.

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
Experience certificates from current and previous banks in the prescribed format
Relieving letter or current employment proof, as applicable
Caste or EWS certificate in the prescribed format, where applicable
PwBD certificate issued by the competent authority, where applicable
Recent passport-size photograph and signature matching the images uploaded

Salary and job profile

Pay and allowances

Pay scale:: Junior Management Grade Scale I (JMGS-I)
Initial basic pay:: To be announced
Approximate in-hand:: To be announced

Allowances

Dearness Allowance revised quarterly
House Rent Allowance or bank accommodation
City Compensatory Allowance based on place of posting
Special Allowance

Perks

Medical insurance covering self and dependants
Leave Fare Concession
Concessional interest on staff housing, vehicle and personal loans
Pension under the National Pension System
Gratuity and provident fund

Circle Based Officers join in the same officer scale as Probationary Officers. Basic pay follows the bipartite settlement in force; confirm the current figure from the advertisement.

What the job involves

Branch banking operations with immediate responsibility, since candidates join with prior experience rather than as trainees.
Credit appraisal, loan processing and monitoring of asset quality.
Customer relationship management for retail and small business clients.
Cross-selling insurance, mutual fund and government scheme products.
Service is confined to the recruiting circle for a minimum period, which makes this suited to candidates who want to stay in one region.

How to prepare for SBI CBO

Banking Knowledge and General Awareness together are 70 of the 120 objective marks. Your day job covers much of this, but structure it: read the RBI master directions rather than relying on what you happen to have handled at your branch.
There is no quantitative or reasoning section, so time spent on puzzles and data interpretation is wasted here. This is the rare banking exam where domain reading beats aptitude drill.
The descriptive paper carries 50 marks against 120 for the objective. Practise a formal letter and a banking essay under a 30-minute clock.
Prepare to talk about your current role in the interview. With 25% weight and an experienced candidate pool, the interview separates people more than it does in fresher recruitment.
Verify your experience documents early. Screening rejections at this stage are usually paperwork failures rather than knowledge failures.

Frequently asked questions

Can a fresher apply for SBI CBO?

No. This is a lateral entry post that requires prior officer-cadre experience in a scheduled commercial bank, which has been two years in recent cycles. Freshers should target SBI PO instead.

Why is there no quantitative aptitude or reasoning section?

Because the exam tests domain knowledge rather than aptitude. Candidates are already working bankers, so the paper weights Banking Knowledge and General Awareness instead, with Banking Knowledge the single largest section.

Can I be transferred out of my circle?

Not for the minimum service period stated in the advertisement. The post exists to staff a particular circle, so it suits candidates who want to remain in one region rather than those seeking a national career track.

Does CBO join at the same level as a Probationary Officer?

Yes, in Junior Management Grade Scale I. The difference is that CBO recruits join with experience and without the PO training period, and their mobility is restricted to the circle for an initial term.

Is experience as a probationary officer under training counted?

Generally not. The advertisement defines what counts, and time spent under training is usually excluded. Check the exact wording before applying, since screening rejects mismatched experience.

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, the application fee and the qualification conditions. 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

SBI careers portal (official portal)
SBI current openings (official portal)

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