Those aspiring for a career in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to rework their method of preparation, thanks to the revised examination pattern for Grade B officers cadre.

A Grade B officer (direct recruitment) post is the launch pad to a bright career in central banking, with the possibility of reaching chief general manager and other top executive positions.

According to the announcement made by the RBI a couple of weeks ago, the scheme of two-phased examination, which is open to all graduates with the prescribed age limit as per the existing norms, has been modified from recruitment year 2015.

In place of the objective-cum-descriptive papers, candidates will now have to take wholly objective-type, multiple choice questions. However, the English language test will be descriptive and taken online.

Choice of paper

For the first time, candidates need to choose one optional subjects out of three — banking & finance, economics and statistics. Again in a first, for each paper the RBI has provided a list of reference material, which includes The Hindu .

Also, the number of examination attempts has been increased from four to six, and the upper age limit for M Phil and research scholars has been relaxed by two and four years, respectively.

Skill focus

According to CS Vepa, Director of National School of Banking, a training institute for bank examinations, the new pattern is broad-based. “It is evident that the RBI is trying to pick people with specific skills to suit the nature of their job profiles in the RBI. It is very encouraging.

“There is need for more focussed study because objective type exam in social and economic issues as mentioned in the syllabus will require factual knowledge,” he said. The demand for a career in the RBI has been increasing in view of postings in urban or metro locations. “In all other banks, rural postings are a must, but not in the RBI as it has no offices in rural areas,” said a senior official of the RBI. The remuneration too is attractive.

According to the last notification, the cost to RBI per officer works out to ₹13 lakh a year.

The biggest challenge for the aspirants is the number of vacancies. In the last three years, the number notified has been around 100. About 1.5-2 lakh candidates compete for these posts.

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