RBI Grade B syllabus

Recruitment of officers in Grade B (DR), General cadre: a 200-mark Phase-I objective test with four separately timed parts, then Phase-II (economics, English writing, and finance and management) and an interview.

Phase-I online examination (objective)

General Awareness

80 questions, 80 marks · 25 minutes

One mark each. Five options, one of them right. A wrong answer takes away 0.25. The information handout does not print a topic-wise syllabus for this test.

  • Banking and the Reserve Bank
  • Financial system and markets
  • Economic concepts
  • Indian polity and the Constitution
  • History, geography and institutions

English Language

30 questions, 30 marks · 25 minutes

Set in English only. One mark each; a wrong answer takes away 0.25. The handout does not list the question types inside the test.

  • Reading comprehension
  • Cloze
  • Error spotting and sentence correction
  • Paragraph rearrangement
  • Vocabulary

Quantitative Aptitude

30 questions, 30 marks · 25 minutes

In Hindi and English. One mark each; a wrong answer takes away 0.25. No physical calculator. The handout does not list the topics inside the test.

  • Data interpretation
  • Number series
  • Simplification and quadratic comparison
  • Arithmetic: percentage, ratio, profit and loss, interest, time and work, time and distance, averages

Reasoning

60 questions, 60 marks · 45 minutes

In Hindi and English. One mark each; a wrong answer takes away 0.25. The handout does not list the topics inside the test.

  • Puzzles and seating
  • Syllogism
  • Inequality
  • Coding and decoding
  • Blood relation, direction, ranking and other verbal reasoning

Phase-II online examination

Paper-III: General Finance and Management (objective)

30 questions, 50 marks · 30 minutes

Five options, one right. Marks differ across questions and are shown on them; together they are 50. A wrong answer takes away one-fourth of the marks of that question. Held in the morning, before the descriptive part.

  • Financial system and the Reserve Bank
  • Financial markets and instruments
  • Risk, inclusion and corporate governance
  • Accounting ratios and inflation concepts
  • Management and organisational behaviour
  • Ethics and communication

Paper-III: General Finance and Management (descriptive)

6 questions set; answer 4 (two of 15 marks and two of 10 marks), 50 marks · 90 minutes

If more than four questions are answered, the first four are evaluated. Starts automatically after the 30-minute objective part.

  • Typed answers on finance and management
  • Two 15-mark answers, word limit 600 each
  • Two 10-mark answers, word limit 400 each

Paper-I: Economic and Social Issues (objective)

30 questions, 50 marks · 30 minutes

Same marking as Paper-III objective: five options, differing marks totalling 50, one-fourth deducted for a wrong answer. Afternoon shift.

  • Growth, development, poverty and employment
  • Indian economy since 1991: monetary and fiscal policy, money markets, public finance, agriculture, industry and services
  • Globalisation, balance of payments and international institutions
  • Social structure, demography, gender and social justice

Paper-I: Economic and Social Issues (descriptive)

6 questions set; answer 4 (two of 15 marks and two of 10 marks), 50 marks · 90 minutes

If more than four questions are answered, the first four are evaluated.

  • Typed answers on economic and social issues
  • Two 15-mark answers, word limit 600 each
  • Two 10-mark answers, word limit 400 each

Paper-II: English (writing skills)

3 questions, 100 marks · 90 minutes

In English only, typed on the keyboard. The handout says the paper is framed to test writing, expression and understanding of the topic, and may include essay, precis and comprehension. Afternoon shift, immediately after Paper-I.

  • Essay
  • Precis
  • Comprehension