SBI PO 2026: 1,500 Vacancies, Prelims 1-2 Aug, Salary

SBI PO 2026 at a glance

State Bank of India is recruiting 1,500 Probationary Officers under advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09, notified on 18 June 2026. This is the single most chased banking job in India, and the numbers show why: SBI PO draws several lakh applicants for a fixed intake, so the real contest is not eligibility but clearing a high cut-off across three demanding stages.

Here is where the cycle stands as of 28 July 2026. Applications opened on 18 June and closed on 8 July 2026, so the form is no longer live. The preliminary exam is scheduled for 1 and 2 August 2026, and the prelims call letter is already available for download on the SBI careers portal. If you applied, your task now is the prelims; if you are researching for the next cycle, this page lays out exactly what the exam demands.

Of the 1,500 posts, 1,446 are regular vacancies and 54 are backlog vacancies. The recruitment is for Junior Management Grade Scale I officers, a permanent SBI officer-cadre role with a fast promotion track and a starting in-hand pay that clears most other clerical and officer bank jobs.

Important dates for SBI PO 2026

The mains date is not yet officially fixed, so treat September 2026 as expected until SBI confirms it on the careers portal. SBI usually announces the mains date and releases the mains call letter only after the prelims result, so keep checking your login dashboard through August 2026.

Vacancy details

The 1,500 posts split into 1,446 regular and 54 backlog vacancies. The category-wise breakup of the regular posts is below.

Eligibility for SBI PO 2026

Age and qualification are the two gates, and both are checked as on 1 April 2026.

On age, you must be between 21 and 30 years, that is, born between 2 April 1996 and 1 April 2005, both inclusive. Category relaxation applies over the upper limit: 3 years for OBC, 5 years for SC and ST, and 10 years for PwBD candidates.

On qualification, you need a graduation in any discipline from a recognised university, with no minimum percentage. Final-year students can apply provisionally but must produce proof of graduation before the interview stage. If your marks are in CGPA, convert them to a percentage using your college formula for the form.

On attempts, SBI limits the number of times General and EWS candidates can appear, while OBC and reserved candidates get more or no cap. The exact attempt limits change between cycles, so confirm the figure in the CRPD/PO/2026-27/09 notification rather than assuming a past cycle's rule.

Application fee

Payment is online through debit card, credit card, or net banking. The fee is not refundable once paid, so confirm your eligibility on age, qualification, and category before you complete the payment step.

Selection process

SBI PO runs through three phases, and unlike most bank exams it adds a psychometric test and a group exercise on top of the interview.

1. Preliminary examination: a qualifying screen. Its marks do not count toward the final merit.
2. Main examination: objective plus descriptive. This decides your position going into the final phase.
3. Phase III: a psychometric test, a group exercise, and a personal interview.

The final merit is built from the mains score and the Phase III score. Prelims only decides who moves to the mains.

Preliminary exam pattern

The prelims is a 100-mark test of 100 questions in one hour, with 20-minute sectional timing and a penalty of 0.25 marks per wrong answer.

The sectional timing is the catch: you cannot carry saved minutes from one section into another, so pace within each 20-minute block decides your score as much as accuracy.

Main exam pattern

The mains has an objective paper of 200 marks and a descriptive paper of 30 marks, with sectional timing throughout and the same 0.25 penalty on objective questions.

The descriptive paper tests a letter and an essay, and it is evaluated only if you clear the objective cut-off. General and banking awareness carries the most weight relative to preparation time, so a daily current affairs and banking-news habit pays off directly here.

Syllabus

Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation cover simplification, number series, quadratic equations, arithmetic (percentage, ratio, time and work, profit and loss), and data interpretation sets. Reasoning covers puzzles, seating arrangement, syllogism, coding and decoding, inequalities, and data sufficiency, with computer aptitude in the mains. English covers reading comprehension, cloze test, error spotting, sentence rearrangement, and vocabulary. General, Economy and Banking Awareness covers current affairs of the last six months, banking and financial terms, RBI and monetary policy basics, and static general knowledge.

SBI PO 2026 salary and in-hand pay

SBI PO is a Junior Management Grade Scale I officer post on SBI's own pay scale, not the central government pay scale, so its dearness allowance follows SBI's bipartite settlement rather than the 7th Pay Commission. The starting basic is Rs 48,480, and a graduate entrant gets four advance increments of Rs 2,000, which lifts the effective starting basic to about Rs 56,480 a month.

Here is a worked in-hand estimate at the SBI bipartite scale. On an effective basic near Rs 56,480, dearness allowance under the SBI settlement adds roughly Rs 15,300, house rent allowance adds about Rs 4,500, and a special allowance plus city and other allowances add close to Rs 16,000. That is a gross near Rs 93,000 to Rs 98,000 a month. After deductions for provident fund, the pension contribution, and professional tax (together around Rs 13,000), the in-hand lands at about Rs 80,000 to Rs 82,000 a month in a metro. The annual cost to company works out near Rs 22 lakh in a metro posting. In-hand varies with the posting city because house rent allowance changes by location.

SBI PO cut-off trend

Cut-offs move year to year with the difficulty of the paper. As a reference, the 2025 cycle closed near these marks.

The general-category mains cut-off has swung from about 94.85 in 2021 to 70 in 2023, 87.50 in 2024, and 75 in 2025, per SBI result data, which is why comparing your target with a single past year is misleading. Remember that prelims marks do not carry into the final merit; the mains and Phase III decide selection.

SBI PO vs IBPS PO

Candidates preparing for SBI PO usually also weigh IBPS PO. This comparison sets out the real differences.

SBI PO pays more from day one and promotes fast, but its exam is tougher and its intake is a fraction of IBPS PO. IBPS PO spreads your chance across many banks with a slightly gentler paper. Most serious aspirants prepare for both, since the syllabi overlap heavily.

What a bank PO actually does

A Probationary Officer starts as a scale I officer and, after a probation and training period, handles branch operations, customer relationships, loan processing, and supervision of clerical staff. The role carries decision-making responsibility from early on, which is why the selection tests aptitude, communication, and a group exercise rather than rote knowledge alone. Postings are all India at the bank's discretion, so a willingness to relocate is part of the job. Early years often mean a rural or semi-urban branch, which builds the ground-level banking experience that later officer roles are built on, and the exposure counts toward faster promotion.

Career growth at SBI

SBI PO is one of the fastest promotion tracks in Indian banking. An officer moves from Junior Management Grade Scale I to Middle Management Grade Scale II and III, then into Senior Management and Top Executive grades over a career, through a mix of promotion exams and performance. The bank also offers postings abroad and specialised roles in treasury, credit, and risk as you rise. This mobility, combined with the pay that starts higher than most other bank jobs, is why SBI PO stays the most competitive banking exam year after year.

Phase III explained: psychometric, group exercise, and interview

The final phase is where SBI PO differs most from other bank exams, and candidates who prepare only for the written stages often stumble here. The psychometric test profiles your personality traits and behaviour tendencies, and its output is used as an input to the interview rather than as a separate scored round. The group exercise puts you in a small group to discuss or solve a given situation, and the panel watches how you contribute, listen, and lead without dominating. The personal interview then probes your background, banking awareness, and reasoning under questioning. Together the group exercise and interview carry the Phase III marks that combine with your mains score for the final merit. The practical lesson is that strong communication and composure matter as much as your written score, so mock interviews and group discussions in the weeks before the final phase are time well spent.

Documents you will need

Keep these ready for the application and the later stages, since the process pauses if you cannot produce them on time.

1. A recent passport-size photograph and a scanned signature in the SBI-specified format.
2. Your graduation degree and mark sheets, or a final-year provisional proof.
3. A category certificate (OBC, SC, ST, EWS, or PwBD) where you claim relaxation.
4. A valid photo ID that matches your registration details.
5. An active email and mobile number, since every call letter and result alert goes there.

Admit card and exam day

SBI releases the call letter stage by stage, roughly a week before each exam, on the careers portal. Download it, check that your name, photograph, and centre are correct, and carry a printout with the same photo ID you used at registration. Reach the centre early, because biometric verification and document checks take time and latecomers are refused entry. The exam is computer based, so no rough paper of your own is allowed; the centre provides sheets that you return before leaving. Electronic devices, smart watches, and written material lead to disqualification, so leave them out.

How to score the descriptive paper

The mains descriptive paper of 30 marks is small but decisive, because many candidates cluster within a few marks in the objective section and the descriptive score breaks the tie. It tests a letter and an essay, usually on a banking, economy, or general social topic. For the letter, follow the standard format, keep the tone appropriate to the recipient, and stay within the word limit. For the essay, spend the first few minutes planning a clear structure of introduction, two or three body points with an example each, and a short conclusion, rather than writing whatever comes first. Correct grammar and a clean structure score better than long, unfocused writing. Because it is typed on screen, practising a few timed essays and letters on a keyboard before the exam removes a real disadvantage on the day.

How to prepare for SBI PO

With prelims on 1 and 2 August 2026, the near-term task for applicants is speed under sectional timing, so daily timed drills in all three sections beat long untimed study. For the mains, data interpretation, general and banking awareness, and the descriptive paper carry the weight, so build a six-month current-affairs base and practise letter and essay writing under time. Because the syllabus overlaps with IBPS PO and other bank exams, one strong preparation base serves several applications at once, which is the efficient way to work through a bank-exam season.

Common mistakes candidates make

The first mistake is over-attempting the prelims. Because it is only a screen, the goal is to clear the cut-off comfortably, not to answer every question, and the 0.25 penalty means a string of guesses can pull a strong candidate below the line. The second is treating general and banking awareness as something to cram at the end, when it rewards a daily habit built over months and carries heavy weight in the mains. The third is ignoring the descriptive paper and Phase III until the mains is done, when both need their own practice, especially typing speed for the descriptive and mock group discussions for the final phase. The fourth is comparing your target with a single past cut-off, when the general mains cut-off has moved between 70 and 95 across recent years. Avoiding these four puts you ahead of a large part of the field before the paper even begins.

A realistic study timeline

If you are preparing for the next cycle rather than this one, a six to eight month runway works well. Spend the first half building fundamentals across quantitative aptitude, reasoning, and English, and starting a daily current-affairs habit that you never break. Use the second half for full-length mock tests of both prelims and mains, taken at the same time of day as the real slot, followed by a careful review of every wrong answer to find your recurring error patterns. Add descriptive writing practice and a few mock interviews in the final two months. The candidates who convert SBI PO are rarely the ones who studied the most hours; they are the ones who made the fewest careless errors under time and who prepared for the final phase as seriously as the written stages.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SBI PO 2026 exam date? The SBI PO 2026 preliminary exam is scheduled for 1 and 2 August 2026, and the prelims call letter is already available on the SBI careers portal. The mains is expected in September 2026, with the exact date to be confirmed by SBI.

How many vacancies are there in SBI PO 2026? SBI PO 2026 has 1,500 vacancies under advertisement CRPD/PO/2026-27/09, made up of 1,446 regular and 54 backlog posts, for Junior Management Grade Scale I Probationary Officers.

What is the SBI PO in-hand salary in 2026? An SBI PO takes home about Rs 80,000 to Rs 82,000 a month in a metro, on an effective starting basic of Rs 56,480 (Rs 48,480 plus four increments) at the SBI bipartite scale, after allowances and deductions. The annual cost to company is near Rs 22 lakh.

Is there negative marking in SBI PO? Yes. Both the prelims and the mains objective papers deduct 0.25 marks for each wrong answer. There is no penalty for unattempted questions, and no negative marking in the descriptive paper or Phase III.

What is the age limit for SBI PO 2026? The age limit is 21 to 30 years as on 1 April 2026, meaning candidates born between 2 April 1996 and 1 April 2005. Relaxation is 3 years for OBC, 5 years for SC and ST, and 10 years for PwBD candidates.

Is SBI PO tougher than IBPS PO? SBI PO is generally considered tougher, with harder reasoning and data interpretation, a descriptive paper in the mains, and a group exercise and psychometric test in the final phase that IBPS PO does not have. SBI PO also has a much smaller intake relative to applicants.

Is there a minimum percentage for graduation in SBI PO? No. SBI PO requires a graduation in any discipline from a recognised university with no minimum percentage. Final-year students may apply provisionally but must produce proof of graduation before the interview.

Do prelims marks count in the final SBI PO merit? No. The preliminary exam is only a qualifying screen to shortlist candidates for the mains. The final merit is built from the mains score and the Phase III score of psychometric test, group exercise, and interview.