745 Bank Officer Posts, One Application Window: IBPS SO 2026 Explained

A fresh round of banking-sector recruitment has opened. The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has published the CRP SPL-XVI notification for IBPS SO Recruitment 2026, covering 745 Specialist Officer (Scale I) posts across 11 public sector banks.

The vacancy break-up favours technology and agriculture roles: IT Officer leads with 301 posts, followed by Agricultural Field Officer at 190, Law Officer at 105, Rajbhasha Adhikari at 89, and HR/Personnel Officer at 60. IBPS has noted that no vacancies are being filled this year under Marketing Officer, and that all figures are indicative pending final confirmation from the banks.

The application window runs from 1 July 2026 to 21 July 2026, exclusively online via ibps.in. Depending on the post applied for, candidates need qualifications ranging from a four-year engineering degree (IT Officer) to an LLB with Bar Council registration (Law Officer) or a postgraduate degree in Hindi or Sanskrit (Rajbhasha Adhikari).

Age eligibility is set at 20 to 30 years as on 1 July 2026, with the usual relaxation for SC/ST, OBC, PwBD and Ex-Servicemen categories. The application fee stands at ₹175 for SC/ST/PwBD candidates and ₹850 for General, OBC and EWS applicants.

Selection is a three-stage process — a qualifying Preliminary Examination, a Main Examination with both objective and descriptive components, and a Common Interview — with the final merit list built from Main Exam and Interview scores in an 80:20 weightage. IBPS has tentatively pencilled in 29 August 2026 for Prelims and 1 November 2026 for Mains.

Successful candidates start at Junior Management Grade Scale I on a basic pay of ₹48,480, climbing to ₹85,920 through the prescribed pay scale, with DA, HRA and other bank-specific allowances added on top, at any of the 11 participating banks including Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda.