Central Bank of India (CBI) SO Recruitment 2026 is an official recruitment drive by the Human Capital Management (Recruitment & Promotion) department of Central Bank of India to fill 275 Specialist Officer (SO) posts across 21 technical and banking streams at Scale I, II, III, and IV levels. The recruitment covers IT roles such as Java Developer, Cyber Security, Cloud Manager, Data Scientist, Gen AI Specialist, and banking roles like Risk Manager and Chartered Accountant (CA/Taxation). Online registration is open from 28 February 2026 to 23 March 2026.

The last date to apply online for Central Bank of India Specialist Officer Recruitment 2026 is 23 March 2026. The online registration window opened on 28 February 2026. Candidates must submit their application and pay the fee on or before 23 March 2026. No application in any other mode will be accepted. The direct application link is: https://ibpsreg.ibps.in/cbisofeb26/

There are a total of 275 Specialist Officer vacancies in Central Bank of India SO Recruitment 2026. The category-wise distribution is: SC — 41 posts, ST — 20 posts, OBC — 74 posts, EWS — 27 posts, and UR (Unreserved/General) — 113 posts. Additionally, 11 posts are reserved for PwBD (Divyangjan) candidates: HI — 3, OC — 3, VI — 3, ID — 2. Note that vacancy numbers are provisional and may change as per the Bank's actual requirement.

The application fee for Central Bank of India SO Recruitment 2026 is:

• SC / ST / PwBD (Divyangjan) / Women candidates: ₹175 (Intimation Charges only, inclusive of GST)
• All other candidates (General / OBC / EWS): ₹850 (Application Fee + Intimation Charges, inclusive of GST)

Payment is accepted only through online modes — Debit Card (RuPay/Visa/MasterCard/Maestro), Credit Card, Net Banking, IMPS, UPI, or Mobile Wallets. The fee is non-refundable under all circumstances. Bank transaction charges are to be borne by the candidate.

The age limit for CBI Specialist Officer 2026 (as on 31 January 2026) is:

• Scale I: Maximum 30 years
• Scale II: Maximum 35 years
• Scale III: Maximum 35 years
• Scale IV: Maximum 45 years

Age relaxation: SC/ST — 5 years; OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) — 3 years; PwBD (Divyangjan) — 10 years (15 years for SC/ST PwBD, 13 years for OBC PwBD), subject to a maximum age of 56 years; Ex-Servicemen — 5 years; Children/family members of 1984 riot victims — 5 years. OBC candidates in the Creamy Layer are treated as General category and are not entitled to age relaxation.

The educational qualification varies by post:

• Most IT posts (Java Developer, DBA, InfoSec, Cloud Manager, IT Officer etc.): B.E./B.Tech. in Computer Science / IT / Electronics / Telecom / Electronics & Communications, or MCA — from a Government-recognised university. Full-time regular course only.
• Data Scientist, Gen AI, Data Architect, Data Engineer: B.E./B.Tech./MCA or Master's in Statistics/Economics/Data Science/AI-ML.
• Risk Manager (Scale III): MBA/MMS in Finance or Banking, PG Diploma in Banking & Finance, or PG in Statistics. FRM/CFA preferred.
• Risk Manager (Scale I): MBA/MMS/PG Diploma in Banking & Finance or PG in Statistics/Math with minimum 60% aggregate marks. No experience required.
• Taxation/CA (Scale II): Must have passed the final examination of ICAI (Chartered Accountant).

The eligibility cut-off date for all qualifications and experience is 31 January 2026.

The Central Bank of India SO 2026 online written examination consists of 75 questions for 100 marks to be completed in 90 minutes:

• Section 1 — Stream/Category Specific (Domain Knowledge): 50 questions, 75 marks, 60 minutes
• Section 2 — Reasoning: 15 questions, 15 marks
• Section 3 — Banking, Present Economic Scenario & General Awareness: 10 questions, 10 marks
• (Sections 2 & 3 combined: 30 minutes)

There is NO negative marking for wrong answers. Qualifying marks in the written test: 50% for General/EWS and 45% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD. The final merit is calculated with 70% weightage for written exam and 30% for interview.

The pay scales for Central Bank of India Specialist Officers as per IBA Bipartite Settlement are:

• Scale I (Assistant Manager): ₹48,480 – ₹85,920
• Scale II (Manager): ₹64,820 – ₹93,960
• Scale III (Senior Manager): ₹85,920 – ₹1,05,280
• Scale IV (Chief Manager): ₹1,02,300 – ₹1,20,940

In addition to basic pay, employees receive Dearness Allowance (DA), House Rent Allowance (HRA), City Compensatory Allowance (CCA), Special Allowance, Medical Benefits, Leave Travel Concession (LTC), and Pension/NPS contributions. Gross monthly emoluments are therefore significantly higher than basic pay figures. All perquisites are as per Bank's policy.

The selection process for CBI SO Recruitment 2026 consists of three stages:

• Stage 1 — Online Written Exam (April 2026): 75 questions, 100 marks, 90 minutes. No negative marking. Qualifying: 50% General/EWS, 45% SC/ST/OBC/PwBD.
• Stage 2 — Personal Interview (April 2026): 100 marks. Qualifying: 50% General/EWS, 45% SC/ST/OBC/PwBD.
• Stage 3 — Document Verification: Originals of all educational, experience, category, and certification documents must be produced. CIC (CIBIL) score of minimum 650 is also verified at this stage.

The final merit list is prepared with Written Exam carrying 70% weightage and Interview carrying 30% weightage. In case of a tie in marks, the candidate senior in age is placed higher in the merit list.

Candidates can apply online only through the official IBPS registration portal for Central Bank of India SO 2026. The direct link is: https://ibpsreg.ibps.in/cbisofeb26/. You can also access it via the Bank's official website www.centralbankofindia.bank.in under the Career section. No offline application, postal application, or any other mode of application is accepted. The application window is open from 28 February 2026 to 23 March 2026.

Yes. Every selected candidate must execute a service bond of ₹3,00,000 (Rupees Three Lakh) for a minimum period of 3 years from the date of joining Central Bank of India. This means if a selected candidate resigns or leaves the Bank within 3 years, they are liable to pay ₹3 lakh as penalty. Selected candidates will also be on probation for 2 years from the date of joining. Confirmation in service will be as per the Central Bank of India (Officers) Service Regulations.

As per the official notification, every applicant must have a minimum Credit Information Company (CIC/CIBIL) score of 650. Additionally, there should be no credit default or financial indiscipline visible in the candidate's CIC report as on the date of document verification. Candidates must provide consent for the retrieval and review of their credit information. Failure to meet the minimum CIC score or any discrepancy found in the credit report may result in disqualification or rejection of appointment without further notice.

Yes, existing employees of Central Bank of India can apply for SO Recruitment 2026, but only if they have completed a minimum of 3 years of continuous service in the Bank as on the cut-off date (31 January 2026). They must also fulfil all educational qualification and experience criteria. If selected, the serving employee must resign from their current post and join the new Specialist Officer post as a fresh recruit — no seniority, continuity of service, or internal transfer benefits will be applicable.

Several posts require mandatory certifications at Scale III and Scale IV levels:

• Information Security / Cyber Security (Scale IV): CISSP / CISM / CRISC / GSLC / OSCP / CRMP (any one)
• Information Security / Cyber Security (Scale III): OSCP / CEH / GIAC-GCIH / GIAC-GCFA / SIEM / Splunk / IBM QRadar / Microsoft Sentinel / CRISC / PMI-RMP (any one)
• Enterprise/Cloud Architect (Scale IV): TOGAF / Zachman OR Expert/Professional Cloud Architect (AWS/GCP/Azure/IBM/Oracle)
• Enterprise/Cloud Architect (Scale III): TOGAF / Zachman OR Professional Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Database Admin — DBA (Scale III): Oracle OCA/OCP (mandatory)
• Network Admin (Scale III): CCNA or CCNP Security or Palo Alto PCNSA/PCNSE or Fortinet NSE 4–8 (any one)
• Network Admin (Scale II): CCNA or CCNP Security (mandatory)
• Windows/AD Administrator (Scale II & III): MCSA / MCSE / DNS Administration / AWS Certified Professional (any one)
• Cloud Manager (Scale II & III): Nutanix NCA/NCP/NCM or VMware VCA/VCP/VCAP or MCSA/MCSE/AWS (any one)
• Production Support/ROC (Scale III): ITIL / SAFe / Network / Database / RHEL Administration Certifications (any one)

At Scale I and Scale II, certifications are generally preferred but not mandatory.

The minimum post-qualification work experience required for each scale (as on 31 January 2026) is:

• Scale I: Minimum 2 years relevant post-qualification experience (exception: Risk Manager Scale I requires no experience)
• Scale II: Minimum 4 years post-qualification experience in the relevant domain
• Scale III: Minimum 6 years post-qualification experience in the relevant domain
• Scale IV: Minimum 10 years post-qualification experience in the relevant domain

Importantly, any experience of less than 6 months in any single organisation will not be counted towards the experience requirement, unless it is part of the candidate's current employment. All experience must be post-qualification and in the relevant stream.

As per the official notification, the primary posting location for selected Specialist Officers is Mumbai / Navi Mumbai (at the Bank's Central Office or IT infrastructure facilities). However, the Bank reserves the right to depute candidates to work at any of its branch locations, subsidiaries, or associated entities anywhere in India, as deemed necessary. For certain roles such as Production Support and ROC, candidates may be required to work in 24×7 rotational shifts including weekends and public holidays.

The post with the highest number of vacancies in Central Bank of India SO Recruitment 2026 is IT Officer (Scale I & Scale II) with 82 posts. The second highest is Information Security, Cyber Security & IT GRC (Scale I to IV) with 38 posts, followed by Digital Channel Manager / Digital Application Specialist (Scale I to III) with 23 posts and Production Support / ROC / Digital Support (Scale I to III) with 26 posts. The smallest category is Gen AI Specialist with 2 posts.

Freshers (candidates with no prior work experience) are eligible to apply for only one post — Risk Manager at Scale I (Junior Management Grade). This post specifically states "No experience required" and requires MBA/MMS/PG Diploma in Banking & Finance or PG in Statistics/Math with a minimum aggregate of 60% marks. All other 20 posts in this recruitment require a minimum of 2 years (Scale I) to 10 years (Scale IV) of post-qualification work experience. Hence, freshers from engineering or IT backgrounds are not eligible for IT Specialist posts.

During the online application process, candidates must upload the following scanned documents:

• Photograph: Recent passport-size colour photo (200×230 pixels, 20KB–50KB, JPG/JPEG)
• Signature: On white paper with black ink (140×60 pixels, 10KB–20KB)
• Left Thumb Impression: On white paper with black/blue ink (240×240 pixels, 20KB–50KB)
• Handwritten Declaration: Written in English on white paper with black ink (800×400 pixels, 50KB–100KB). Declaration text: "I, [Name], hereby declare that all the information submitted by me in the application form is correct, true and valid. I will present the supporting documents as and when required."
• Live Webcam/Mobile Photo: Captured during registration via webcam or QR code scan

Original certificates of educational qualification, experience, caste, PwBD, EWS (wherever applicable) must be produced at the time of interview.

No Travelling Allowance (TA) is paid to candidates appearing for the interview, except for one specific category. Unemployed SC/ST candidates called for interview will be reimbursed actual to-and-fro second-class general rail fare or ordinary bus fare (by the shortest route) on production of travel evidence such as railway receipts or tickets — as per Government of India guidelines. All other candidates must bear their own travel expenses to attend the written exam and interview. Candidates must also appear for the online written examination at the allotted exam centre entirely at their own expense.