For this purpose, bank hires professionals who have knowledge of agricultural practices and technology and can deal with the problems of farmers and people living in rural areas. These professionals are called Agricultural Field Officers (AFO).
To hire these AFOs, every year Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducts Specialist Officer (SO) recruitment examination.
To be eligible for this exam, you need to fulfill the following eligibility criteria:
A. Educational Qualification:
4 year Degree (graduation) in Agriculture/ Horticulture/Animal Husbandry/ Veterinary Science/ Dairy Science/ Fishery Science/ Pisciculture/ Agri. Marketing & Cooperation/ Co-operation & Banking/ Agro-Forestry/Forestry/ Agricultural Biotechnology/ B.Tech Biotechnology/ Food Science/ Agriculture Business Management/ Food Technology/ Dairy Technology/Agricultural Engineering/ Sericulture / Fisheries Engineering.
B. Age Limit:
Minimum: 20 years
Maximum: 30 years
Age relaxation in the upper age limit will be given to:
1. OBC: 3 years.
2. SC/ST: 5 years.
3. Physically Handicapped: 10 years.
4. Ex-servicemen: 5 years.
5. Persons affected by 1984 riots: 5 years.
But, what does an AFO actually do? What are his roles and responsibilities?
An AFO does the following works:
1. Understand the banking and core financial needs of people in rural areas, by coordinating with gram panchayats. This allows them to follow the ongoing activities in the rural areas such as the construction of dams and dairy farming. This may also help them be aware of the various things that villagers might require, such as modern roads and farm vehicles like tractors.
2. Promote, distribute, and expand loan products of the bank by giving detailed information about various loans and schemes in simple language to the people in that region.
3. Ensuring and verifying that the farmers can repay the loan amount promptly. Field officers may do this by inspecting revenue reports.
4. Sanctioning of loans and paperwork related to it.
5. Staying in touch with senior authorities like RBI, NABARD, RRBs and share the progress.
Salary of an AFO:
Pay Band: 36000-1490/7-46430-1740/2-49910-1990/7-63840
Basic Pay: ₹36,000
• After adding Dearness Allowance (DA), House Rent Allowance (HRA), City Compensatory Allowance (CCA), Learning Allowance, Special Allowance, etc, Gross salary becomes ₹62,000 approx.
• Net (in-hand) salary after deduction of Contributory Pension, Medical, etc, is ₹55,000 approx.
Probation period:
Probation period of an AFO is of 2 years, and after its completion, they are confirmed in the service.
After confirmation, they are posted as "Assistant Manager (A&RB)".
Is there any bond in IBPS SO?
If you leave within the Probation Period (2 years/3 years, depending on your bank), then you'll have to pay a fine of:
₹1,00,000 to ₹2,00,000 (depending on your bank) + 1 month gross salary (if notice period not served).
Career Progression:
An Agricultural Field Officer is in the Junior Management Scale. After working for a minimum of 2 years at a particular level, you're eligible for departmental tests and interview for promotion to the senior level.
After 2 years of joining the bank, AFO gets confirmed as an "Assistant Manager", and now his promotion takes place in "Agri and Rural Business (A&RB) Department" in the following order:
1. Scale-1: Assistant Manager (A&RB)
2. Scale-2: Manager (A&RB)
3. Scale-3: Senior Manager (A&RB)
4. Scale-4: Chief Manager (A&RB)
5. Scale-5: Assistant General Manager (A&RB)
6. Scale-6: Deputy General Manager (A&RB)
7. Scale-7: General Manager (A&RB)
As discussed earlier, recruitment of an Agricultural Field Officer is done on the basis of marks scored in IBPS SO examination, which is conducted every year in three stages:
A. Preliminary Exam:
It is generally conducted in the month of September/October (for example, in 2024, it will be conducted on 9th October).
It contains questions from:
1. English Language: 50 questions - 25 marks - 40 minutes sectional time.
2. Reasoning: 50 questions - 50 marks - 40 minutes sectional time.
3. Quantitative Aptitude: 50 questions - 50 marks - 40 minutes sectional time.
Total: 150 questions - 125 marks - 120 minutes (2 hours).
Negative marking: 1/4th (-0.25 marks).
Note: Marks scored in this test are only used for shortlisting candidates for Mains Exam, and not for final merit list preparation.
B. Mains Examination:
It is generally conducted in the month of November/December (for example, in 2024, it will be conducted on 14th December).
It contains questions from:
Professional Knowledge (of Agriculture stream): 60 questions (Objective) - 60 marks - 45 minutes.
Total Marks: 60 marks.
Total Time: 45 minutes.
Negative marking: 1/4th (-0.25 marks).
Note: Marks scored in this test are used for both shortlisting candidates for Interview, and final merit list preparation.
C. Interview:
• Interview is conducted every year in month of February/March.
• The total marks allotted for the Interview are 100.
• The minimum qualifying marks in interview will not be less than 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD candidates).
IMPORTANT NOTE: For preparing the Final Merit List, the weightage (ratio) of Online Main Exam and Interview will be 80:20 respectively.
• IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer (AFO) Professional Knowledge Syllabus includes topics like:
1. Agriculture (Agriculture in India, Agricultural Practices, Horticulture, Agriculture Finance, Cultivation and Harvesting, Soil Science, Agriculture Economics, Irrigation Methods, etc).
2. Government Schemes and Institutions (RRBs, NABARD, RBI, government loan and insurance schemes, government rural livelihood schemes, self help groups, etc).
3. Agriculture Technology (Seed Technology, Plant Pathology, Entomology, Rearing of animals, Agricultural Machinery, Dairy Science, Animal husbandry and technology, etc).
4. Miscellaneous (Important points regarding plants, fruits vegetables, Different plant disease, Agriculture Current Affairs, Different insurance schemes regarding agriculture, etc).
That's all about Agricultural Field Officers (AFO) vacancy in Banks. You now understand the important details of IBPS SO exam for AFO post, and also its job profile, promotion and salary.
Wishing you all the best for your IBPS SO exam. Work hard and get selected in your desired post!
And for more such updates, keep visiting this blog!
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