Banking | SBI

SBI PO 2026-27 cycle

Officer-cadre recruitment for State Bank of India in three phases: a screening Preliminary exam, a Main exam, and a psychometric test with group exercise and interview.

Awaiting notification4 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: 1 hr
Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

State Bank of India Recruitment of Probationary Officers is conducted by State Bank of India. Selection runs through 4 stages: Preliminary Examination, Main Examination (objective), Main Examination (descriptive), Psychometric test, group exercise and interview.

Clear the Preliminary examination, which is a screening test scored out of 100 marks.
Qualify the Main examination, which has an objective paper of 200 marks and a descriptive paper of 50 marks.
Attend the psychometric test, group exercise and interview, which together carry 50 marks.
The final merit list converts the Main examination score to 75 and this last phase to 25.
Selected candidates join as Probationary Officers on a probation period, subject to document verification and medical fitness.

Important dates

Important dates
Event	Date	Status
Notification release SBI has published the Probationary Officer advertisement between late spring and the middle of the year in recent cycles, and the timing has moved more than IBPS does.	To be announced	Not announced
Online registration window Usually open for about three weeks from the advertisement date.	To be announced	Not announced
Preliminary examination Usually held a few weeks after registration closes.	To be announced	Not announced
Main examination Usually held about a month after the Preliminary result.	To be announced	Not announced
Psychometric test, group exercise and interview Conducted after the Main examination result.	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.

Candidates in the final year or semester may apply provisionally, on the condition that they produce proof of having passed on or before the date stated in the advertisement. This is a meaningful difference from IBPS PO, which requires the result to already be declared at registration.

Age

21 to 30 years as on the cut-off date stated in the official advertisement, which has been 1 April in recent cycles.

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 and commissioned officers+5 years
Persons domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir between 1980 and 1989+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. SBI has exempted these categories entirely in recent cycles, rather than charging reduced intimation charges the way IBPS does.	₹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: Preliminary Examination

Computer based testSectional timingQualifying only

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
English Language	30	30	20 min
Quantitative Aptitude	35	35	20 min
Reasoning Ability	35	35	20 min
Total	100	100	1 hr

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

100 questions for 100 marks in 60 minutes, with a separate 20-minute clock for each section.
Candidates are shortlisted for the Main examination at roughly ten times the number of vacancies, category-wise.
Marks scored here do not carry into the final merit list.

Stage 2: Main Examination (objective)

Computer based testSectional timing

Section	Questions	Marks	Time
Reasoning and Computer Aptitude	40	50	50 min
Data Analysis and Interpretation	30	50	45 min
General, Economy and Banking Awareness	50	60	45 min
English Language	35	40	40 min
Total	155	200	3 hr

Duration: 3 hr|Negative marking: 1/4 mark per wrong answer

155 questions for 200 marks in 180 minutes, with a separate clock for each section.
SBI has revised the section-wise question and mark split between cycles more often than IBPS has, so treat the distribution above as the recent shape rather than a fixed rule and check the advertisement.
Note the mark weighting: Data Analysis carries 50 marks over only 30 questions, so each question there is worth more than one in the awareness section.

Stage 3: Main 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.
Carries 50 marks, which is double the 25 marks the IBPS PO descriptive paper carries, so it deserves more practice than candidates usually give it.

Stage 4: Psychometric test, group exercise and interview

Interview

Duration: Varies|Negative marking: None

The group exercise and interview together carry 50 marks.
A psychometric test is administered and its output is used as an input to the interview rather than scored separately.
Main examination marks are converted to 75 and this phase to 25 for the final merit list.

Syllabus

English Language

Reading comprehension, often on economy and business themes
Cloze test
Para jumbles
Error spotting and sentence correction
Sentence improvement and rearrangement
Fill in the blanks
Paragraph completion and inference
Word usage, vocabulary and idioms
Letter writing: formal and informal
Essay writing on current and banking themes

Quantitative Aptitude

Data interpretation: tables, bar, line, pie, caselets and missing data
Data sufficiency
Number series: missing and wrong term
Quadratic equations and inequalities
Approximation and simplification
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

Reasoning Ability

Puzzles: floor, box, day, month, year and category based
Seating arrangement: linear, circular, rectangular and uncertain
Syllogism and reverse syllogism
Coded inequality
Blood relations and direction sense
Order, ranking and comparison
Coding and decoding
Machine input and output
Data sufficiency
Critical reasoning: statement and assumption, course of action
Logical reasoning and passage inference

Banking Awareness

Reserve Bank of India: structure, functions and monetary policy
Banking regulation, Basel norms and capital adequacy
Money market and capital market instruments
Financial institutions: NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM, NHB and SEBI
Priority sector lending and financial inclusion schemes
Union Budget and Economic Survey highlights
National income, inflation, GDP and fiscal terminology
International bodies: IMF, World Bank, ADB and BRICS
Static awareness: bank headquarters, taglines and important days
Current affairs of the previous six months

Computer Aptitude

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

How to apply

Open the careers page and register
Go to the current openings section on the SBI careers site, open the Probationary Officer link and choose New Registration. Save the registration number and password that are generated.
Upload your photograph, signature, handwritten declaration and thumb impression
SBI specifies file dimensions and size limits in the advertisement and rejects images that do not match. Read that section before scanning anything, since the specifications differ from the IBPS ones.
Complete the application form
Fill in personal details, category, qualification with percentage and examination centre preferences. Check the attempt-count declaration carefully, since SBI limits attempts by category.
Pay the fee online
Pay by debit card, credit card, internet banking or UPI. SC, ST and PwBD candidates pay nothing. Do not close the browser until the e-receipt appears.
Save the e-receipt and the application printout
Download both immediately. The registration number and password are needed again for the admit card and every later phase.

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, or proof of final-year status if applying provisionally
Caste or EWS certificate in the prescribed format, where applicable
PwBD certificate issued by the competent authority, where applicable
Recent passport-size photograph matching the image uploaded
Signature, handwritten declaration and thumb impression as 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
Learning Allowance
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
Newspaper, entertainment and books reimbursement as per grade

Basic pay and gross emoluments follow the bipartite settlement in force and vary with the city of posting. SBI publishes an indicative figure in the advertisement; confirm the current numbers there before relying on them.

What the job involves

A probation period during which officers rotate across deposits, advances and general banking desks.
Handling account opening, KYC compliance and customer relationships at a branch.
Appraising and processing loan applications and monitoring asset quality.
Cross-selling third-party products such as insurance and mutual funds.
Branch administration, cash and clearing operations.
Confirmation as Assistant Manager, with promotion to Deputy Manager and Manager through internal channels.
Posting anywhere in India, since SBI is a single national employer rather than a set of participating banks.

How to prepare for SBI PO

The Preliminary paper is identical in shape to IBPS PO, so preparation carries across directly. Do not build a separate plan for it.
Give the descriptive paper real practice. At 50 marks it is a fifth of the Main examination weight, and candidates who prepare only objective questions lose marks that were the easiest on offer.
The awareness section carries 60 marks over 50 questions with no negative-marking cushion worth relying on. Six months of consistent daily reading beats a fortnight of cramming, because the questions reward breadth.
Practise the group exercise by discussing a news topic aloud with two or three others. It is the one phase nobody rehearses and it is scored.
Track your attempt count deliberately. Sitting a cycle you are unprepared for spends an attempt that General candidates only have four of.

Frequently asked questions

How many times can I attempt SBI PO?

Four times if you are General or EWS, seven if you are OBC, and without limit if you are SC, ST or have a benchmark disability. An attempt is counted when you appear for the Preliminary examination, not when you apply. This limit is specific to SBI: IBPS PO has no attempt cap.

Can final-year students apply?

Yes, provisionally, provided you can produce proof of having passed by the date the advertisement specifies. This is more relaxed than IBPS PO, where the result must already be declared when you register.

How is SBI PO different from IBPS PO?

Three things matter most. SBI caps attempts and IBPS does not. SBI's descriptive paper carries 50 marks against IBPS's 25. And SBI adds a group exercise and psychometric test to the interview, with a 75:25 weighting against the 80:20 that IBPS uses.

Do I pay a fee if I am an SC, ST or PwBD candidate?

No. SBI has waived the fee entirely for these categories in recent cycles, rather than charging reduced intimation charges as IBPS does. Confirm this on the current advertisement.

Is an on-screen calculator available?

One is provided for the Data Analysis and Interpretation section of the Main examination. The Preliminary examination has none, and no physical calculator is permitted at any stage.

Where will I be posted?

Anywhere in India. Unlike the IBPS process, where you give preferences among participating banks, SBI is one employer with a national footprint and posts officers according to its own requirements.

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 exam pattern. 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.