Three Officer Exams, One Plan: RBI Grade B, NABARD Grade A and SEBI Grade A
This chapter maps the three officer exams before you study any subject. It sets out the stage-wise patterns, eligibility and selection rules from the latest notices read for this edition (RBI 2026, NABARD and SEBI 2025), compares them, links every syllabus line to a chapter of this book, and states where each recruitment cycle stands in November 2026. It closes with penalty arithmetic and descriptive-answer structure.
KarmSakha preparation topics covered
- RBI Grade B (DR-General) stages, eligibility and selection rule
- NABARD Grade A (RDBS) qualifying and merit sections, Mains and interview
- SEBI Officer Grade A (General stream) papers, cut-offs and weightages
- Syllabus overlap matrix linking notice lines to book chapters
- Status of the 2025 and 2026 cycles as verified in November 2026
- Expected-value reasoning for negative marking
What this book covers, and what it deliberately leaves out
The three regulators recruit officers into grades that look alike on paper, but each exam puts its decisive questions in a different place. In RBI Grade B (DR-General) the knowledge papers this book serves are Phase II Paper I (Economic and Social Issues) and Paper III (General Finance and Management), because Phase I only screens; Paper II (English) also counts towards the 300 marks. In NABARD Grade A (RDBS) the Preliminary examination carries a three-test merit section (General Awareness, Economic and Social Issues with a rural focus, and Agriculture and Rural Development), and Mains Paper II repeats the ESI and ARD content. In SEBI Officer Grade A (General stream) the decisive paper is Paper 2, which appears in both phases and covers commerce, accountancy, management, finance, costing, the Companies Act and economics. This book teaches exactly these papers.
Everything else is outside the book on purpose. English language and writing skills, quantitative aptitude, reasoning, computer knowledge and decision making are separate tests in the RBI and NABARD Preliminary papers, in SEBI Phase I Paper 1 and in the English papers of the later phases; they need practice sets, not notes on finance. The research and specialist cadres (RBI DEPR and DSIM, NABARD Legal and Protocol and Security, and the SEBI Legal, IT, Research, Official Language and Engineering streams) have their own syllabi and are not served here. FCI and ESIC papers are also left out, because no FCI or ESIC notice was verified for this edition and their papers differ from the three regulator exams.
Use this chapter as a map and then follow the route that fits your target, as mapped in the overlap matrix later in this chapter. For RBI Grade B read Chapters 2 to 9 as the core, then Chapters 11 and 12 for Paper III; for NABARD Grade A read Chapters 2 to 4 and 7 to 10; for SEBI Grade A read Chapters 2 to 9 and then all of Chapters 11 and 12, which carry the Paper 2 commerce, accountancy and management blocks. Read in chapter order if you are attempting all three, because later chapters build on Chapters 2 to 4.
RBI Grade B (DR-General): stages, papers, eligibility and selection rule
The 2025 recruitment (Advt. No. RBISB/DA/03/2025-26, Panel Year 2025) advertised 120 Grade B (DR) posts: 83 in General, 17 in DEPR and 20 in DSIM. Registration ran from 10 to 30 September 2025; the General cadre sat Phase I on 18 October 2025 and Phase II on 6 December 2025. Selection has three steps: a Phase I online objective paper, a Phase II online examination of three papers, and an interview. Phase I is a screen. Candidates who secure the minimum marks in each test are shortlisted for Phase II on their aggregate Phase I marks, with the cut-off fixed by the Board in relation to the number of vacancies, and Phase I marks are not added to the final merit.
Phase I is one paper of 200 marks and 120 minutes with four tests: General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning. The notice says that separate time is allotted to each test and that minimum marks are needed in each test and in aggregate, and it defers the question counts to the Information Handout. The split usually published is General Awareness 80 questions in 25 minutes, Reasoning 60 in 45, English 30 in 25 and Quantitative Aptitude 30 in 25, with a one-fourth mark penalty for a wrong answer; it goes back to the Reserve Bank's 2015 handout and to exam portals, not to the 2025 notice. Treat it as handout pattern and confirm it in the handout issued with your admit card.
Phase II is where the subjects of this book are examined. It has three papers worth 300 marks in all, set bilingually except English. In Paper I and Paper III the objective half has 30 questions for 50 marks, some carrying 1 mark and some 2 marks, in 30 minutes. The descriptive half is typed, lasts 90 minutes and carries 50 marks: six questions are asked, four must be attempted (two of 15 marks and two of 10 marks), and if you answer more than four, only the first four are evaluated. Hindi typists may use Inscript or Remington (GAIL) layouts. Paper II tests English writing skills and is the only paper not set in Hindi.
The interview carries 75 marks, and the notice adds a Personality Assessment before the interview that carries no marks and does not count in final selection. Candidates are shortlisted for the interview on the aggregate of the three Phase II papers, with a minimum aggregate fixed by the Board in relation to vacancies. The final merit list is built by adding Phase II marks and interview marks (with grace marks where the rules provide them), so Phase I does not count. Eligibility in the 2025 General notice: age 21 to 30 on 1 September 2025; graduation with at least 60% marks (50% for SC/ST/PwBD) or post-graduation with at least 55% (pass marks for SC/ST/PwBD). General and EWS candidates who have already appeared six times in Phase I are not eligible to apply, while the limit does not apply to SC, ST, OBC and PwBD candidates for whom posts are reserved.
The Panel Year 2026 notice (Advt. No. RBISB/DA/01/2026-27, dated 29 April 2026) keeps this design for the General cadre. Phase I is again one online paper of 200 marks and 120 minutes with General Awareness, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning, with separate timing left to the Information Handout. Phase II again has Papers I to III of 100 marks each, 300 in all, with the same 30-question objective half and four-of-six typed descriptive half in Papers I and III, and the interview again carries 75 marks, preceded by an unmarked Personality Assessment. The cycle data changed: age 21 to 30 on 1 April 2026 (born between 2 April 1996 and 1 April 2005), qualifications measured on 1 April 2026, six Phase I attempts for General and EWS candidates, and a fee of Rs 850 plus 18% GST (Rs 100 plus GST for SC, ST and PwBD).
- Age relaxation: 5 years for SC/ST and 3 years for OBC (non-creamy layer); M.Phil holders up to 32 years and Ph.D holders up to 34 years.
- Application fee: Rs 850 plus 18% GST for General, OBC and EWS candidates, i.e. Rs 1,003 in all; Rs 100 intimation charges plus GST for SC, ST and PwBD candidates; nil for Bank staff.
| Phase II paper (General) | Objective part | Descriptive part | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper I: Economic and Social Issues | 30 questions, 50 marks, 30 minutes | 6 asked, 4 to attempt (2 x 15, 2 x 10), 90 minutes, typed | 100 |
| Paper II: English (Writing Skills) | None | 3 questions, 90 minutes, typed | 100 |
| Paper III: General Finance and Management | 30 questions, 50 marks, 30 minutes | 6 asked, 4 to attempt (2 x 15, 2 x 10), 90 minutes, typed | 100 |
| Total Phase II | 300 |
NABARD Grade A (RDBS): qualifying and merit sections, mains and interview
NABARD's 2025 recruitment (Advt. No. 05/Grade A/2025-26) invited applications from 8 to 30 November 2025 for 91 Assistant Manager posts in Grade A: 85 in Rural Development Banking Service (48 of them General), 2 in Legal and 4 in Protocol and Security. Phase I was held on 20 December 2025 and Phase II on 25 January 2026. For RDBS and Legal the process has four steps: a Preliminary examination, a Mains examination, a Psychometric test and a personal interview. The Information Handout calls the Preliminary examination qualifying in nature, a screening test; what matters is that its eight tests are split into two groups with different jobs.
The Preliminary paper has 200 questions for 200 marks in a composite 120 minutes, in Hindi and English except the English test. Five tests form the qualifying section: Reasoning (20), English (30), Computer Knowledge (20), Quantitative Aptitude (20) and Decision Making (10). Three tests form the merit section of 100 marks: General Awareness (20), Economic and Social Issues with a focus on rural India (40) and Agriculture and Rural Development with emphasis on rural India (40). Shortlisting for Mains uses the merit-section marks only, applied to individual tests and to the total. NABARD gives a composite time and the handout says you may attempt any question at any point within the 120 minutes, unlike RBI's separately timed tests.
The Mains for the Generalist (RDBS) has two papers. Paper I is General English, descriptive, with three questions for 100 marks in 90 minutes, typed. Paper II covers Economic and Social Issues and Agriculture and Rural Development: 30 objective questions for 50 marks in 30 minutes (some of 1 mark, some of 2 marks), then a 90-minute typed descriptive part for 50 marks in which six questions are asked and four are to be attempted, two of 15 marks and two of 10 marks. A penalty of one-fourth of the marks of a question applies for every wrong answer in both Phase I and Phase II.
After Mains comes a mandatory Psychometric test (multiple choice, 90 minutes), and candidates are shortlisted for interview only if they appear in it and score at least the cut-offs in individual papers and the total. The interview carries 50 marks. The final ranking is based on Mains and interview taken together; Preliminary marks are not carried forward. The advertisement says the calling ratio will be at most 1:25 for Mains and 1:3 for interview, may be reduced at the Bank's discretion, and that merit lists are prepared discipline-wise because vacancies are earmarked by discipline.
- Eligibility in the General RDBS row (qualification as on 1 November 2025): a bachelor's degree in any subject with at least 60% marks (55% for SC/ST/PwBD), or a postgraduate degree or MBA/PGDM with at least 55% (50% for SC/ST/PwBD), or CA/CS/CMA/ICWA, or a Ph.D.
- Age 21 to 30 on 1 November 2025 (born between 2 November 1995 and 1 November 2004); relaxation of 3 years for OBC and 5 years for SC/ST.
- Fee: Rs 150 intimation charges only for SC/ST/PwBD; Rs 700 fee plus Rs 150 charges for others, stated exclusive of GST.
| NABARD Phase I test (RDBS) | Questions / marks | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 20 / 20 | Qualifying |
| English Language | 30 / 30 | Qualifying |
| Computer Knowledge | 20 / 20 | Qualifying |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 20 / 20 | Qualifying |
| Decision Making | 10 / 10 | Qualifying |
| General Awareness | 20 / 20 | Merit |
| Economic and Social Issues (focus on rural India) | 40 / 40 | Merit |
| Agriculture and Rural Development (emphasis on rural India) | 40 / 40 | Merit |