Institute of Banking Personnel Selection

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)^[1] is an autonomous agency in India. It started its operation in 1975 as Personnel Selection Services (PSS).^[2] In 1984, IBPS became an independent entity at the behest of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Public Sector Banks. IBPS is envisioned as self-governed academic and research oriented Institute, with a mission of enhancing human-resource development through personnel assessment.

In 2011, IBPS announced a Common Written Examination (CWE) for the recruitment of officers and clerks in Indian banks. IBPS CWE is now mandatory for anyone who seeks an employment in 29 public sector and regional rural banks. IBPS periodically accepts exam applications from candidates at their website, and the exams are organized at various locations in the country in online mode. Aspirants have to go through an interview process after passing the online test. On the basis of the interview, candidates are placed in regional rural banks.

Governing Board

The Governing Board consists of nominees from Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Finance Government of India, National Institute of Bank Management, representatives of Public Sector Banks, Insurance sector and academics. The matters related to policy and affairs of the Institute are vested in the Governing Board.^[3]

Services Offered

IBPS offers project consultation, personality assessment, training programs, and workshops and also facilitates nominating experts as well as setting up assessment centers besides its key activity of conducting recruitment of bank personnel through CWEs.

Common Written Exams

IBPS launched the common written exam (CWE) in 2011 for selection of clerks and officers in 29 nationalized banks and regional rural banks across India. It also offers human resource services to LIC, insurance companies, NABARD, IDBI, public sector undertakings and government departments. Today it enjoys a premier position as one of the finest personnel selection test conducting agency in India. Interested candidates are required to apply online at IBPS website and then appear for online objective exam. Successful candidates are offered placements in banks. Interviews were part of the selection process but as on 2016 this part has been dispensed with for selection of clerks.

Banking Posts

IBPS strength is its research based capability to design multiple choice objective tests and tools for testing of candidates appearing for the post of clerks, probationary officers and SO (Specialist Officers) in banks across India.

The IBPS clerk exam is universally adapted by nationalized banks across India to induct fresh graduates into various clerical posts. This exam comprises five sections covering Reasoning, English, Numerical Ability, General Awareness and Computer knowledge. Applicants first appear for a preliminary exam covering English, Numerical Ability and Reasoning. Only those candidates satisfying the cut off point for each section are eligible to appear for the final CWE.

IBPS also conducts exams for recruitment to the post of probationary officer (PO) and specialist officer (SO). The exam pattern is similar to that conducted for recruiting clerks but with higher difficulty level for PO posts. The post of Specialist Officers covers agriculture field officer, rajbhasha adhikari, IT officer, law officer, technical officer, HR/Personnel officer and marketing officer as well as finance executives and chartered accountants. For probationary officers the minimum eligibility is the applicant must be a graduate in any stream.

For the post of specialist officer the eligibility criteria vary. For IT officers the candidate must have 4 year BE/B tech or similar; for agriculture field officer the qualification is 4 years degree in agriculture or similar lines; for HR officers any undergraduate and PG in personnel management is sufficient; for marketing officers a 2-year MBA/MMS with marketing specialization is the minimum and for law officers a degree in Law and enrolled advocate of the Bar Council is a prerequisite.

Recruitments through IBPS

IBPS announces each year positions in clerical, PO and SO posts in nationalized banks, State Bank and RRBs. Those meeting eligibility criteria have to apply online, register, pay the application fees, obtain the admit card and appear for preliminary and final common written exams (CWE) and then an interview (in the case of IBPS PO and IBPS SO) before a selection panel. IBPS announces dates for submitting applications, dates for the exam and thereafter dates for the interview and also intimates selected candidates.

Recruitment for PSBs follows a 2 or 3 tier scheme. IBPS RRB[PO/CLERK], SO and IBPS CLERKrecruitment are two phase processes, while IBPS PO consist of three stages. The first phase is Common written examination, followed by Interview and the final placement.

Eligibility

As of 2014, the basic eligibility for appearing the IBPS recruitment is a university degree. There is an "age condition" which varies with the recruitment type and relaxation available to the candidates. Additionally, applicants to the Specialist cadre are required to have a professional qualification in Law, Accounting, Agriculture, IT or management sector. A certificate in computer operations or knowledge in computers has also been mandatory for posts other than the specialist officer.

Common Written Examination (CWE)

IBPS CWE is one among the most competitive examinations in India with a selection ratio of 1 out of 200. Candidates receive the date and venue of the exam via a call letter, which will be available for download a few days after they register at the IBPS website. The exam uses negative marking for false answers.

As of 2015, the process has changed to a two-tier system. Tier I is an easier exam where a larger number of candidates are expected to pass, and tier II has a higher level of difficulty. Candidates who pass both stages of CWE will be called for the interview.

The exam syllabus covers topics such as reasoning, general awareness, English language, quantitative aptitude, computer knowledge and professional knowledge.

IBPS Specialist Officers

There are multiple positions under IBPS Specialist officers, some of them are IT Officers (Scale I), Agricultural Field Officers (Scale I), Rajbhasha Adhikari (Scale I), Law Officers (Scale I), HR / Personnel Officers (Scale I), and Marketing Officers (Scale I). Registration for the posts starts in November, while the exam is conducted in subsequent January and final result is declared in April. The exam is of 200 marks consisting of 200 questions and it has 50 questions of professional knowledge 75marks.^[4]

IBPS Probationary Officers

Selection Procedure are classified in 3 phases, Phase 1 preliminary Objective Test, Phase 2 mains Objective Test and Phase 3 interview. Preliminary exam conducts in October and mains exam conducts in October month or next month in November and interview conducts in January. For Appearing in IBPS PO, Candidate must have pass the graduation in any discipline, There is not any percentage criteria for IBPS PO Exam.The minimum age must be 20 while the maximum is 30 years. There are also some age relaxation based on the applicant’s category.

IBPS Clerk

The IBPS Clerk Pattern 2016 consists of 2 online exams, they are, the Prelims exam and the Mains exam. The IBPS Prelims exam has 3 sections i.e, English Language, Numerical Ability and Reasoning Ability. The exam has a total of 100 questions and each question carries 1 mark. The IBPS Mains Exam has 5 sections. The two new sections of the Mains exam are General Awareness and Computer Knowledge. The Mains exam consists of 200 questions, each section containing 40 questions. Each section is allotted a separate timeframe within which the questions need to be answered. Both these exams have negative marking. For every wrong answer, the candidate will lose 0.25 marks.

IBPS RRB (Regional Rural Bank)

There are multiple positions to be filled through IBPS RRB Exam such as Officer Scale-I, Scale-II & Scale-III.There are also specialist officer positions like I.T. Officer,Chartered Accountant, Law Officer,Agriculture Officer, Marketing Officer.In clerical cadre, Office Assistant positions are also being recruited.The date of examination for this recruitment will be announced on their official website.Last year, the RRB IV common examination was conducted.^[5]

Common Interview

In 2012, IBPS announced that the participating banks would no longer conduct separate interviews for successful candidates after the CWE. Instead, IBPS itself will arrange a common interview (CI) ^[6] for them at different locations and will prepare a final merit list which will be used to recruit them directly to the banking positions reported during the validity of their score card. Those who have passed the PO and SO written exams appear for an interview. Written exams have a weight age of 80 and performance at interviews is given a weight age of 20 for the final selection decision. Interviewees may be asked questions about family, education, strength and weakness and questions relating to knowledge about banking.

IBPS has dispensed with interviews for the post of clerks in nationalized banks.

Final Selection

IBPS forms a rank list once the exam and interview phases end. The same will be used to fill existing and upcoming vacancies in the participating banks for a period of one year from the date of announcement of the final results.

IBPS does not announce the final cut-off marks until the entire process of CWE and the interview is over. This often leaves candidates guessing the expected cut-off marks and not being able to know the exact cut-offs. The process of cut-offs is also then divided as per states. Which is based on fact that if a certain state has less number of vacancies, then the cut-off for that state is likely to go up and if a state has more number of vacancies, then the cut-off can be lower.

Alternative recruitment method

As an alternative to recruitment via IBPS, some banks recruit probationary officers after completion of a one-year training course.^[7]

After IBPS - Bank PO salary

IBPS is one among most popular competitive examination & the Bank PO salaries are quite attractive, especially after implementation of 10 Bipartite wage settlement for bank personnel. The bank employees salaries are not comes under pay commissions governed by central body. The basic salary of a bank po is as under

Scale I – 23700-(980/7)-30560-(1145/2)-32850-(1310/7)-42020

With career progression, a bank po can raise ladder up to scale VII and scale VII basic salary is as under

Scale VII - 76250-(2120/4)-85000

The above-mentioned are only basic salary and bank officials are also eligible for many more things like DA, HRA, CCA, Special allowance, etc.