SBI CBO

SBI CBO is the Circle Based Officer recruitment run by State Bank of India (SBI) for candidates who already work as bank officers. Selected candidates join as Circle Based Officers in Junior Management Grade Scale-I (JMGS-I) and are posted only in the Circle they applied to. This page covers the SBI CBO 2026 cycle, which ran under Advertisement No. CRPD/CBO/2025-26/18 dated 29 January 2026.

SBI CBO is not a fresher exam like SBI PO or SBI Clerk. You need at least two years of officer-level experience in a Scheduled Commercial Bank or a Regional Rural Bank, so the competition and the preparation approach are different. Below you will find dates, vacancies, eligibility, fee, exam pattern, syllabus, selection stages, pay and a preparation plan. Year-specific facts are labelled with the cycle, and the preparation advice is written to stay useful when the next notification arrives.

Table of Contents

SBI CBO 2026

The table below collects the main facts from the official advertisement. Figures belong to the 2026 cycle (Advertisement No. CRPD/CBO/2025-26/18).

SBI CBO Notification Overview

SBI released the 2026 CBO advertisement on 29 January 2026. It offered 2,050 regular vacancies and 223 backlog vacancies for SC, ST and OBC candidates. Backlog posts are vacancies reserved in earlier years that were not filled.

On 11 February 2026, SBI issued a corrigendum with two changes. It removed the clause that required candidates from non-public-sector scheduled commercial banks to show a minimum annual gross salary of Rs. 9.50 lakh, along with the related salary proof. It also extended the last date of registration to 25 February 2026. The experience requirement of two years as an officer was kept as it was.

SBI also ran an earlier CBO round in the same financial year, under Advertisement No. CRPD/CBO/2025-26/03 dated 9 May 2025. That round had 2,600 regular and 364 backlog vacancies. If you see these numbers on other pages, they belong to the earlier round and not to the 2026 advertisement.

As of October 2026, the SBI current openings page lists the final result for the 2026 round and does not show a newer CBO advertisement. Check the official page for any new notification: https://sbi.bank.in/web/careers/current-openings

SBI CBO 2026 Important Dates

The registration dates, corrigendum and final result date come from SBI documents. The exact online test day is reported by news sources and is not stated in the advertisement, so treat it as indicative. For any future cycle, track the SBI careers page and your registered email, because tentative dates can change.

SBI CBO Vacancy 2026

The advertisement states that vacancies are provisional and may change with the Bank's requirement. Candidates can apply for one Circle only, and merit lists are prepared Circle-wise and category-wise.

Category-wise vacancies

PwBD candidates get 4% horizontal reservation across the visual impairment, hearing impairment, locomotor disability and other specified disability groups. EWS vacancies are tentative and subject to Government directions.

Circle-wise vacancies

Choose your Circle with care. You are posted only in the Circle against whose vacancy you are selected, and the advertisement does not allow inter-Circle transfer until promotion to SMGS-IV or 12 years of service, whichever is later.

SBI CBO Eligibility Criteria

This is a summary of the 2026 rules. The SBI CBO eligibility guide explains each condition in detail, including documents and disqualifiers.

Qualification and experience

• Education: Graduation in any discipline from a recognised university, or an equivalent qualification recognised by the Central Government. Integrated Dual Degree, medical, engineering, CA and Cost Accountant qualifications are accepted.

• Experience: At least two years of post-qualification experience as an officer in a Scheduled Commercial Bank or a Regional Rural Bank listed in the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, as on 31 December 2025.

• Job profile: The employer-certified job profile must substantially match that of a Scale-I Generalist Officer in SBI.

• Local language: You must be able to read, write and understand one specified language of your Circle. This is tested before joining unless your Class 10 or Class 12 certificate shows you studied it.

Age limit and relaxation

The age limit is 21 to 30 years as on 31 December 2025. The advertisement gives the date-of-birth window as 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2004, both days inclusive. Age relaxation is not cumulative.

SBI CBO Application Fee and How to Apply

The fee is non-refundable and cannot be carried forward to another recruitment. It can be paid by debit card, credit card or internet banking. Registration is complete only when the fee is paid on or before the last date, where a fee applies.

Steps to apply

1. Open the SBI careers page and go to Current Openings. Official page: https://sbi.bank.in/web/careers/current-openings

2. Read the advertisement and corrigendum fully before you start.

3. Register for the Circle you want. You can apply for one Circle only, and category cannot be changed after registration.

4. Fill in personal, education and experience details.

5. Upload the scanned documents and the live photograph.

6. Pay the fee, if applicable, and save the confirmation.

Documents to upload

Applications are often rejected for a job profile that does not match the Scale-I role, missing or unclear documents, and a wrong category choice. Check each upload before submitting.

SBI CBO Exam Pattern

The online test has an objective part and a descriptive part, taken one after the other on a computer.

There is no penalty for wrong answers in the objective test, and sectional marks are not maintained. Banking Knowledge carries the highest weight, so it deserves the most study time. Some older pages still show negative marking. Follow the official advertisement. The SBI CBO exam pattern page explains timing and strategy section by section.

SBI CBO Syllabus Summary

SBI names the tests in its advertisement but does not publish a topic-wise syllabus. The topics below come from the official test names and from the type of questions asked in earlier years. Use them as a working checklist, not as an official list.

A topic-by-topic list with a study order is on the SBI CBO syllabus page.

SBI CBO Selection Process

1. Online test (170 marks): Objective plus descriptive test. There is an aggregate minimum qualifying mark set by the Bank and no sectional cut-off.

2. Screening: A Screening Committee checks your experience and whether your job profile matches the Scale-I role. Applications that do not match are rejected.

3. Interview (50 marks): About three times the vacancies in each Circle and category are called, subject to availability of qualified candidates. You must score the minimum qualifying marks decided by the Bank.

4. Final merit: Online test marks are converted to 75 and interview marks to 25, so the final score is out of 100. Merit lists are Circle-wise and category-wise.

5. Local language proficiency test: Provisionally selected candidates must pass it before joining, unless exempt. Failing it means no appointment.

Qualifying the online test does not guarantee an interview call. Candidates must qualify the online test and the interview separately.

SBI CBO Salary and Career Growth

Take-home pay depends on your city and the allowances that apply, so any in-hand figure you see online is an estimate. The advertisement does not mention a service bond. For promotion, CBOs move through the general cadre like other SBI officers.

How to Prepare for SBI CBO

You are likely preparing while working, so a fixed weekly plan matters more than long sessions. Start with Banking Knowledge because it carries 40 of the 120 objective marks and builds on your daily work. Then add English, general awareness and computer aptitude.

• Banking Knowledge: Revise RBI functions, monetary policy tools, payment systems, lending norms and recent regulatory changes. Link each topic to what you handle at work so it stays in memory.

• English and the descriptive test: Practise reading comprehension daily. Write one letter and one essay a week, typed on a computer, in 30 minutes.

• General awareness: Read banking and economy news every day for 30 minutes and keep monthly notes.

• Computer aptitude: Revise fundamentals, shortcuts, MS Office and basic networking in short weekly sessions.

• Interview: Prepare your job profile, your Circle choice and recent banking developments. The screening committee may check your claims.

Timed practice shows how your speed holds up across four timed sections and a typed descriptive test. You can attempt SBI CBO online tests on Testkart, use the section-wise analysis to find weak areas, and keep an error log for revision.

SBI CBO Cut-Off: What to Know

SBI sets minimum qualifying marks for the online test and the interview, but its published documents for this cycle do not give category-wise cut-off figures. The final result lists roll numbers and the marks lookup shows only an individual candidate's scores. Cut-offs change every year with difficulty, vacancies and the number of applicants, so treat any older figure as a benchmark only. Read the SBI CBO cut-off guide to learn how to set a safe target using the 75:25 merit formula, and track your own mock scores on Testkart against that target.