The RBI Grade B syllabus 2027 spans Phase I (Reasoning, GA, English, Quant) and Phase II with two specialist papers, Economic & Social Issues and Finance & Management, plus English Writing Skills.
The RBI Grade B syllabus 2027 is built around a qualifying Phase I objective test and a merit-deciding Phase II that includes two specialist subjects, Economic & Social Issues (ESI) and Finance & Management (F&M), which no other banking exam tests at this depth. Phase I has 200 questions for 200 marks in 120 minutes with sectional timing and 0.25 negative marking. Phase II carries 300 marks across three papers, and a 75-mark Interview completes a final merit out of 375.
RBI Grade B (DR) - General is the flagship officer recruitment of the Reserve Bank of India, conducted through opportunities.rbi.org.in. This guide gives you the exact section-wise Phase I and Phase II pattern, the full topic-level syllabus for every section, the ESI and F&M syllabus in detail because they are the differentiators, the negative marking rule and our first-party analysis of why General Awareness decides most Phase I scores. It is grounded in the question bank we built for the RBI Grade B mock test series on Quiz4Exam. The 2026 cycle has already run, with Phase I in June 2026 and Phase II in July 2026, so this guide targets the 2027 cycle.
That 2026 cycle is now fully closed. The Phase II result was declared on 22 August 2026 against 60 vacancies, biodata and document deadlines fell on 2 September for the General stream, 4 September for DEPR and 10 September for DSIM, and interviews are running through September 2026. The 2027 notification has not been announced yet. Because the 2026 notification came out on 29 April 2026, an April 2027 release is a reasonable date to plan around, but it is an expectation drawn from past timing and not an official announcement, so confirm it on opportunities.rbi.org.in before you fix your own timeline.
RBI Grade B selection runs in three stages: Phase I (Preliminary), Phase II (Main) and an Interview. Phase I is an online objective screen that is qualifying only, so its marks are not counted in the final merit. Phase II is a 300-mark stage that counts for merit, and the Interview adds 75 marks, so the final merit is decided out of 375 marks.
The practical takeaway is that Phase I is a gate you must clear but not a rank-builder, while Phase II plus the Interview decide selection. Because the gap between the two phases is short, your Phase II specialist subjects should already be well underway before you sit Phase I, not started afterwards.
| Stage | Marks | Counts for merit? |
|---|---|---|
| Phase I (Preliminary) | 200 | No, qualifying only |
| Phase II (Main) | 300 | Yes |
| Interview | 75 | Yes |
| Final merit | 375 | Phase II + Interview |
Phase I is a 200-question online objective test for 200 marks in 120 minutes, with sectional timing and 0.25 negative marking per wrong answer. It has four sections: Reasoning Ability (60), General Awareness (80), English Language (30) and Quantitative Aptitude (30). Both sectional cutoffs and an overall cutoff apply, so no section can be skipped.
| Section | Questions | Marks | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning Ability | 60 | 60 | 45 min |
| General Awareness | 80 | 80 | 25 min |
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 25 min |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 30 | 25 min |
| Total | 200 | 200 | 120 min |
The Reasoning Ability syllabus covers puzzles, seating arrangement, coding-decoding, blood relations, syllogism, inequalities, direction sense, order and ranking, input-output, data sufficiency, logical reasoning, alphanumeric series and analogy or classification. The Quantitative Aptitude syllabus covers simplification and approximation, number series, quadratic equations, percentage, ratio and proportion, average, profit and loss, simple and compound interest, time and work, time speed and distance, mixture and allegation, mensuration, permutation and combination, probability, and data interpretation. The English Language syllabus covers reading comprehension, cloze test, para jumbles, error spotting, sentence improvement, fill in the blanks, phrase replacement, word usage, vocabulary and paragraph completion. The General Awareness section is RBI-flavoured and heavy on economy, banking awareness, RBI and monetary policy, government schemes, current affairs of roughly the last six to twelve months, plus some static GK.
General Awareness is the single largest Phase I section at 80 of 200 questions, which is 40 percent of the paper, more than Reasoning and far more than English or Quant alone. From our own analysis while building the Quiz4Exam RBI Grade B question bank, GA is also the most RBI-flavoured section, so it decides most Phase I scores.
Unlike a generic banking exam, RBI Grade B GA leans heavily on economy, banking awareness, RBI and monetary policy, financial awareness, government schemes and recent current affairs, with only a light layer of static GK. That focus is not wasted effort: the same reading feeds directly into the ESI and F&M papers of Phase II, so treat current affairs as a daily habit that pays off twice, once in the biggest Phase I section and again in the merit-deciding specialist papers.
Phase II is the merit stage, with three papers of 100 marks each for a total of 300 marks. Paper I is Economic & Social Issues, Paper II is English (Writing Skills) and Paper III is Finance & Management. Papers I and III each have a 30-question objective half (50 marks, with 0.25 negative marking) and a descriptive half (50 marks), while Paper II is fully descriptive.
| Paper | Subject | Marks | Time | Composition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Economic & Social Issues | 100 | 120 min | 30 objective (50 marks) + descriptive (50 marks) |
| II | English (Writing Skills) | 100 | 90 min | Fully descriptive (essay, precis, comprehension) |
| III | Finance & Management | 100 | 120 min | 30 objective (50 marks) + descriptive (50 marks) |
| Total | 300 |
The descriptive answers are typed on-screen, so structured, time-bound writing matters as much as knowing the content. ESI and F&M are the two specialist subjects that decide your rank, and neither is covered by a generic banking bank, so they deserve the bulk of your Phase II effort.
Economic & Social Issues, Paper I of Phase II, tests both static economic concepts and stable recent developments such as the Economic Survey, Union Budget, RBI reports and NITI Aayog schemes. The RBI notification gives four indicative headings, Growth and Development, Indian Economy, Globalisation and Social Structure in India, and the practical syllabus expands under them.
Finance & Management, Paper III of Phase II, splits into a finance-heavy half and a management half, with finance dominating the objective section. It is the second specialist paper and, like ESI, blends static theory with stable recent developments in banking and markets.
Yes. Phase I applies 0.25 negative marking for every wrong answer, so blind guessing is punished and you should attempt only what you can reason out. In Phase II, the objective halves of the Economic & Social Issues and Finance & Management papers also carry 0.25 negative marking, while Paper II English Writing Skills is fully descriptive with no negative marking.
Because Phase I locks time per section and penalises wrong answers, a smart attempt strategy is as important as knowledge. Skip questions you cannot narrow down, secure the quick scorers first, and always practise mocks with sectional timing and 0.25 negative marking applied so your attempt strategy is realistic. For a full study plan built around this pattern, read our RBI Grade B 2027 strategy guide.
Before you move on: put the pattern into practice with the RBI Grade B mock test series on Quiz4Exam, which mirrors the exact Phase I sectional timing and the Phase II objective papers with detailed analysis and an all-India rank. Preparing ESI for RBI Grade B already covers a large part of NABARD Grade A, so compare the two syllabi with our NABARD Grade A syllabus guide. Explore more government and banking exams on our all exams page.
The RBI Grade B syllabus covers Phase I with Reasoning Ability, General Awareness, English Language and Quantitative Aptitude, and Phase II with three papers: Economic & Social Issues, English Writing Skills, and Finance & Management. ESI covers growth, the Indian economy, monetary policy, social issues, globalisation and reforms, while Finance & Management covers the financial system, markets, banking reforms and management theory.
Phase I is a qualifying online objective test of 200 questions for 200 marks in 120 minutes with sectional timing (Reasoning 60, General Awareness 80, English 30, Quant 30). Phase II counts for merit and has three papers of 100 marks each totalling 300 marks: ESI, English Writing Skills and Finance & Management. A 75-mark Interview completes the selection, so final merit is out of 375.
Yes. Phase I applies 0.25 negative marking for each wrong answer, so avoid blind guessing. In Phase II, the objective halves of the Economic & Social Issues and Finance & Management papers also carry 0.25 negative marking, while Paper II English Writing Skills is fully descriptive with no negative marking. Confirm the exact scheme on the official 2027 notification.
Economic & Social Issues (ESI) and Finance & Management (F&M) are the two specialist Phase II papers that decide your rank, and neither is covered by a generic banking bank. ESI covers growth and development, the Indian economy, monetary policy, social issues, globalisation and 1991 reforms. F&M covers the financial system and regulators, financial markets, banking reforms, and management theory including motivation, leadership and corporate governance.
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Phase I (Prelims) is a 200-mark objective screening test that is qualifying only, so its marks are not counted in the final merit; it just shortlists you for Phase II. Phase II (Mains) carries 300 marks across three papers and its marks count for merit, alongside a 75-mark Interview. So Prelims is a gate to clear, while Mains and the Interview decide your rank out of 375.
