SEBI Grade A Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Phase I: screening, two papers of 100 marks

Both papers are multiple choice, with a quarter of the question's marks deducted for a wrong answer. Paper 1 has no sectional cut-off. Everyone who clears both paper cut-offs and the 40% aggregate goes through to Phase II; there's no ratio cap. Phase I marks are used only for shortlisting.

Phase II: the deciding exam

Paper 2 by stream

The quarter-mark penalty applies to the multiple choice part of Paper 2. Answers typed in Hindi use the Inscript or Remington (GAIL) keyboard. If you applied in more than one stream, each Paper 2 is in a different shift, with timings on the hall ticket.

For the interview, three times the number of vacancies are shortlisted in merit order from those who clear both paper cut-offs and the 50% aggregate.

Every paper except the English test is set in both Hindi and English.

SEBI publishes the syllabus by stream as an annexure to each advertisement, and that annexure is the authority. In outline:

Phase I, Paper 1: all streams

• General Awareness, including financial-sector questions the advertisement calls easy to moderate: securities market developments, SEBI's regulations and actions, the wider financial system, and current affairs.
• English Language: comprehension, grammar and usage, error spotting, sentence improvement and vocabulary.
• Quantitative Aptitude: arithmetic, data interpretation and elementary algebra.
• Test of Reasoning: series, analogy, coding, arrangements, syllogisms and logical deduction.

Paper 2, General stream (both phases)

Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act and Economics, at a level that matches the stream's postgraduate qualification.

Phase II, Paper 1: descriptive English

It tests drafting. Sixty minutes, 100 marks, typed, for every stream.

Other streams

• Legal: 70 multiple choice questions, then three 10-mark written answers. Constitutional law, securities law, company law, contract and the regulatory framework.
• Information Technology: practical questions on logic flow completion, debugging, syntax, program dry-run outputs and data analysis. Three hours for 100 marks.
• Research: a fully descriptive paper on economics, financial markets and statistics.
• Official Language: translation both ways, on general, legal or technical passages, office notings and short sentences.
• Engineering (Electrical) and Engineering (Civil): multiple choice on the branch subject.

SEBI's own material

SEBI's regulations, circulars, press releases, consultation papers and reports and publications feed the financial questions in Phase I, much of the General stream's subject paper, the Research paper and the interview.

The General stream is often described as open to any graduate. It isn't: a plain bachelor's degree outside law and engineering doesn't qualify.

Age

Not more than 30 years on the date the advertisement fixes. In 2025 that was 30 September 2025, so you had to be born on or after 1 October 1995.

OBC candidates must be non-creamy layer, with a certificate issued after the date the advertisement gives. Creamy-layer OBC candidates apply as Unreserved.

Category certificates come at the interview

OBC (NCL), EWS and other category certificates are handed in at the interview. If you can't produce yours, you aren't allowed to sit the interview, and you can't switch to General either.

Experience

Not needed to apply. It earns marks at the interview stage, but only in the Legal, Engineering (Electrical) and Engineering (Civil) streams, and only if you declared it on the online form. See Selection Process.

1. Phase I: online screening, two papers of 100 marks. Cut-offs of 30% in Paper 1, 40% in Paper 2 and 40% aggregate. Everyone who clears it goes to Phase II, and its marks don't count after that.
2. Phase II: online, two papers of 100 marks. Cut-offs of 30%, 40% and 50% aggregate, with Paper 1 weighted one third and Paper 2 two thirds. Three times the vacancies are called to interview, in merit order.
3. Phase III: the interview, in Hindi or English, your choice.

Final weighting

So the interview itself is worth 11.25, and 3.75 go to documented relevant experience. Those experience marks exist only in the Legal, Engineering (Electrical) and Engineering (Civil) streams, and only for candidates who entered the experience on the online form. They can't be claimed later. The experience must be held by the last date for applying, with a certificate before the interview. A false claim or fake certificate cancels the candidature at any stage, and ends an appointment without notice or compensation.

Phase II Paper 2 carries two thirds of 85%, about 57% of the total; Paper 1 about 28%.

Selected officers serve two years on probation. SEBI can change the procedure, and may choose not to fill the posts.

The gross includes SEBI's National Pension Scheme contribution and Grade, Special, Dearness, Family, Local, Learning, Special Grade and Special Compensatory Allowances. These are the 2025 figures; check the current advertisement.

Other benefits listed: leave fare concession, medical expenses, eye refraction, a knowledge upgradation allowance, briefcase, conveyance, house cleaning allowance, staff furnishing, a computer purchase scheme and subsidised lunch. Housing is given subject to availability.

You can be posted to any city where SEBI has an office, and to any department, whatever your stream.

Apply online through the Careers section of sebi.gov.in.

The fee is non-refundable, even if you aren't shortlisted. Each stream you apply in is a separate fee, and if you register more than once, the fees on the extra registrations are forfeited.

Have ready

• Your qualifying degree. For most streams that's a master's or professional qualification. Check the stream table first.
• Details of any relevant experience, if you're in Legal or an engineering stream. Enter them on the form or lose up to 3.75 marks.
• Category certificates in the prescribed format and date range. You'll hand them in at the interview.
• A working email and mobile number. Hall tickets and calls are sent by email and SMS.

SEBI warns against anyone promising a job there. Report such approaches to recruitment@sebi.gov.in.

There's one employer, SEBI; everyone selected joins it. The 2025 posts by stream:

Half the posts are General, and the four smallest streams have twelve between them. Your stream decides the paper you sit, not the work you end up doing.

SEBI's head office is in Mumbai, with regional offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad and several local offices. The pay figures SEBI quotes are for Mumbai.

Both phases are online. The advertisement lists the Phase I cities; Phase II is held in fewer. Your centre is on the hall ticket, and a new one is issued for Phase II.

Paper 1 in Phase II is common to all streams. If you applied in more than one stream, each Paper 2 is in a separate shift, so with durations from 40 to 180 minutes it can be a long day.

The interview is held separately, on dates sent to shortlisted candidates, in Hindi or English.

Take the hall ticket and an original photo ID. Category certificates aren't checked at the exam centre; they're checked at the interview.

The 2025 cycle

Vacancies, 2025

PwBD posts are reserved horizontally within each stream.

There's no fixed calendar. SEBI advertises when it has posts; recent cycles ran in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the streams change each time. Watch Careers on sebi.gov.in. Report anyone promising a SEBI job to recruitment@sebi.gov.in.

SEBI calls it a hall ticket. You get an email and SMS when it's up on the SEBI website, and you download it. The advertisement gives no fixed date.

Candidates who clear Phase I get a new hall ticket for Phase II. If you applied in more than one stream, it shows the shift for each Paper 2, and that's the only place the timings appear.

The interview shortlist is published on the SEBI website, and dates go to the candidates on it. Keep your registered email and mobile working throughout.

Bring the hall ticket and an original photo ID.

SEBI publishes, on its website:

1. The list shortlisted for Phase II.
2. The list shortlisted for interview, at three times the vacancies.
3. The final result.
4. Marks obtained in Phase II and the interview, for each recruitment year.

Final merit is 85% Phase II and 15% interview stage; Phase I adds nothing. You're ranked only after clearing both Phase II paper cut-offs and the 50% aggregate.

A selected candidate can still lose the post by failing to produce a category certificate at the interview, or if claimed experience turns out not to qualify. Then comes two years' probation.

SEBI prints the qualifying cut-offs in the advertisement, before either exam:

Phase I Paper 1 has no sectional cut-off; the 30% is on the whole paper.

These are minimums. Clearing Phase I puts you straight into Phase II. Clearing Phase II makes you eligible to be ranked, but only three times the vacancies are called to interview, so the real line is wherever that falls, stream by stream. With 56 General posts and 2 in Engineering (Electrical) in 2025, the streams' lines have little to do with each other.

SEBI publishes the actual marks from Phase II and the interview for each recruitment year. Use those rather than a remembered figure.

1. Check the qualification before you pay. The General stream needs a master's, a two-year PG diploma, an LLB, a B.E. or B.Tech, or CA, CFA or CS. This is the commonest wasted application.
2. Prepare for Phase II first. Phase I adds nothing to the final result. Clear its 40% aggregate and move on.
3. Write, typed, against the clock. Phase II Paper 1 is 100 marks of drafting in 60 minutes for every stream, a third of Phase II, and the paper people prepare least. Write one timed answer a week.
4. Know your Paper 2 format. It's about 57% of the whole result and varies from 40 minutes of MCQ to three hours of practical programming to a fully descriptive economics paper. General practice won't fit it.
5. If you'll type in Hindi, pick Inscript or Remington (GAIL) early and practise on it.
6. Read SEBI itself. Its regulations, circulars, press releases and annual report cover Phase I's financial questions, the General and Research papers and the interview, and they're free on sebi.gov.in.
7. Declare your experience on the form if you're in Legal or an engineering stream. It's worth up to 3.75 marks and can't be added later.
8. Look at your stream's posts, not the total. In 2025 the streams had 56, 22, 20, 4, 3, 3 and 2 posts.
9. Read last cycle's marks. SEBI publishes Phase II and interview marks, a better guide than any remembered cut-off.

No previous year papers or answer keys are available for SEBI Grade A as of now; SEBI doesn't release them.

The advertisement is the official guide. The 2025 advertisement gives the scheme with marks, timings and cut-offs, and the syllabus for every paper as an annexure. SEBI also publishes the Phase II and interview marks for each cycle. New advertisements appear under Careers; the 2025 one came out in late October.

• SEBI
• Officer Grade A 2025 advertisement (PDF), with the scheme, syllabus annexure, pay and vacancies
• SEBI Careers: Grade A 2025 notices and shortlists
• Marks obtained in Phase II and the interview, per recruitment year
• SEBI regulations, primary reading for the financial questions and the interview
• SEBI reports and publications, including the annual report
• Report recruitment fraud: recruitment@sebi.gov.in

Do Phase I marks count?

No. They're used only to shortlist for Phase II.

How many candidates go through from Phase I?

Everyone who clears 30% in Paper 1, 40% in Paper 2 and 40% overall. There's no ratio cap.

What are the Phase II papers?

Paper 1 is descriptive English, 100 marks in 60 minutes, the same for every stream and weighted one third. Paper 2 is your stream's subject, weighted two thirds, in a format that varies by stream.

What is the interview worth?

11.25 marks of 100. The other 3.75 of the 15% stage go to relevant experience, in the Legal and two engineering streams only, and only if you declared it on the form.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, a quarter of the question's marks, on both Phase I papers and the multiple choice part of Phase II Paper 2.

Can any graduate apply for the General stream?

No. You need a master's or two-year PG diploma, an LLB, a B.E. or B.Tech, or CA, CFA or CS.

What is the age limit?

30, plus 5 years for SC and ST and 3 for OBC where posts are reserved.

What is the salary?

The scale runs from ₹62,500 to ₹1,26,100 over 17 years. Gross at Mumbai at the bottom of the scale is about ₹1,84,000 a month without accommodation, or ₹1,43,000 with it.

What is the application fee?

₹1,000 plus 18% GST for Unreserved, OBC and EWS; ₹100 plus 18% GST for SC, ST and PwBD. Non-refundable.

Can I apply in more than one stream?

Yes. Each application has its own fee, and each Paper 2 is in a separate shift.

Am I confined to my stream after joining?

No. SEBI can post you to any department, whatever your stream, and to any city where it has an office.

How many posts were there in the last cycle?

110 in 2025: General 56, IT 22, Legal 20, Research 4, Official Language 3, Engineering (Civil) 3, Engineering (Electrical) 2.