Banking · Government Exams

IBPS RRB 2026 Notification: PO and Clerk Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Vacancies and Free Mock Tests

IBPS RRB is the common recruitment for Regional Rural Banks — institutions with a rural and semi-urban mandate, sponsored by commercial banks and operating within defined state territories. One examination process fills both the clerical cadre, called Office Assistant, and the officer cadres from Scale I upwards.

Two features set it apart from the mainstream banking exams. There is no English section in the preliminary papers at all, and the local language requirement is not a formality — these are banks whose customers largely transact in the regional language.

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IBPS RRB · checked 19 September 2026

IBPS RRB at a glance, from the official notices

The dates, vacancies and rules below are read on the conducting body’s own site and rewritten as each notice appears. The guide beneath carries the full pattern, syllabus, cut-offs and free mock tests.

Free IBPS RRB mock testIBPS RRB syllabusToday’s current affairs
21Sep 2026

Next deadline

IBPS RRB: the facts that matter now

  1. 01

    Notification 1 September 2026; registration 1–21 September; prelims November–December 2026; mains and single examinations December 2026 – February…

    2026 cycle

  2. 02

    Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for 28 Regional Rural Banks — CRP RRBs-XV

    Conducted by

  3. 03

    Office Assistant (Multipurpose), the RRB clerk; Officer Scale I (Assistant Manager), the RRB PO; Officer Scale II (generalist and specialist) and…

    Posts

  4. 04

    13,745 indicative as updated on 9 and again on 15 September 2026 — Office Assistant 8,222, Officer Scale I 4,256, Scale II 1,047, Scale III 220…

    Vacancies

Notification

IBPS RRB notification and key dates

Checked 18 September 2026 on ibps.in, where a second corrigendum of 15 September 2026 re-issued Annexure I with the indicative vacancies as on that date — the total stays at 13,745 (8,222 Office Assistants, 4,256 Officers Scale I, 666 Scale II General Banking, 381 Scale II specialists and 220 Scale III), with bank-wise changes only — and registration closes on 21 September. The notification for CRP RRBs-XV — the 2026 process for the Regional Rural Banks — was published on 1 September 2026 after a window notice on 31 August, and a corrigendum of 9 September 2026 updated the indicative vacancies to 13,745. Registration and fee payment run from 1 to 21 September 2026 through separate links for Office Assistants and for Officers Scale I, II and III, with a two-day edit window afterwards. The IBPS calendar of 16 January 2026 places the Officer Scale I preliminary examination on 21 and 22 November 2026, the Office Assistant preliminary examination on 6, 12 and 13 December 2026, the Officer main and single examinations on 20 December 2026 and the Office Assistant main examination on 30 January 2027; the notification gives officer results in January 2027 and interviews in January–February 2027.

Key dates of IBPS RRB 2026 (CRP RRBs-XV), from the notification of 1 September 2026 and the calendar of 16 January 2026.
EventDate
Notification1 September 2026 (window notice 31 August; vacancy corrigendum 9 September 2026)
Online registration and fee payment1–21 September 2026
Edit windowTwo days after registration closes, notified on ibps.in
Pre-examination trainingNovember 2026
Preliminary examination — Officer Scale I21 and 22 November 2026 (calendar)
Preliminary examination — Office Assistant6, 12 and 13 December 2026 (calendar)
Preliminary resultsDecember 2026 – January 2027
Main examination — Officer Scale I; single examination — Scale II and III20 December 2026 (calendar)
Main examination — Office Assistant30 January 2027 (calendar)
Officer results, interviewsJanuary 2027; interviews January–February 2027
Provisional allotmentAfter interviews and the Office Assistant main result
Indicative vacancies under CRP RRBs-XV, updated 9 September 2026, across the 28 Regional Rural Banks.
PostVacanciesLargest RRBs
Office Assistant (Multipurpose)8,222Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank 900, Bihar Gramin Bank 500, and the other state banks by their reported need
Officer Scale I (Assistant Manager)4,256Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank 400, Bihar Gramin Bank 394
Officer Scale II — General Banking Officer666
Officer Scale II — specialists (IT 182, Chartered Accountant 81, Law 46, Treasury 18, Marketing 16, Agriculture 38)381
Officer Scale III (Senior Manager)220
Total13,745State-wise and bank-wise tables in Annexure I

What the 2026 process looks like after the RRB amalgamation

The “one state, one RRB” amalgamation of 2025 reduced the participating banks to 28 — one per state, from Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank to West Bengal Gramin Bank — so each state’s vacancies are now in a single bank, and applying for a state means applying to that bank. Local language proficiency for the state remains a condition, and the examination structure for Office Assistant and Scale I is unchanged from 2025.

Overview

What IBPS RRB is, and who it suits

Regional Rural Banks were created to extend banking into rural and semi-urban India, and they operate within defined state territories under a sponsoring commercial bank. The IBPS common recruitment fills their posts across participating banks nationwide, with candidates applying against a particular bank and state.

The exam structure differs from the mainstream banking recruitments in a way that changes preparation materially. The preliminary papers contain only reasoning and numerical ability — no English at all — which makes them shorter, faster and more purely quantitative than an IBPS PO or Clerk prelims. English or Hindi appears in the main examination, where candidates typically choose between them.

The post structure

  • Office Assistant (Multipurpose) — the clerical cadre. Preliminary and main examinations, with no interview — selection on the main examination alone.
  • Officer Scale I — the entry officer grade. Preliminary and main examinations followed by an interview.
  • Officer Scale II — general banking officer and specialist streams, with a single examination and an interview, and experience requirements at application.
  • Officer Scale III — senior management, with a single examination and an interview, and substantial experience requirements.

The local language requirement is substantive

Regional Rural Banks serve customers who largely transact in the regional language, and proficiency in the local language of the state applied for is treated accordingly rather than as a formality. Where you have not studied that language, find out how proficiency is assessed before you apply.

Eligibility

Who can apply for IBPS RRB

Eligibility is judged as on 21 September 2026 for qualification and 1 September 2026 for age, and verified with originals at the interview or before joining. Each post has its own age band, and the Scale II and III posts add minimum marks and post-qualification experience.

Qualification and experience by post, from the notification. All posts require proficiency in the local language of the state applied for and treat working knowledge of computers as desirable.
PostQualificationExperience
Office Assistant (Multipurpose)Bachelor’s degree in any disciplineNone
Officer Scale I (Assistant Manager)Bachelor’s degree in any discipline; preference for agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, veterinary science, agricultural engineering, pisciculture, agricultural marketing and cooperation, IT, management, law, economics or accountancyNone
Officer Scale II — General Banking OfficerBachelor’s degree with at least 50 per cent marks; preference for banking, finance, marketing and the agricultural disciplinesTwo years as an officer in a bank or financial institution
Officer Scale II — specialistsThe degree for the specialty (IT, CA, law, treasury, marketing, agriculture) with the marks the notification setsOne to two years in the field, as set for each post
Officer Scale III (Senior Manager)Bachelor’s degree with at least 50 per cent marks; preference as for Scale IIFive years as an officer in a bank or financial institution
Age as on 1 September 2026, with the usual relaxations of the upper limit — 5 years for SC and ST, 3 for OBC, 10 for PwBD, and service plus 3 years for ex-servicemen for the Office Assistant post.
PostAgeBorn between
Office Assistant (Multipurpose)18–28 years2 September 1998 and 1 September 2008
Officer Scale IAbove 18, below 302 September 1996 and 1 September 2008
Officer Scale IIAbove 21, below 322 September 1994 and 1 September 2005
Officer Scale IIIAbove 21, below 402 September 1986 and 1 September 2005

Other conditions

  • Local language — Proficiency in the local language prescribed by the RRB of the state applied for, as listed in the notification; candidates who cannot show it on a school certificate are tested by the RRB before joining.
  • Fee — ₹850 including GST for all candidates except SC, ST and PwBD (and ESM and DESM for Office Assistant), who pay ₹175; online only, non-refundable.
  • One state per post — You apply for the vacancies of one state, and may apply for one officer post and the Office Assistant post separately through the two links.

Selection process

How IBPS RRB selection works

Each stage in order, and what it actually tests.

Stages change between cycles. Confirm the structure in the notification for the cycle you are sitting.
StageFormatWhat it involves
Preliminary examination — Office Assistant and Officer Scale IOnline, 80 questions, 80 marks, 45 minutesReasoning 40 questions for 40 marks in 25 minutes and Numerical Ability (Office Assistant) or Quantitative Aptitude (Scale I) 40 questions for 40 marks in 20 minutes, each separately timed. Candidates must clear the cut-off in both tests; an adequate number per category is shortlisted for the main examination and preliminary marks are then discarded. 0.25 deducted per wrong answer.
Main examination — Office Assistant and Officer Scale IOnline, 200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutesReasoning 40 questions for 50 marks in 30 minutes, Computer Knowledge 40 for 20 in 15 minutes, General Awareness 40 for 40 in 15 minutes, English or Hindi Language (candidate’s choice) 40 for 40 in 30 minutes, and Numerical Ability (OA) or Quantitative Aptitude (Scale I) 40 for 50 in 30 minutes. Sectional and total cut-offs apply. For Office Assistant the mains marks alone decide allotment; for Scale I they shortlist for interview and carry 80 per cent of the final score.
Single online examination — Officer Scale II and IIIOnline, 200 marks, 2 hoursOne examination of 200 marks in two hours, with the sections for the generalist and each specialist post set out in the notification. Candidates above the sectional and total cut-offs, up to three times the vacancies, are called for interview.
Common interview and provisional allotmentInterview 100 marks for officers; allotment by stateOfficer candidates face a common interview coordinated by the nodal RRBs with NABARD and IBPS: 100 marks, 40 per cent to qualify (35 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD), weighted 80 examination : 20 interview. Office Assistants have no interview. Allotment is to an RRB of the state applied for, by merit and the vacancies the RRBs report.

Application to allotment

How to apply for IBPS RRB 2026, what the examinations and the common interview involve, and how an RRB is allotted

The steps in the order they happen, with the fees and windows the notification of 1 September 2026 specifies.

The IBPS RRB process, from registration to allotment

  1. Register once on ibps.in during the window Registration is a single online form for both the preliminary and main examinations, on the link that goes live on ibps.in on the opening day. You need a working e-mail address and mobile number that stay with you until provisional allotment, and scans made to the notification’s specification: a photograph (20–50 KB), signature (10–20 KB, not in capitals), left-thumb impression (20–50 KB) and a handwritten declaration (50–100 KB), all .jpeg. A live photograph is also captured through the webcam or phone camera at the time of application.
  2. Choose the state, centre and — where it applies — the medium For the state-wise processes you apply against the vacancies of one state or union territory only and sit the examination there; for the PO process you choose preliminary and main examination centres. The medium of the objective tests, other than English, is English or Hindi and, for the state-wise processes, the regional languages listed for that state. Preferences for banks are collected later, before allotment.
  3. Pay the fee ₹850 including GST, or ₹175 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates (and ex-servicemen for Office Assistant), paid online between 1 and 21 September 2026 on each link you apply through. The fee is not refunded or held over.
  4. Edit window A two-day window opens after registration closes, notified on ibps.in, in which the form can be modified on payment of the edit charge. Nothing can be changed after it.
  5. Pre-examination training, then the call letter Candidates from the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities (and, for some processes, ex-servicemen) who opt for it in the form may be offered online pre-examination training in the month before the preliminary examination. Call letters are released on ibps.in about a week to ten days before each examination; the preliminary call letter is stamped at the venue and must be kept for the main examination.
  6. Preliminary examination A one-hour online paper with a separate timer on each section. You must clear the cut-off in each section as well as overall; the number shortlisted for the main examination is fixed by IBPS by category, and preliminary marks are then discarded.
  7. Main examination A longer online paper, again with a separate timer per section, that the merit list is built from. Sectional cut-offs apply. Scores are normalised across sessions and released after the process is complete.
  8. Results, scores and the next step Results appear as a login on ibps.in; scorecards follow. Where the process has an interview, the shortlist and interview call letters are issued through the same login and the interview is conducted by the participating banks under a nodal bank.
  9. Common interview for officers Officer Scale I candidates above the main examination cut-offs, and Scale II and III candidates above the single examination cut-offs up to three times the vacancies, are called to a common interview coordinated by the nodal RRBs with NABARD and IBPS — 100 marks, 40 per cent to qualify (35 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD), with the call letter through the login.
  10. Provisional allotment Office Assistants are allotted on main examination marks; officers on the 80:20 combination of examination and interview. Allotment is to the RRB of the state applied for against the vacancies it reports, and is valid for one year; the bank then verifies documents, tests the local language where needed and conducts a medical examination before joining.

Exam pattern

IBPS RRB exam pattern and marking

The IBPS RRB exam pattern below is the scheme in the CRP RRBs-XV notification of 1 September 2026. Office Assistant and Officer Scale I share a structure — a 45-minute preliminary paper and a two-hour main paper — and Scale II and III sit a single examination. Every section is separately timed and one fourth of a question’s marks is deducted for a wrong answer in every paper. The full treatment is on the exam pattern and syllabus pages.

IBPS RRB prelims exam pattern 2026 — Office Assistant and Officer Scale I: 80 questions, 80 marks, 45 minutes; sectional cut-offs; qualifying only.
SectionQuestionsMarksTime
Reasoning404025 minutes
Numerical Ability (Office Assistant) / Quantitative Aptitude (Officer Scale I)404020 minutes
Total808045 minutes
IBPS RRB mains exam pattern 2026 — Office Assistant and Officer Scale I: 200 questions, 200 marks, 120 minutes; sectional and total cut-offs; candidates choose English or Hindi for the language test.
SectionQuestionsMarksTime
Reasoning405030 minutes
Computer Knowledge402015 minutes
General Awareness404015 minutes
English Language or Hindi Language404030 minutes
Numerical Ability (Office Assistant) / Quantitative Aptitude (Officer Scale I)405030 minutes
Total200200120 minutes
Officer Scale II and III, interview and final merit.
ItemDetail
Scale II and III single examination200 marks in 2 hours; sections per post in the notification; sectional and total cut-offs; up to three times the vacancies called for interview
Interview (officers only)100 marks; minimum 40 per cent (35 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD)
Final score (officers)Examination 80 : interview 20
Office AssistantMain examination marks alone; no interview

One fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for every wrong answer in every objective paper; a question left blank costs nothing. Where a paper is held in more than one session, scores are normalised by the equi-percentile method and carried to two decimal places before cut-offs and merit are worked out. The objective tests other than the language test are set in English, Hindi and the regional language listed for the state.

Study plan

How to prepare for IBPS RRB

IBPS RRB is a speed examination with a short syllabus. The prelims is 80 questions in 45 minutes across just two subjects, which makes it the fastest paper in banking; the mains adds computer knowledge, general awareness and a language paper, all recall-heavy, on 15- to 30-minute timers. Officer Scale I candidates add an interview where rural banking, agriculture and the state’s economy come up.

A four-month plan

  1. Month 1: reasoning and arithmetic to speed Puzzles, seating, syllogism, inequality, coding and series for reasoning; simplification, series, quadratic comparisons, arithmetic and DI for the numerical section. These two subjects are the whole prelims and 100 of the 200 mains marks.
  2. Month 2: the mains extras Computer knowledge fundamentals (40 questions in 15 minutes), a general awareness spine with banking, RBI, NABARD, rural development schemes and the state’s facts, and the language paper — choose English or Hindi by strength, not habit.
  3. Month 3: full mocks A prelims mock every second day on the 25 + 20 minute timers, a mains mock every week on the five timers, with 0.25 deducted per wrong answer and an error log by topic.
  4. Month 4: revision, and the interview file for Scale I Revise from notes and the error log; Scale I candidates prepare rural banking basics, priority-sector lending, kisan credit cards, the RRB’s state and their own graduation subject.

What the pattern means for the attempt

  • Prelims: 34 seconds a question — Eighty questions in 45 minutes with a cut-off in each of the two sections; attempt the sure ones, never guess across five options.
  • Mains General Awareness and Computer: 80 questions in 30 minutes — Recall only; 22 seconds a question. Daily reading for six months is the preparation, not revision in the last week.
  • Language choice — English or Hindi for 40 mains marks — pick the one you read fastest under time.

Sources

Official notifications and sources

Checked 15 September 2026 against the CRP RRBs-XV notification, window notice, vacancy corrigendum of 9 September 2026 and the tentative calendar of online CRPs for 2026-27 on ibps.in. Examination dates are tentative until the call letter.

Official documents

Notification for CRP RRBs-XV (1 September 2026) Window notification for CRP RRBs-XV (31 August 2026) Corrigendum with updated vacancies (9 September 2026) Updated vacancies as on 9 September 2026 (Annexure I) Tentative calendar of CRP online examinations 2026-27 (16 January 2026) Apply online — Office Assistants (Multipurpose) Apply online — Officers Scale I, II and III IBPS CRP RRBs-XV page

Exam resources

Everything for IBPS RRB

Six resource pages, each kept in step with the latest official notification.

IBPS RRB SyllabusIBPS RRB syllabus — reasoning and numerical ability for prelims, plus general awareness, language and computer knowledge for the mains.IBPS RRB Exam PatternIBPS RRB exam pattern 2026 — prelims and mains tables for Office Assistant and Officer Scale I, sectional timing, negative marking and interview weightage.IBPS RRB Previous PapersIBPS RRB previous year papers — building the speed a 45-minute, 80-question prelims demands, and learning the rural banking awareness themes.IBPS RRB Mock TestsIBPS RRB mock tests — 45-minute, 80-question prelims practice and full mains simulation with section-wise analysis.IBPS RRB PreparationIBPS RRB preparation strategy — building prelims speed without an English fallback, and covering rural banking awareness for the mains.IBPS RRB Study MaterialIBPS RRB study material — reasoning, numerical ability, rural banking awareness and computer knowledge notes.

Related

More Banking preparation

All Banking examsEvery exam in this categoryPrevious-year papersPast papers with solutionsCurrent affairsDaily, weekly and monthlyExam updatesNotifications and results

Questions

IBPS RRB — FAQs

Is there an English section in IBPS RRB prelims?

No. The preliminary paper contains only reasoning and numerical ability. This is the most consequential structural difference from IBPS PO and Clerk, and it cuts both ways: candidates with weak English are far better placed here, while candidates with weak reasoning face a hard ceiling, since reasoning makes up half the paper and there is no language section to compensate. English or Hindi appears only in the main examination, where you generally choose between them.

How is IBPS RRB general awareness different?

It carries a distinct rural and agricultural banking emphasis — NABARD and its role, priority sector lending, cooperative banking structures, financial inclusion schemes and rural credit — alongside the usual banking and current affairs content. Candidates preparing across several banking exams with mainstream material often find this the weakest part of their RRB mains score, because standard banking awareness guides do not cover it in the same depth.

Is the local language requirement important for IBPS RRB?

Yes, and more so than in the mainstream banking recruitments. Regional Rural Banks serve customers who largely transact in the regional language, so proficiency in the official language of the state you apply against is treated as a substantive requirement rather than a formality. Where you have not studied the language at school level, find out how proficiency is assessed before applying.

What is the IBPS RRB 2026 notification date and exam date?

The CRP RRBs-XV notification was published on 1 September 2026 with registration from 1 to 21 September 2026. The IBPS calendar places the Officer Scale I preliminary examination on 21 and 22 November 2026, the Office Assistant preliminary examination on 6, 12 and 13 December 2026, the officer main and single examinations on 20 December 2026 and the Office Assistant main examination on 30 January 2027, with officer results in January 2027 and interviews in January–February 2027.

How many vacancies are there in IBPS RRB 2026?

13,745 indicative vacancies as updated on 9 September 2026: 8,222 Office Assistants (Multipurpose), 4,256 Officers Scale I, 1,047 Officers Scale II (666 General Banking Officers and 381 specialists in IT, chartered accountancy, law, treasury, marketing and agriculture) and 220 Officers Scale III, across the 28 Regional Rural Banks. Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank and Bihar Gramin Bank carry the largest counts.

What is the IBPS RRB PO (Officer Scale I) exam pattern?

Prelims: Reasoning 40 questions in 25 minutes and Quantitative Aptitude 40 questions in 20 minutes, 80 marks in 45 minutes, qualifying with a cut-off in each. Mains: Reasoning 40 questions for 50 marks, Computer Knowledge 40 for 20, General Awareness 40 for 40, English or Hindi 40 for 40 and Quantitative Aptitude 40 for 50 — 200 marks in 120 minutes with separate timers. Then a 100-mark interview weighted 20 per cent against 80 for the mains. Every paper deducts 0.25 marks per wrong answer.

What is the IBPS RRB Clerk (Office Assistant) exam pattern?

The same structure as Scale I with Numerical Ability in place of Quantitative Aptitude: an 80-mark, 45-minute preliminary paper of Reasoning and Numerical Ability, then a 200-mark, 120-minute main paper of Reasoning, Computer Knowledge, General Awareness, English or Hindi, and Numerical Ability. There is no interview; provisional allotment to the state’s RRB is on main examination marks.

Who is eligible for IBPS RRB 2026?

A graduate in any discipline as on 21 September 2026 with proficiency in the local language of the state applied for. Age as on 1 September 2026 is 18–28 for Office Assistant, above 18 and below 30 for Officer Scale I, 21–32 for Scale II and 21–40 for Scale III, with five years’ relaxation for SC and ST, three for OBC and ten for PwBD. Scale II needs 50 per cent marks and two years as a bank officer (one to two years in the field for specialists); Scale III needs 50 per cent and five years. The fee is ₹850, or ₹175 for SC, ST and PwBD.

Is there an interview in IBPS RRB?

For officers, yes — a common interview of 100 marks coordinated by the nodal RRBs with NABARD and IBPS, with 40 per cent to qualify (35 for reserved categories) and a final weight of 80 examination to 20 interview. Office Assistants have no interview.

Which banks are in IBPS RRB 2026?

The 28 Regional Rural Banks that resulted from the 2025 amalgamation, one per state — for example Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank, Bihar Gramin Bank, Karnataka Grameena Bank, Maharashtra Gramin Bank, Uttar Pradesh Gramin Bank and West Bengal Gramin Bank. You apply for one state and are allotted to that state’s RRB.

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