Reserve Bank of India Grade A
RBI Grade A is a recruitment exam conducted by Reserve Bank of India, relevant to candidates preparing for insurance and financial-sector recruitment.
RBI Grade A is the entry officer level at the Reserve Bank of India. Recruitment for Officers in Grade A is run by the Reserve Bank of India Services Board, and the most recent completed cycle (Panel Year 2026) filled two Grade A posts: Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha) and Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security). Both come with a starting basic pay of Rs. 62,500 per month and a posting anywhere in India.
This page explains how the recruitment works, using the official Panel Year 2026 advertisement as the reference. It covers vacancies, eligibility, fee, exam pattern, syllabus, selection process, salary, cut-off and preparation. Figures for the 2026 cycle are kept separate from the tentative 2027 schedule, so you can see what is confirmed and what may still change.
Table of Contents
RBI Grade A
The table below uses the official Panel Year 2026 advertisement (Advt. No. RBISB/DA/05/2025-26). Treat it as the latest confirmed cycle until RBI releases a new notification.
Particular | Details |
|---|---|
Conducting body | Reserve Bank of India Services Board |
Posts in Grade A (Panel Year 2026) | Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha); Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security) |
Total Grade A vacancies | 12 (4 Rajbhasha and 8 Protocol & Security) |
Mode of application | Online only |
Stages | Rajbhasha: Paper I (objective), Paper II (descriptive), interview. Protocol & Security: online objective test, interview |
Total marks | 235 for both posts, including a 35-mark interview |
Starting basic pay | Rs. 62,500 per month |
Probation | 2 years, extendable up to 4 years |
Official website |
RBI also recruits for Grade B and for other posts through separate notifications. Those are different exams, so do not mix their pattern or eligibility with the Grade A details on this page.
Latest Recruitment Cycle: Panel Year 2026
RBI advertised five posts under Non-CSG cadres in Panel Year 2026: three in Grade B and two in Grade A. Only the two Grade A posts are covered here. The official notification is available on the RBI website: https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/Bs_viewcontent.aspx?Id=4854
Event | Date (Panel Year 2026) |
|---|---|
Online registration and fee payment | 6 February 2026 to 26 February 2026 (till 6:00 PM) |
Age and eligibility reference date | 1 February 2026 |
Last date to hold category certificates (OBC, EWS, SC/ST, PwBD) | 26 February 2026 |
Online examination | 14 March 2026 |
Score cards with cut-off marks published | 1 July 2026 |
The admit card is released about one week before the examination and is downloaded from the RBI website. RBI does not post it.
What RBI's 2027 Calendar Says
RBI publishes an annual calendar of its Class I officer recruitment. The 2027 calendar, dated 22 October 2026, lists indicative months only. All entries below are tentative and can change, so always confirm them on the official recruitment pages.
Post | Notification (tentative) | Exam (tentative) |
|---|---|---|
Officers in Grade A (DR) - General | July 2027 | Single phase, September 2027 |
Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha) | February 2027 | Single phase, March or April 2027 |
Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security) | February 2027 | Single phase, March or April 2027 |
The calendar does not give vacancies, eligibility, pattern or fees. Those appear only in each advertisement. For the Officers in Grade A (DR) - General post, no pattern or syllabus has been published yet, so any detail you read about it today is an assumption. Recruitment announcements are listed on the official vacancies page: https://opportunities.rbi.org.in/Scripts/Vacancies.aspx
Vacancy Details
The Panel Year 2026 advertisement offered 12 vacancies across the two Grade A posts. The category-wise split is below.
Post | General | EWS | OBC (NCL) | SC | ST | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security) | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
One Rajbhasha vacancy is also identified for a PwBD candidate. Vacancy numbers change from one cycle to the next, so do not plan around last year's count.
Eligibility in Brief
Eligibility is different for each post, and the Protocol & Security post asks for military service rather than a degree. Full details, including age relaxation, are on the RBI Grade A eligibility page.
Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha)
Qualification: A second-class Master's degree in Hindi or Hindi translation with English as a subject at graduation level, or one of the other combinations allowed in the notification.
Age: 21 to under 30 years as on 1 February 2026. Ph.D. holders get an upper limit of 32 years.
Experience: None required.
Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security)
Qualification: No degree is specified. The post requires at least 10 years of commissioned service in the regular Army, Navy or Air Force (5 years for PwBD candidates) and a valid Ex-Serviceman Identity Card.
Age: 25 to under 40 years as on 1 February 2026, with no age relaxation for any category.
Application Fee and How to Apply
The fee is non-refundable, and bank or transaction charges are paid by the candidate.
Category | Fee (Panel Year 2026) |
|---|---|
General, OBC and EWS | Rs. 600 plus 18% GST (application fee including intimation charges) |
SC, ST and PwBD | Rs. 100 plus 18% GST (intimation charges only) |
RBI staff candidates | Nil, subject to verification at the interview |
To apply, follow these steps:
Open the Opportunities@RBI page: https://opportunities.rbi.org.in/scripts/index.aspx
Read the detailed advertisement fully and check your age and qualification against the reference date.
Register online and fill in the application form.
Upload your photograph, signature, left thumb impression and the handwritten undertaking as described in Appendix-I of the notification.
Pay the fee online and save the confirmation.
Certificates for age, education, category and disability are not uploaded with the application. They are verified at the interview stage, so keep valid copies ready before the closing date.
Exam Pattern
The two posts have different papers. Both carry a total of 235 marks including the interview, and both use negative marking for wrong answers in the objective test. The detailed tables are on the RBI Grade A exam pattern page.
Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha)
Test | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
Reasoning | 35 | 35 | 30 minutes |
English Language | 35 | 35 | 30 minutes |
General Awareness (banking, economics, commerce) | 35 | 35 | 20 minutes |
Professional Knowledge (including Official Language) | 45 | 45 | 40 minutes |
Paper II: Descriptive (Official Language) | - | 50 | 60 minutes |
Interview | - | 35 | - |
Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security)
Test | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
Reasoning | 50 | 50 | 35 minutes |
English Language | 50 | 25 | 35 minutes |
General Awareness (banking industry) | 50 | 50 | 20 minutes |
Professional Knowledge | 50 | 75 | 30 minutes |
Interview | - | 35 | - |
What this means for you:
Marks are not equal per question: In Protocol & Security, a Professional Knowledge question is worth 1.5 marks while an English question is worth 0.5 marks. Spend your practice time accordingly.
Each test is timed separately: You cannot borrow minutes from Reasoning to finish Professional Knowledge, so build speed section by section.
Wrong answers cost marks: One-fourth of the question's marks is deducted, so avoid blind guessing.
Older pages may still show earlier patterns, so follow the official notification.
On exam day, carry the admit card, an original photo ID and two or three photocopies of it, because the exam runs in shifts. The name on the admit card must match your ID and certificates exactly, or you may be refused entry. Mobile phones and other electronic devices are not allowed in the exam hall, even when switched off.
Syllabus in Brief
RBI names the tests in its notification but does not publish a detailed topic list in the main advertisement. The summary below is a working checklist built from the test names and the kind of questions candidates report from earlier cycles. The full list is on the RBI Grade A syllabus page.
Subject | Applies to | Important areas |
|---|---|---|
Reasoning | Both posts | Puzzles, seating arrangement, syllogism, coding-decoding, series, data sufficiency |
English Language | Both posts | Reading comprehension, grammar, error spotting, cloze test, vocabulary |
General Awareness | Both posts | Banking, economics, commerce, RBI functions, monetary policy, financial-sector news |
Professional Knowledge | Rajbhasha | Hindi language, translation, Official Language concepts |
Professional Knowledge | Protocol & Security | Security management, risk, fire safety, surveillance, administration |
Paper II (descriptive) | Rajbhasha | Hindi to English and English to Hindi translation, basics of Official Language Policy |
Selection Process
Selection is based on written performance and the interview, and the Board decides the minimum qualifying marks.
Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha): Paper I is an online objective test. Paper II, the descriptive paper, is held on the same day in the same session and is evaluated for candidates who score well enough in Paper I. Shortlisting for the interview uses Paper I and Paper II together.
Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security): One online objective test. Candidates who meet the aggregate and test-wise qualifying marks are called for the interview.
Interview: 35 marks, in Hindi or English as chosen by the candidate. Final selection combines the examination marks and the interview marks.
If candidates have equal marks, the older candidate is ranked higher.
Salary, Allowances and Career
Both Grade A posts carry the same pay scale in the Panel Year 2026 notification.
Item | Details (Panel Year 2026) |
|---|---|
Starting basic pay | Rs. 62,500 per month |
Pay scale | Rs. 62,500 rising in stages to Rs. 1,26,100 over 17 years |
Approximate initial gross (excluding HRA) | Rs. 1,26,540 per month |
Probation | 2 years, extendable up to 4 years |
Retirement benefits | NPS and gratuity |
Allowances include dearness, local compensatory, special grade, learning and house rent allowance (15% of pay if Bank accommodation is not provided). The Board may also grant up to four advance increments for very high qualifications or valuable experience. The gross figure is the Bank's approximate estimate, and your actual in-hand pay depends on the city of posting and deductions. Older pages may show lower pay figures from earlier cycles.
Rajbhasha officers work on translation, Official Language implementation and Hindi promotion. Protocol & Security officers handle physical security, protocol services for senior visitors, fire safety and premises upkeep. Postings can be anywhere in India.
Cut-Off Reference
RBI publishes score cards with stage-wise cut-offs after the process. For Panel Year 2026, the General category final cut-off (written plus interview) was 174.25 out of 235 for Rajbhasha and 135.13 out of 235 for Protocol & Security. Cut-offs change every year with difficulty, vacancies and the number of applicants, so treat them as a benchmark and aim for a clear margin above them. The RBI Grade A cut-off page has the full category-wise tables.
How to Prepare for RBI Grade A
Start by deciding which post you are targeting, because the papers and the preparation load are quite different.
Rajbhasha aspirants: Give steady time to Hindi and English translation practice, since Paper II is descriptive and needs writing speed. Read the Official Language Policy basics from official sources.
Protocol & Security aspirants: Professional Knowledge carries 75 of 200 marks, so build strong fundamentals in security management, risk, fire safety and administration first.
Both: Read banking and economy news daily, note RBI policy announcements, and practise reasoning and English every day.
For timed practice in the current pattern, you can attempt RBI Grade A online mock tests on Testkart and use the section-wise analysis to plan revision. Keep an error log and revisit it weekly. Short notes on RBI functions, monetary policy and key banking terms are also useful, and you can build them using RBI Grade A study notes as a reference for what to cover.