IBPS PO
Also known as: PO
Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)
IBPS PO 2026: Your Route to a Public Sector Bank Officer Career
IBPS PO is a Common Recruitment Process for Probationary Officer posts across participating public sector banks, conducted in three stages: Prelims (screening), Mains (objective and descriptive), and a 100-mark Interview. Final selection combines Mains and Interview marks in an 80:20 ratio, and the Scale I starting basic pay is Rs 48,480 under the bank-specific IBA pay scale.
In-Hand Salary
Independently reported net in-hand salary for IBPS PO is approximately Rs 70,000 to Rs 76,000 per month, depending on posting city, after allowances and standard deductions. The full breakdow
Typical Vacancies
7,565
Frequency
Annual
Latest Updates
Main Examination Conducted
Mains (objective + descriptive) held on 4 October 2026.
Preliminary Examination Conducted
Prelims held across 22 and 23 August 2026.
Registration Window Closed
Online registration closed (extended to 26 July 2026).
IBPS PO/MT 2026 Registration Opened
Online registration opened for 7,565 revised vacancies.
Overview
What is PO?
IBPS PO recruits Probationary Officers and Management Trainees for participating public sector banks across India. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection runs it as a Common Recruitment Process, so one national examination covers posts across several banks. Selected candidates join these banks as officers in a probationary role and move into banking operations, customer relationships, credit, and management functions. Because the process is common, a single application can be considered by multiple participating banks, subject to each bank's allotment process.
Who Can Apply?
Graduates in any discipline from a university recognized by the Government of India, or holders of an equivalent qualification recognized by the Central Government, aged 20 to 30 years as on 1 July 2026 may apply. Age relaxations apply to reserved and eligible categories.
Career Opportunities
A Probationary Officer begins work as an officer in a public sector bank, gaining hands-on exposure to branch and back-office functions, lending, customer service, and regulatory compliance during the probation period. The role carries officer-level responsibility from the start, which distinguishes it from clerical banking posts. In public sector banking, career growth comes through scales, with progression based on seniority, performance appraisals, and each bank's internal promotion processes. This progression is generally faster and more performance-linked than typical central government seniority-based promotion.
How to Apply
- 1
Register online
Visit ibps.in and complete the registration for the IBPS PO/MT CRP (Common Recruitment Process) with basic personal details.
- 2
Fill the application form
Enter personal, educational, and other required details.
- 3
Upload photograph and signature
Per the format and size specified in the official notification.
- 4
Pay the application fee
Rs 850 for General/EWS/OBC candidates. Rs 175 for SC/ST/PwBD candidates.
- 5
Review and submit
Check every section carefully before final submission.
Eligibility Criteria
Age Limit
20–30 years
Age Relaxation
| Category | Relaxation |
|---|---|
| OBC | +3 years |
| SC | +5 years |
| ST | +5 years |
| PwBD_UR_EWS | +10 years |
| PwBD_OBC | +13 years |
| PwBD_SC_ST | +15 years |
| ExSM | +5 years |
Educational Qualification
A graduation degree in any discipline from a university recognized by the Government of India, or an equivalent qualification recognized by the Central Government, is required. Candidates should confirm their degree's recognition before applying.
Nationality
Indian citizen
Candidates must hold a graduation degree in any discipline and be between 20 and 30 years old as on 1 July 2026, with relaxations for OBC, SC/ST, PwBD, and Ex-Servicemen candidates as per the stated rules.
Selection Process
Prelims
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online) · 60 minutes (20 minutes per section)
Mains — Objective
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online) · 160 minutes
Mains — Descriptive
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online) · 30 minutes
Interview / Personality Test
Common Interview · Varies
Final Selection
Exam Pattern
Prelims
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online)Duration: 60 minutes (20 minutes per section)Total: 100 marksNegative: -0.25 mark per wrong answer| Subject / Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 30 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 40 |
Shortlisting stage for Mains — Prelims marks do not carry forward to final selection.
Mains — Objective
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online)Duration: 160 minutesTotal: 200 marksNegative: -0.25 mark per wrong answer| Subject / Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Reasoning and Computer Aptitude | — | — |
| Data Analysis and Interpretation | — | — |
| General, Economy and Banking Awareness | — | — |
| English Language | — | — |
170 questions across 4 objective sections totalling 200 marks. Per-section question/mark splits vary slightly by cycle; check the official IBPS notification for the exact current breakdown.
Mains — Descriptive
Computer Based Test (CBT, Online)Duration: 30 minutesTotal: 25 marksNegative: Not applicable (descriptive answers)| Subject / Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| English Language (Letter Writing and Essay) | 2 | 25 |
Descriptive writing test, part of the same Mains sitting as the objective paper.
Interview / Personality Test
Common InterviewDuration: VariesTotal: 100 marksNegative: Not applicable| Subject / Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Interview | — | 100 |
Final selection combines Mains and Interview marks in an 80:20 ratio — Prelims marks play no role in final selection, same as Mains-qualifying-stage exams elsewhere.
Detailed Syllabus
- Number series
- Simplification and approximation
- Percentages, profit and loss
- Ratio, proportion, averages
- Time, speed, distance, time and work
- Simple and compound interest
- Data interpretation (tables, bar/line/pie charts, caselets)
- Data sufficiency
- Probability and permutation-combination (Mains level)
Salary & Career Growth
Pay Scale
IBPS PO follows the bank officer pay scale under the IBA bipartite settlement, with a Scale I starting basic pay of Rs 48,480, which is a bank-specific structure and not the central government 7th CPC pay system.
In-Hand Salary
Independently reported net in-hand salary for IBPS PO is approximately Rs 70,000 to Rs 76,000 per month, depending on posting city, after allowances and standard deductions. The full breakdow
Pay Breakdown
| Higher-HRA posting area (9%) | Lower-HRA posting area (7%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Pay (Scale I, starting) | Rs 48,480 | Rs 48,480 |
| DA (23.87%) | Rs 11,572 | Rs 11,572 |
| HRA (9%) | Rs 4,363 | — |
| Approx. Gross (before other allowances) | Rs 64,415 | Rs 63,446 |
| HRA (7%) | — | Rs 3,394 |
Figures as of: IBPS PO/Probationary Officer uses the bank officer pay scale under the IBA bipartite settlement — a different structure from central government 7th CPC pay levels used elsewhere on this site. DA here is 23.87% of basic (bank-specific formula, revised periodically, not the same calculation as the 63% central-government DA used on other exam pages). HRA shown is officer-grade bank HRA (7-9%, varies by posting location), not the government X/Y/Z city classification. These are starting Scale I figures only — pay rises on a defined annual-increment scale (up to Rs 85,920 basic over the scale). Independently reported net in-hand (after additional Special/Location/Learning allowances and standard deductions) is approximately Rs 70,000-76,000/month, which this breakdown does not fully reconstruct since those extra allowance amounts were not confirmed from a primary source.
Allowances & Benefits
Dearness Allowance is 23.87% of basic pay under a bank-specific formula that is revised periodically, and House Rent Allowance is 7 to 9% of basic depending on the bank's city classification. Both differ from central government DA and the government X/Y/Z HRA system, and officers also receive Special, Location, and Learning Allowances.
Promotion Hierarchy
Bank officers progress from Scale I to Scale II, Scale III, and higher scales based on seniority, performance appraisals, and bank-specific promotion processes. Progression is generally more performance-linked than in central government roles.
Job Security
Public sector bank officer posts offer stable, long-term employment under the bank's service rules, with a defined probation period followed by confirmation.
Previous Year Cutoffs
| Year | Stage | Post / Region | UR | OBC | SC | ST | EWS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Final (provisional allotment, normalized score out of 100) | Probationary Officer | 46.11 | 44.04 | 38.53 | 36.73 | — | 100 |
| 2025 | Mains (out of 225) | Probationary Officer | — | 75.75 | 59 | 51.75 | — | 225 |
| 2025 | Prelims (shortlisting, out of 100) | Probationary Officer | 49.21 | 49.21 | 45.96 | 40.96 | 49.21 | 100 |
Probationary Officer · 2025: Sourced from third-party aggregators, not yet cross-verified against the official IBPS result PDF. Final score combines Mains and Interview in an 80:20 ratio, reported as a normalized score out of 100, not raw marks.
Probationary Officer · 2025: Sourced from third-party aggregators, not yet cross-verified against the official IBPS result PDF. UR/EWS Mains-stage cutoff not found from this source.
Probationary Officer · 2025: Sourced from third-party aggregators, not yet cross-verified against the official IBPS result PDF.
Preparation Strategy
For Beginners
Start with the Prelims syllabus of English, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability, and build speed through daily timed practice of 20 minutes per section. Use R.S. Aggarwal's Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations for maths and A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning for reasoning, and S.P. Bakshi's Objective General English for English. Track mistakes in a notebook, since negative marking of 0.25 per wrong answer makes accuracy as important as attempts.
Intermediate Level
Inconsistent mock scores usually come from attempt selection rather than gaps in knowledge, so audit the last five Prelims mocks by recording, for each section, how many questions you attempted, how many were wrong, and how much time went into questions you eventually abandoned. Note the weighting in Prelims: Reasoning Ability carries 40 of the 100 marks across 35 questions while Quantitative Aptitude carries 30 marks across the same 35 questions, so puzzles and seating arrangement deserve the first sweep and the heavier time allocation. Fix accuracy before raising attempts, because at 0.25 negative per wrong answer, four careless errors cancel a full correct question, and a sectional accuracy below roughly 85 percent means your cut-off point for guessing is set too low. In Mains, the 170 questions across four objective sections plus a 25-mark descriptive paper in the same sitting means fatigue is a scoring variable, so practise the descriptive letter and essay at the end of a full objective mock rather than as a fresh task.
Advanced (Final Stage)
Prelims is a screening stage only, so its marks do not carry forward, while Mains and Interview decide final selection in an 80:20 ratio. Shift your focus after Prelims toward the Mains sections on Reasoning and Computer Aptitude, Data Analysis and Interpretation, General/Economy/Banking Awareness, and English, plus the descriptive letter writing and essay. Use Disha Experts' Banking Awareness Handbook for current banking topics, and practise full-length 160-minute mock sets to build stamina.
3-Month Study Plan
Month 1: Build fundamentals in Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, and English using the recommended books, and complete daily sectional timed sets. Month 2: Shift to full Prelims mocks at 60 minutes, analyse errors, and begin Mains topics such as Data Analysis and Banking Awareness alongside a weekly descriptive writing practice. Month 3: Take full Mains mock tests at 160 minutes with descriptive writing in the same sitting pattern, refine weak areas, and prepare for the interview with current banking and economy updates.
6-Month Study Plan
Month 1: Rebuild arithmetic fundamentals covering percentages, ratio and proportion, averages, and simple and compound interest, alongside daily syllogism, inequality, and coding-decoding sets. Keep English to reading comprehension and error spotting for now. Month 2: Move to number series, simplification and approximation, time, speed and distance, and time and work, and start two puzzle and seating arrangement sets daily. Add cloze test and para-jumbles to the English routine. Month 3: Begin data interpretation in table, bar, line, pie and caselet formats, and start a daily current affairs and banking terms log covering RBI functions and monetary policy basics. Take one sectional timed test each day. Month 4: Start full Prelims mocks at the 100-mark pattern twice a week and analyse every wrong answer against the 0.25 penalty. Introduce Mains-level topics such as data sufficiency, probability and permutation-combination, and input-output. Month 5: Shift the weight to Mains, covering basic computer knowledge and terminology, government schemes related to banking and finance, static GK, and budget and economic survey awareness. Write one letter and one essay each week under timed conditions. Month 6: Take full-length Mains mocks with the objective paper and the 25-mark descriptive paper in a single unbroken sitting, revise the awareness log weekly, and prepare interview responses on banking and economy topics.
12-Month Study Plan
Month 1: Cover percentages, profit and loss, ratio, proportion and averages from first principles, solving untimed sets until the method is automatic. Read one comprehension passage daily without a clock. Month 2: Add simple and compound interest, time, speed and distance, and time and work. Begin syllogism and inequalities in reasoning and error spotting in English. Month 3: Work through number series and simplification and approximation for speed, and start coding-decoding, blood relations, direction sense, and alphanumeric series. Use R.S. Aggarwal for the quantitative base and S.P. Bakshi for grammar rules. Month 4: Begin puzzles and seating arrangement with one set daily, untimed at first, then at a fixed ceiling. Add cloze test and fill in the blanks to the English routine. Month 5: Start data interpretation with tables and bar charts, then line and pie charts. Open a current affairs and banking terms notebook and maintain it daily from here on. Month 6: Move to caselet data interpretation and data sufficiency. Add sentence improvement, sentence rearrangement and para-jumbles, and begin RBI functions and monetary policy basics. Month 7: Start timed sectional tests in all three Prelims sections, keeping accuracy above the level where the 0.25 penalty erodes your score. Revise all arithmetic chapters once. Month 8: Take one full Prelims mock each week and rebuild weak chapters from the error log. Begin Mains-level probability and permutation-combination. Month 9: Raise Prelims mocks to two a week and start input-output and basic computer knowledge and terminology. Add government schemes related to banking and finance to the awareness notebook. Month 10: Shift the main load to Mains. Practise mixed data analysis and interpretation sets, static GK, and basic economic survey and budget awareness, using the Disha Experts banking awareness material for current banking topics. Month 11: Take full Mains mocks covering all four objective sections, and write one letter and one essay every week for the 25-mark descriptive paper. Review the awareness notebook twice a week. Month 12: Run full Mains mocks with the objective and descriptive papers in one continuous sitting, cut revision to the error log and the awareness notebook, and prepare interview answers on banking, economy and your academic background.
Recommended Books
Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations
R.S. Aggarwal · S. Chand
Concept building and practice for Prelims and Mains Data Analysis
Reasoning
A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning
R.S. Aggarwal · S. Chand
Core reasoning and puzzle practice
English Language
Objective General English
S.P. Bakshi · Arihant Publications
Grammar and comprehension practice, also useful for the descriptive paper
Banking Awareness
Banking Awareness Handbook
Disha Experts · Disha Publications
Banking terms, RBI concepts and current affairs for Mains
Admit Cards
Results
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Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
IBPS PO is a Common Recruitment Process conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection for Probationary Officer and Management Trainee posts in participating public sector banks. It is a three-stage examination covering Prelims, Mains, and an Interview.
IBPS PO recruits for Probationary Officer posts across participating public sector banks in India. Each bank then runs its own allotment process from the common merit list.
Candidates need a graduation degree in any discipline from a university recognized by the Government of India, or an equivalent qualification recognized by the Central Government. They must also meet the age requirement as on 1 July 2026.
Candidates must be between 20 and 30 years old as on 1 July 2026, which corresponds to being born between 2 July 1996 and 1 July 2006. Relaxations apply for OBC, SC/ST, PwBD, and Ex-Servicemen candidates.
Prelims is a 100-mark, 100-question online test in 60 minutes with English, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning Ability sections. Mains has an objective paper of 170 questions for 200 marks in 160 minutes, plus a descriptive English paper of 25 marks in 30 minutes, followed by a 100-mark Interview.
Yes, the objective papers in both Prelims and Mains carry a penalty of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. The descriptive paper has no negative marking.
The descriptive paper tests English Language through letter writing and essay writing, with 2 questions for 25 marks. It is held in the same sitting as the Mains objective paper and runs for 30 minutes.
Yes, shortlisted candidates appear for a common Interview or Personality Test carrying 100 marks. Interview marks are combined with Mains marks to decide final selection.
Final selection combines Mains and Interview marks in an 80:20 ratio. Prelims marks play no role in final selection because Prelims is used only for shortlisting.
The Scale I starting basic pay is Rs 48,480 under the IBA bank officer pay scale, which rises annually up to Rs 85,920 basic over the scale. Independently reported net in-hand salary is approximately Rs 70,000 to Rs 76,000 per month, depending on posting city.
IBPS PO uses the bank officer pay scale under the IBA bipartite settlement, which is a separate structure from the central government 7th CPC pay levels used in SSC and railway posts. Its DA and HRA are also calculated using bank-specific formulas rather than government DA and the X/Y/Z city system.
No, IBPS PO does not include a physical test. Selection is based on the Prelims, Mains, and Interview stages only.
The 2026 cycle was announced with 7,565 revised vacancies across participating banks. Vacancy numbers vary from cycle to cycle, so candidates should check the official notification for each year.
The application fee is Rs 850 for General, EWS, and OBC candidates and Rs 175 for SC, ST, and PwBD candidates. Candidates register on ibps.in, fill the application form, upload the photograph and signature in the specified format, and pay the fee before submission.
Begin with daily timed practice in English, Quantitative Aptitude, and Reasoning, using R.S. Aggarwal, A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning, and S.P. Bakshi. After Prelims, focus on Mains topics such as Data Analysis, Banking Awareness, and descriptive writing, and take full-length mocks to build speed and accuracy.