IBPS PO 2026

Conducted by: The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection

Mode: online

Duration: IBPS PO Prelims - 60 Minutes II IPBS PO Mains - 180 Minutes min

Location: Pan-India

Salary: Gross Salary - ₹90,000 (Approx) & In Hand Salary - ₹76,000 (Approx)

Application Fee: ₹850 for General I OBC I EWS II ₹175 for SC / ST / PwBD

Official Website

Exam Details

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) holds its PO Exam to select Probationary Officers for 11 public sector banks in India. The exam gets conducted in 3 stages – Prelims, Mains and Interview. Since 2011, the IBPS PO test has been held annually, and the 16th edition will take place in 2026.

Only about 0.5–1% of candidates who apply for the IBPS PO exam finally make it to the final list. Once selected, IBPS Probationary Officers undergo comprehensive training to develop the skills required to handle banking operations and responsibilities effectively.

IBPS PO 2026- Exam Summary

Organization	Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS)
Post Name	Probationary Officer
Vacancy	Yet to be released
Participating Banks	11
Exam Mode	Online
Recruitment Process	Prelims- Mains- Interview
Age Limit	20 years to 30 years (For General Category)
Salary	Rs 76,000 in hand (after deductions)
Education Qualification	Graduatation

List of Participating Banks in IBPS PO 2026 Recruitment:

The following public sector banks are participating for this year’s exam.

Bank Of Maharashtra	Bank of Baroda	Bank of India
Canara Bank	Central Bank of India	Indian Bank
Indian Overseas Bank	Punjab National Bank	Punjab & Sind Bank
UCO Bank	Union Bank of India

Eligibility

Citizenship / Nationality – If you are applying for IBPS PO 2026, then you must be any of the following

An Indian citizen
Subject of Nepal and Bhutan
A Tibetan Refugee who came to India before Jan, 1962
Person of Indian Origin (PIO) who has migrated from specified countries with an eligibility certificate issued by the Government of India

IBPS PO 2026 Age Limit (as on 1st August, 2026) – If you belong to the General category, your age must be between 20 and 30 years as on 1st August 2026.

Apart from this, there are certain age relaxations to various categories, based on government norms. Please go through the table to understand it Category

Category	Age Relaxation
Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST)	5 years
Other Backward Classes (OBC Non-Creamy Layer)	3 years
Persons with Disabilities (PWD)	10 years
Ex-Servicemen (Army personnel)	5 years
Widows/Divorced Women	9 years
Persons with Domicile of Jammu &Kashmir during the period of 1-1-1980 to 31-12-1989	5 years
Persons affected by 1984 riot	5 years
Regular Employees of Union Carbide Factory, Bhopal retrenched from service (for MP state Only)	5 years

IBPS PO 2026 Educational Qualification:

Graduation Degree: You must hold a graduation degree (BA, BCOM, BSC, BBA, BCA, BTech, MBBS etc) in any discipline from a university recognized by the government of India.

If you still are in final year of graduation, you may apply but your final year result must be declared before the final formalities of IBPS PO 2026 exam

Computer Proficiency: You must have the basic computer proficiency as the IBPS PO 2026 is a CBT (Computer Based Test) and is conducted in online mode.

Language Proficiency: Proficiency (Verbal & Written) in the official language of the state/UT is desirable as the bank PO is a customer facing role.

Exam Pattern

IBPS conducts its Bank PO exam in 3 rounds – Prelims, Mains and Interview. The Prelims exam is qualifying in nature. The marks obtained by you in the Mains exam only will contribute to the final selection.

IBPS PO 2026 Prelims Exam Pattern:

Subjects	Questions	Marks	Duration
English Language	30	30	20 Minutes
Quantitative Aptitude	35	35	20 Minutes
Reasoning Ability	35	35	20 Minutes
Total	100	100	60 Minutes

IBPS PO Prelims 2026 Marking Scheme - For every right answer, you will get 1 mark. For every wrong answer, you will attract a penalty of negative 0.25 marks. You will not attract any negative marks for un-attempted questions.

IBPS PO Mains Exam Pattern:

IBPS PO Mains is also held in online format. It has two papers – Paper 1 is objective in natures and contains 155 questions that you will have to solve in 180 minutes (3 hours). It has questions from the first 4 subjects that are mentioned in the table given below. Paper 2 is descriptive in nature (Essay and Letter Writing) that you will have to complete in 30 minutes.

Subject	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Duration
Reasoning & Computer Aptitude	45	60	60 minutes
English Language	35	40	45 minutes
Data Analysis & Interpretation	35	60	40 minutes
General Economy & Banking Awareness	40	40	35 minutes
Total	155	200	180 minutes
English Language (Letter Writing & Essay)	2	25	30 minutes

Selection Process

The IBPS PO exam consists of three stages, and candidates must qualify all the three stages to become a Probationary Officer (PO)

Stage 1: IBPS PO 2026 Prelims Exam

• The IBPS PO 2026 prelims exam is a qualifying in nature.

• Candidates who pass this paper are qualified to take the mains test.

• The marks obtained in this paper are not taken into account in the final merit list.

• Candidates must meet both the sectional and total cutoff marks to pass the exam.

Stage 2: IBPS PO Mains Exam

IBPS PO Mains is the second stage of the IBPS PO exam, designed to assess your advanced aptitude and professional knowledge.

Stage 3: IBPS PO Interview round

IBPS PO 2026 Interview round – The third and final round of the IBPS PO selection process is the interview round. It carries a total of 100 marks. The candidates who qualify the IBPS PO mains round are invited for Face-to-Face interview round.

The minimum marks required to clear this round is 40% (35% for candidates from SC/STOBC/PWD).

It typically lasts for 15 to 20 minutes where the interview panelists grills the candidates about general awareness, banking awareness apart from asking questions from the candidate’s personal life.