Every year, lakhs of candidates aspire to start their career as a Bank PO. The competitive exam hosted to be recruited as a Bank PO is considered to be one of the toughest and prominent examinations of India.

As per a report, in the session 2020-21, approximately 6.78 lakh students registered for IBPS PO exam and on an average, 10 lakh candidates apply for SBI PO exam every year.  

Table of Contents - 

• Overview
• Role of a Bank PO
• Eligibility for Applying for the Post of PO
• Bank PO Examination
• Syllabus & Exam Pattern of PO Examination
• Pay Scale of a Probationary Officer

Overview

A Probationary Officer (PO) is appointed as an Assistant Manager in a bank. It is a managerial post in all Public and Private sector Banks. A Probationary Officer (PO) is a Junior Manager of Grade I scale.  A Probationary Officer is selected on the basis of a written test conducted at All India Level. Once selected, they have to undergo an intensive training program at the Institute of Banking Management. Probation period of a PO is about two years. Period of probation differs from bank to bank.

Role of a Bank PO

During the training and in the probation period, the Probationary Officer is trained on several verticals such as finance, accounting, billing, investment etc. The said training is basically done by assigning them responsibility and job in these categories.

A Bank PO has to ensure that the business of the bank keeps on increasing by tending to the banks customers properly by handling customer complaints, addressing various customer-related issues such as discrepancies in accounts, the rectification of undue charges, etc.

Over a period of time when the PO gets experience, they are provided with more serious responsibilities such as planning, budgeting, loan processing, investment management etc.

Eligibility for Applying for the Post of PO

A candidate applying for the post of PO must be 21-30 years. Age relaxation of 5 years to candidates belonging to SC and ST. 3 years relaxation to the candidates belonging to OBC and 5 years relaxation to ex-servicemen and the candidates holding Jammu and Kashmir quota.

It is mandatory for all the candidates to at least hold a graduation degree from a recognized university.

Bank PO Examination

Government and Private banks to recruit young, energetic officers conduct national level examinations. Institute of Banking Personnel Selection conducts, IBPS conducts examinations every year to hire officers for multiple banks in India. The major banks participating in this process are listed below:

1. Bank of Baroda
2. Bank of India
3. Bank of Maharashtra
4. Canara Bank
5. Central Bank of India
6. Indian Bank
7. Indian Overseas Bank
8. Punjab National Bank
9. Punjab and Sind Bank
10. UCO Bank 
11. Union Bank of India

Syllabus & Exam Pattern of PO Examination

PO Recruitment is usually done in three steps process which are as under :

• Preliminary Exam – Written Test
• Mains Exam – Written Test
• Interview

After the first two rounds, candidates selected get eligible for the interview round. After getting selected in these three rounds, a merit list is generated based on the candidates performance in all the three rounds.  

The syllabus of the Bank PO exam consists of aptitude test and general awareness. 

The preliminary examination is divided into three sections-

·         Quantitative Aptitude

·         Reasoning

·         Verbal Ability

The main examination contains five sections-

·         General Awareness

·         Computer Knowledge

·         Quantitative Aptitude

·         Reasoning

·         Verbal Ability  

Pay Scale of a Probationary Officer

The starting SBI PO salary is Rs.41,960/- (basic pay) which is followed by four increments. The pay scale of a Probationary Officer/ Management Trainee is 36000-1490/7-46430-1740/2-49910-1990/7-63840.
Following are the benefits that a Bank PO is entitled -

• House Rent Allowance
• Medical Allowance
• Travel Allowance
• Furniture Allowance
• Loan Benefits
• Dearness Allowance

The candidates must stay prepared for the upcoming PO examinations. It is advisable to go through the official websites in order to not miss any update related to the concerned exam.