60 questions, 60 marks — Professional Knowledge paper specific to each stream (IT systems, corporate law, HR management, marketing, Hindi language for Rajbhasha Adhikari). Plus interview of 100 marks. Final merit = Mains + Interview.
Frequently Asked Questions
IBPS SO 2026 recruits for: IT Officer Scale-I (Computer Science/IT degree), Law Officer Scale-I (LLB), HR/Personnel Officer Scale-I (MBA HR), Marketing Officer Scale-I (MBA Marketing), and Rajbhasha Adhikari Scale-I (Hindi postgraduate + certificate in English translation).
IBPS SO Prelims is similar in difficulty to IBPS PO. The key difference is Mains — IBPS SO Mains tests specialist Professional Knowledge (IT, Law, HR, Marketing) which requires domain expertise. Candidates with strong specialist backgrounds often find IBPS SO Mains more straightforward than IBPS PO Mains.
IBPS SO Scale-I basic pay is ₹36,000/month. With DA, HRA, Special Allowance, gross monthly salary is ₹62,000–₹75,000. Slightly lower than IBPS PO but the specialist role offers faster career growth to Scale-II and Scale-III in the same domain.
