Career in Banking Sector: Check Salary, Eligibility, Promotion & Preparation

Career in Banking Sector: The demand for taking up a career in banking among young aspirants is increasing. Over 50 lakh candidates apply for the various IBPS exams. Approximately 30 lakh candidates apply for SBI PO and SBI Clerk exams every year.

The banking sector in India is growing at a rapid rate. The rapid advancements and growth in the banking sector have created many opportunities for young youths thus paving the way for a career in banking. In this article, we have discussed in detail the important posts in a bank, work profiles, qualifications required for a bank job, how to get a job in a bank, promotional avenues, salary, and so on.

Types of Banks in India

The banks in India are categorized as follows:

• Commercial banks are those that comprise private sector banks, public sector banks, and regional banks.
• Co-operative banks are those that work for the rural people. These banks are categorised into state co-operative banks, central co-operative banks, primary agriculture credit societies.
• Investment banks and specialized banks provide financial assistance to their customers and provide support such as foreign exchange, sales of equities, foreign trading, etc. to its customers.

Skills Required for Career in Banking

For a successful career in banking, candidates must have the following skills:

• Ability to deal with the different types of customers
• Immense patience
• Good calculation and accounting skills
• Good analytical skills

Banking Exams in India

The most sought-after banking exams in India are IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, IBPS RRB, SBI PO, and SBI Clerk. From 2011 onwards, IBPS is conducting various exams for recruitment to the public sector banks and regional rural banks. The details regarding the banking exams can be availed through the links given below:

• IBPS PO
• IBPS SO
• IBPS RRB
• IBPS Clerk
• SBI PO
• SBI Clerk

Career in Banking: Important Posts

Banking jobs ate always considered as a secured career option with great pay and other amenities. There are different types of designations in the bank that candidates can pursue, such as sub-staff, bank clerks, probationary officers, specialist officers, manager/assistant manager, Grade B officers in RBI, NABARD Grade A officers.

Explaining about the various posts available in a bank, Adarsh Verma, who is currently working as Assistant Manager in Chhattisgarh Rajya Grameen Bank in Bijapur Chhattisgarh, said, “In bank, there are three major positions, Probationary Officers, Clerks and Specialist Officers. As per hierarchy, the basic post in a bank is of Clerical cadre who deals directly with the customers such a withdrawal, deposits, etc. Clerical cadre has two divisions-one who looks after the cash and the other one is miscellaneous who looks after the operations.”

“Officer Level is also segregated into two parts-one is Assistant Manager and Branch Manager. The Assistant Manager looks after the operations, advances, etc and the Branch Manager has to look after the entire branch,” he further added.

He said, “SO are the Specialist Officers and they are required in the branches where the crowd is large, especially in metros. Specialists Officers are recruited in IT, Law, Marketing, HR, etc. Small bank branches only have Officers and Clerks.”

Career in Banking: Qualification Required

To apply for various bank exams, candidates need to meet the required eligibility criteria prescribed by the different exam conducted bodies such as SBI, RBI, IBPS, NABARD, etc. The basic educational qualification required to apply for various bank jobs is Graduation. The age limit required for bank PO jobs is 20 to 30 years. The age limit that is required for bank Clerk jobs is 20 to 28 years. The age limit for SO is 20 to 30 years.

Talking about the qualification required for various bank job exams in India, Hillol Dey who is currently working in Union Bank of India as SWO A (Clerk) in Silchar (Assam), said, “The basic qualification for applying to various bank exams in India is Graduation. Before the formation of IBPS, the qualification required was quite different. Earlier for PO, in some banks, it was 60 per cent in Graduation but there is no any bar in the percentage of marks in the qualifying exam now. The minimum educational qualification is Graduation from any stream for Generalist Officers and Clerks. As far as Specialist Officers are concerned, such as IT Officers, HR, Rajbhasha Adhikari, some specialised qualification is required, such as MTech, MBA (HR), MCA, etc.”

Also Read:

• IBPS Clerk eligibility criteria
• IBPS PO eligibility criteria
• IBPS RRB Eligibility Criteria 
• SBI Clerk Eligibility Criteria
• SBI Clerk Eligibility Criteria

Career in Banking: Criteria for Posting

Many times, students come up with this query: what are the chances of getting posted in urban areas? Well, we want to say to students that posting depends on the bank management. Talking to Shiksha regarding posting criteria, Sumit Kr. Rajak, who is currently working as Manager in Canara Bank, said, “Initially posting is not in the hands of students and it completely depends on the management of the particular bank they have been selected. In addition, it also depends on the vacancies and requirements of the banks. In the initial days, candidates are posted outside the home state. However, in the last two to three years, i.e. from 2015 onwards, there has been a huge expansion in the number of branches of the banks, therefore, there are minimal chances that candidates are posted outside their home state.”

Adarsh Verma added, “Usually candidates are posted in the district headquarters first so that newly joined candidates can learn about the different banking procedures. That also forms the part of training. During the training period of Officers, candidates are allotted to places where they can learn things after that they are posted in different bank branches. Depending on the rating given by the Managers during the training period, candidates are allotted to interior areas or metros. In the Clerical cadre, there are chances that candidates are directly posted in rural areas. The duration of training for Clerical cadre is less, i.e. 15 days.”

How Public Sector Banks are Different from Private Sectors Banks?

Explaining how public sector banks are different from private sector banks, Hillol Dey said, “Public sector banks serve the masses irrespective of the class. However, the private banks serve the affluent section. A person to open an account in private sector banks needs INR 10,000 or 15,000. In public sector banks, one can open their accounts in INR 1000 or 500. In rural branches, we open accounts for INR 200 to 300. People can even open zero balance accounts in public sector banks. The ATM charges and other services charges are less in public sector banks than private banks. Even the deposits by customers are also secured.”

Talking about why candidates should choose public sector banks as career options, he added, “There is security in the public sector bank jobs. The payscale is satisfactory and after five years, the payscale is revised as per Bipartite. In private banks, this is not the case. Even there are regulated working hours in public sector banks. Private banks are mostly target-oriented.”

Career in Banking: What is the Salary?

Throwing some highlights on the salary offered to candidates appointed as PO, Clerk and SO, Sumit said, “According to last Bipartite Settlement, the starting basic salary of Clerk is INR 19,900. The gross salary will be around INR 32,000 to 33,000. This also depends on the branch candidates are posted. Maybe in metro branches or city branches, candidates get extra allowances. In the rural branches, candidates don’t get these benefits. When I joined as PO in 2014, my basic was INR 14,500 and now it is INR 36,700/37,700. In the last seven-year, the salary has increased a lot after the last two Bipartite. The last Bipartite was in 2015 and the last one was in 2020. The next one is due in November 2022. After this, the salary will again increase.”

Also Read:

• IBPS Clerk Salary
• IBPS PO Salary
• IBPS RRB Salary
• SBI PO Salary
• SBI Clerk Salary
• SBI SO Salary
• IBPS SO Salary

How to Prepare for Bank Job Exams?

Talking about how to prepare for various bank job exams, Adarsh Verma said, "Bank exams comprise three stages-prelims, mains, and interview. Candidates must start their bank preparation after Class 12 as nowadays the competition is high. In prelims, there are general three sections-Quant, English and Reasoning. There are no questions from General Awareness. Candidates need to check first the topics important for different sections and how much weightage those topics carry. Side by side, candidates must also prepare GK to know about the current events. Besides current affairs and static awareness, banking awareness is most important. In interviews too, questions are asked from banking awareness. Candidates must focus on the preparation for pre as the competition is high. Candidates in the ratio of 1:10 clear pre exam.

He added, “Speed is most important for pre. Start preparation slowly, clear the concepts of topics first. Candidates should write down the topics and clear the concepts of those from online resources or coaching. In Reasoning, candidates should focus on puzzles because 50 per cent to 60 per cent of questions are asked from this topic. For English, candidates must read newspapers, especially the editorials. Candidates should jot down the new words and find their meanings. This way candidates can improve their vocabulary.”

“Candidates must attempt mock tests. Initially, candidates might get fewer marks but they should not get demotivated. Slowly and gradually, the marks will increase, but candidates should not lose hope. Candidates must also analyse the mock tests. Candidates must appear for different types of exams to do away with the fear. All these will also help in the mains exam too. One year is enough to complete IBPS syllabus,” he added.

Explaining the interview process, Hillol said, “In the interview, the panelist does split-second judgment. No fixed set of questions is asked in the interview. Questions can be asked about any random topic. Everything is judged in the interview, such the personality of candidates, the way they are behaving, qualification, etc.”

Also Read:

• IBPS PO Preparation
• IBPS SO Preparation
• IBPS RRB Preparation
• IBPS Clerk Preparation
• SBI PO Preparation
• SBI Clerk Preparation

Career in Banking: Know the Process after Selection

Explaining the process after candidates are selected in a bank, Sumit said, “Once candidates get selected in a particular bank, they will receive an appointment letter from the bank through speed post. In the appointment letter, the bank writes everything such as where to do medicals, submission of certificates, and other details. All these processes take around three months after that only joining is done. Candidates need to undergo training and on the last day of training, they are informed of the circle where they are posted. Candidates need to first report to the circle office and from there they will know the bank branch.”

What is Bank Exam Syllabus?

Bank exam syllabus is divided into prelims and mains exams. The prelims exam comprises English, Quant and Reaoning. The mains exam comprises English, Quant, Reasoning, General Awareness. The syllabus helps candidates to know the topics from where questions are asked in the exam. Candidates need to be thorough with the syllabus inorder to ace the exam.