NABARD Grade A

India is the second-most populous country in the world. With 65% of the country’s population living in rural areas [UN’s Population division’s report of 2019], agricultural or farming activities like breeding cattle and harvesting crops remain the main source of income. But often, farmers whose livelihoods depend on agricultural activities lack financial resources. To overcome the hurdles prevalent in this sector, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development [NABARD], which is also a leading financial institution, plays a significant role. Unlike other bank exams like SBI PO, IBPS PO, etc, the NABARD Grade A offers an opportunity to those who want to explore various facets of the agricultural sector including legal and rural development aspects. This blog will take you through all the details pertinent to the NABARD Grade A examination and its related components. 

NABARD Grade A 2021 Overview

Exam Name	NABARD Grade A
Conducting Body	National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
Conductivity	Annually
Name of Post	Assistant Manager, Development Manager, Consultants etc.
Mode of Application	Online
Selection Process	PrelimsMainsInterview
Category	Government job
Official Website	www.nabard.org

What is NABARD Grade A Exam?

India needs rural and agricultural development and for that, the Government of India has taken a prime interest in strengthening banks that could facilitate people living in rural areas with a plethora of facilities. NABARD, or what is known as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development offers lucrative Grade A posts [Assistant Manager] across Protocol & Security, Legal, Rajbhasha, and Rural Development services [RDBS] every year. For this, an individual needs to clear NABARD Grade A exam which is conducted in three main stages namely, prelims, mains, and personal interview. 

NABARD Grade A Examination Dates 

Release of NABARD Grade A Notification	Not Released Yet
NABARD Grade A online application starts in	To Be Announced
Last date for online application submission	To Be Announced
Admit Card Availability	To Be Announced
Prelims Examination Date for (RDBS)	To Be Announced
NABARD Grade A Prelims result	To Be Announced
For (P&SS) examination date	To Be Announced
Mains examination date	To Be Announced
Declaration of Mains Result	To Be Announced
Interview	To Be Announced

NABARD Grade A Exam Pattern 

As discussed, the NABARD Grade A exam is conducted in three stages; prelims, mains and interview. The preliminary examination is online-based and carries 200 marks. Candidates have to finish this part in 2 hours. Let’s glance through the main important parameters of all the phases on this exam: 

Preliminary Pattern 

Name of the Section	Total Marks
Quantitative Aptitude	20
Reasoning Test	20
English Language	40
Computer Knowledge	20
General Awareness	20
Economic and Social Issues	40
Agriculture and Rural Development	40
Total	200

Mains Pattern

It is important to note that the NABARD Grade A Mains examination will consist of both MCQs as well as descriptive questions which will be conducted in 2 papers. Let’s go through its pattern, mentioned in tabular form below: 

Paper 1: General English

Details	Total Marks	Time Duration
Analytical abilities, essay writing, comprehension, report writing, paragraph writing & letter writing	100	1.5 hour

Paper 2

Services	Details	Time	Marks
RDBS	Economic & Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development [focus on Rural India]	1.5 Hours	100
Rajbhasha	.Hindi proficiency, translations, drafting abilities	1.5 Hours	100
Legal Services	Laws on Banking sector, Negotiable Instruments, Company, Industrial Cooperative Laws, Cyber laws, Commerce/Property transactions, Rural non-life insurance, direct financing, staff matters	1.5 Hours	100

Note: 1/4th of the allotted marks will be deducted for incorrect answers both in prelims and mains.

Eligibility Criteria

To sit for the NABARD Grade A examination, one needs to fulfil the eligibility criteria as set by the competent authority. Glance through the following points to understand the prerequisites of this exam. 

RDBS

• Bachelor’s Degree in any subject from a recognized University with a minimum of 50% marks. For SC/ST/PWBD applicants, only 45% marks are required in total OR
• Post Graduate degree holders need a minimum of 50% marks to appear for the exam and for SC/ST/PWBD applicants, 45% is required OR
• A PhD or Chartered Accountant /Cost Accountant / Company Secretary with Bachelor’s degree OR
• Two-year full-time PGDM / full-time MBA degree from Institutions recognized by GOI / UGC with a Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline.

Note: This is the eligibility criteria for GENERAL degrees. In RDBS, there are other categories like Environmental Engineering, Information Technology, etc for which the criteria is different. It is advised to go through the main website for the same.  

Rajbhasha

• Bachelor’s degree in any discipline in Hindi/English medium with a minimum of 50% marks OR
• Bachelor’s degree having Hindi/English as main subjects with a minimum of 50% aggregate marks OR
• Post Graduation in Hindi/English from a university recognised by the act of parliament or state with a minimum of 50% aggregate marks. 

NABARD Grade A Legal Services

LLB [For advocate, recognised by Bar Council of India] with 50% OR LLM with 45% aggregate marks. 

NABARD Grade A Syllabus 

To ace the NABARD Grade A exam, candidates should be familiar with the topics from which the questions will be asked. Let’s go through the main syllabus mentioned in a tabulated form below:  

Section Name	Main Topics
Reasoning Ability	Puzzles & Seating arrangement, Statement based questions (Verbal reasoning), Input-Output, Data Sufficiency, Syllogism, Coding-Decoding, Miscellaneous Questions, Inequality, Blood relation questions
Quantitative Aptitude	Data Interpretations, Mathematical Inequalities, Quadratic Equations, Simplification/ Approximation, Number Series, Arithmetic Questions, Data Sufficiency, Quantity Comparisons
English Language	Reading Comprehension, New pattern questions, Sentence Improvement, Fill in the blanks, Para Jumbles, Cloze test, Spotting the errors, Sentence rearrangement
General Awareness	Questions related to Current Affairs, Banking and Economy, Insurance, awards, honours, sports, new schemes, national and international news, the latest developments in science and technology.
Computer Knowledge	Networking, Input-output devices, DBMS, MS Office, Internet, History of computers & generations, Shortcuts.

Application Fee

The Application Fee for the NABARD Grade A 2021 is as follows:

Category	Application Fee in INR	Intimation charges in INR	Total in INR
SC/ ST/ PWBD	NIL	150	150
For all others	650	150	800*

NOTE: the total amount is exclusive of applicable GST

NABARD Grade A Interview

Candidates who pass the primary exam will be invited to an interview round. The NABARD Grade A Personal Interview has a maximum score of 25. The final merit list will be determined by the candidates’ performance on the Main Exam and Personal Interview. As a result, candidates would perform well in both the Mains and the Personal Interview.

NABARD Grade A Salary 2021

Basic Pay: Rs.28,150/- per month
Allowances: Dearness Allowance, Local Compensatory Allowance, House Rent Allowance, and Grade Allowance
Initial Gross Emoluments: Rs. 62,600/- per month (Approx) 

Thus, a well-concocted strategy is needed to clear the coveted NABARD Grade A exam! With so many career options after graduation, it can get confusing to choose the right path. Take the Psychometric test specially designed by Leverage Edu experts which will collate a list of most suitable courses for you to choose from!