What is RBI Grade B?
The Reserve Bank of India recruits Grade B officers into the General, Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), and Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM) cadres. Work depends on cadre and posting and may involve regulation, supervision, currency and payment systems, financial markets, policy, research, statistics or institutional administration.
Current Panel Year 2026 recruitment
Advertisement RBISB/DA/01/2026-27 dated 29 April 2026 announced 60 vacancies: 40 General, 10 DEPR and 10 DSIM. Applications ran from 29 April to 20 May 2026. General Phase I was scheduled for 13 June and Phase II for 25 July 2026; DEPR/DSIM Phase I for 14 June and Phase II for 26 July 2026. RBI has published Phase I results, so the cycle is at the result-stage workflow rather than applications.
Eligibility and age
General cadre: graduation with at least 60% marks (50% for eligible SC/ST/PwBD candidates) or post-graduation with at least 55% marks (pass marks for eligible SC/ST/PwBD candidates), under the notice's calculation rules.
DEPR and DSIM require the specific postgraduate economics/finance or statistics/mathematics/data-science qualifications stated in the notification; General-cadre qualification must not be substituted for those streams.
Age: 21 to 30 years as on 1 April 2026. Major relaxations include SC/ST 5 years, OBC 3 years, eligible ex-servicemen 5 years and PwBD 10/13/15 years. MPhil, PhD and eligible RBI/banking experience provisions are separately defined.
General/EWS candidates have a six-attempt limit for the General-stream Phase I examination; the notice exempts reserved-category candidates where reservation applies.
Selection process
Selection is through Phase I, Phase II and Interview, with separate schemes for General and DEPR/DSIM. Candidates applying to a specialist cadre must use Appendix III and its stream-specific papers. The General-stream structure below comes from Appendix II and should not be applied to DEPR or DSIM.
General stream Phase I pattern
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Awareness | 80 | 80 | 25 minutes |
| Reasoning | 60 | 60 | 45 minutes |
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 25 minutes |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 30 | 25 minutes |
| Total | 200 | 200 | 120 minutes |
General stream Phase II pattern
| Paper | Format | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic & Social Issues | 30-question objective + descriptive answers | 50 + 50 | 30 + 90 minutes |
| English Writing Skills | Descriptive | 100 | 90 minutes |
| General Finance & Management | 30-question objective + descriptive answers | 50 + 50 | 30 + 90 minutes |
| Interview | Interview | 75 | As notified |
Negative marking
RBI deducts one-fourth of the marks assigned to an objective question for a wrong answer. Descriptive answers do not use objective-test negative marking.
Syllabus and preparation scope
General Phase I covers general awareness, reasoning, English and quantitative aptitude. General Phase II covers economic and social issues, English writing, and general finance and management. DEPR and DSIM test their specialist disciplines. Detailed preparation micro-topics should follow the relevant official appendix and information handout rather than be treated as one common syllabus across all three cadres.
Pay, probation and role
Starting basic pay is ₹78,450 in the ₹78,450–1,41,600 Grade B scale. RBI lists applicable grade, special, dearness, local, learning and housing-related allowances and states approximate initial gross monthly emoluments of ₹1,54,936 without HRA. HRA is 15% of pay when accommodation is not provided. Probation is normally two years and may be extended to four. Officers are transferable and duties depend on cadre and department.
Frequently asked questions
Does RBI Grade B have an interview? Yes, for General, DEPR and DSIM.
Is there one pattern for all streams? No. General uses Appendix II; DEPR and DSIM use specialist Appendix III schemes.
Is there negative marking? Yes, one-fourth of assigned marks for wrong objective answers.
Is the advertised gross pay the in-hand salary? No; take-home depends on allowances, accommodation, tax and other deductions.