SBI Clerk Selection Process 2025: Complete Exam Process for Prelims & Mains

While applying for the SBI Clerk exam, students ask a question 'Is the SBI Clerk job permanent or not? ' SBI Clerk is a permanent job. Candidates selected through SBI Clerk exam enjoys job security as well as a good salary. To get appointed in the SBI, candidates need to qualify the examination- prelims, mains, and language proficiency tests. Since SBI is a Public Sector Undertaking and a government bank, there is job security for the employees. SBI Clerk salary is decent for an entry-level government job. Employee can get a promotion by giving the JAIIB and CAIIB examinations.

State Bank of India are basically divided into Clerical cadre and Officer cadre. Candidates are directly recruited as Clerks and Officers through SBI Clerk and SBI PO exams. However, after working for a certain period of time, clerk can shift to Officer cadre. A Clerk can be promoted to the Officer cadre as TOs (Trainee Officers) to JMGS-1 (Junior Management Grade Officer Scale -1). Candidates can make PO in SBI in the following ways:

Internal Exam: Public Sector Banks (PSBs) conduct an internal exam every two years for employees who want to shift to officer cadre. A clerk becomes eligible for an internal exam after three years of service, along with completion of the CAIIB (Certified Association of the Indian Institute of Bankers) exam, or four years of service, along with completion of the JAIIB (Junior Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers) exam, or minimum six years of service. The perks and salary received by a Trainee Officer are equivalent to that of a PO. Once the clerk is promoted he's put under probation for two years. After the probation period, the TO is either promoted to MMGS-II or back to Clerical cadre based on his/her performance. 

OJM Internal Exam: To appear for this internal exam, candidates should complete six years of service as Clerk under the fast track promotion or 12 years of service under normal promotion channel. The perks are equivalent to that of a PO but the salary is relatively lesser.

Direct Recruitment as PO: If candidates want to become a PO, they can appear in the SBI PO exam conducted by the State Bank of India and get directly recruited as a Probationary Officer through the regular selection process.

SBI Clerk get opportunities to become a Probationary Officer compared to other banks.  Candidates who are selected for the Clerk position in SBI will be on probation for at least six months.

The starting basic pay of SBI Clerk is INR 26,730 (INR 24050 plus two advance increments). The pay scale is INR 24050-1340/3-28070-1650/3-33020-2000/4-41020-2340/7-57400-4400/1-61800-2680/1-64480. The total starting emoluments of a Clerical Cadre employee payable at Metro like Mumbai is around INR 46,000 per month inclusive of D.A., other allowances at the current rate and two additional increments for newly recruited graduate junior associates. Allowances may vary depending upon the place of posting. The in-hand salary of SBI Clerk includes the approximate amount a candidate gets after the deductions. The starting salary of SBI Clerk is approximately INR 46000 in a metro city like Mumbai.

SBI Clerk starting salary is INR 19,900 (INR 17,900 plus two advance increments). The newly revised payscale of SBI Clerk is INR 17900-1000/3-20900-1230/3-24590-1490/4-30550- 1730/7-42600-3270/1-45930-1990/1-47920. Candidates can calculate their salaries by adding basic salary, HRA, city compensation, provident fund and pension contributions. The basic pay is INR 17,900, however, with two advance increments, the starting basic salary is INR 19,900.

The basic salary of SBI Clerk is INR 17,900 with an increment of INR 1000. After three years, the basic SBI Clerk salary will be INR 20,900 with an annual increment of INR 1230. Again, after three years, candidates will get basic pay of INR 24,590 with an increment of INR 1490. The maximum basic salary will reach upto INR 47,920 after certain period. 

There is a negative marking in the SBI Clerk exam. 1/4th mark assigned to a particular question is deducted as a penalty for wrong answers. For correct answers in the exam, candidates score one mark. The total marks of candidates are calculated based on the number of correct and incorrect answers. The corrected scores obtained by each candidate in different sessions of the exam are normalised using the equi-percentile method. Scores upto two decimal points are taken for the purpose of calculations. The marks of candidates are calculated as per marking scheme. Candidates should attempt maximum number of questions to secure the desired score in the exam.