Union Bank of India Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Through IBPS

You sit the IBPS paper, not a Union Bank one:

• IBPS PO: preliminary, main with a descriptive paper, then interview.
• IBPS Clerk: preliminary, main and a local language test.
• IBPS SO: preliminary, main on Professional Knowledge, and a common interview.

Direct recruitment, 2026-27 project

Specialist officer posts (codes S01 to S108) up to Scale III:

General banking officer posts (codes G01 to G19) up to Scale III:

The first three tests are qualifying only: you need 40% in each (35% for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD), and the marks don't count towards merit. Every test except English is in English and Hindi.

A wrong answer costs one quarter (25%) of that question's marks. A blank costs nothing.

Whether an online exam is held at all depends on how many people apply. For Scales IV, V and VI the notification describes no online exam, only a group discussion or other assessment and the interview.

Professional knowledge

Set on the discipline you apply for, at the level the post's eligibility describes. The usual streams:

• Credit: credit appraisal, working capital and term loans, financial statement and ratio analysis, NPAs and recovery, SARFAESI, priority sector lending, Basel norms.
• Risk: credit, market and operational risk, Basel III, ICAAP, stress testing, ALM, risk-weighted assets.
• Treasury and forex: money and capital markets, government securities, foreign exchange, derivatives, SLR and CRR, dealing room operations.
• IT: databases, networks, operating systems, information security, core banking, digital channels, cloud.
• Law: banking regulation, negotiable instruments, SARFAESI, DRT, contract and companies law, documentation and enforcement of securities.
• Wealth management: mutual funds, insurance, portfolios, taxation of investments, suitability and regulation.

Qualifying tests (general banking officer posts only)

• Reasoning: puzzles and seating arrangement, syllogism, inequality, blood relations, direction sense, coding-decoding, data sufficiency, order and ranking.
• Quantitative Aptitude: data interpretation, number series, quadratic equations, simplification and standard arithmetic.
• English: reading comprehension, cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, vocabulary.

Through IBPS

IBPS rules apply, not the bank's: a graduate degree for PO, Customer Service Associate and the general SO streams, with the age limits and cut-off dates in that year's IBPS notification.

Direct recruitment

Each post has its own row in the notification's eligibility table, usually combining:

• a degree or professional qualification in the discipline, such as CA, MBA Finance, LLB, an engineering or computer science degree, CFA or FRM;
• post-qualification experience, which rises with the scale and runs from five to fifteen years for Scale II and above;
• an age band that rises with the scale, from around 22–30 at the bottom to the forties for senior grades.

In the 2026-27 project, age was counted as on 1 July 2026, and qualifications and experience as on 10 August 2026. Experience shortfalls are rejected, not relaxed, so check the table in the notification before anything else.

Through IBPS

The full IBPS process, then provisional allotment to Union Bank among the participating banks.

Direct recruitment

1. Online exam, if the bank holds one (see the pattern above). Up to Scale III only.
2. Group discussion or other assessment, if required. For Scales IV to VI this replaces the exam.
3. Personal interview of 100 marks, called at three candidates per vacancy (1:3).
4. Document verification and medical fitness.

The bank can add, cancel or change any stage for any post.

The 2026-27 notification gives both the pay scale and an approximate cost to company for each grade:

On top of basic pay come Special Allowance, Dearness Allowance and other allowances, quarters or lease rent, leave fare concession and medical reimbursement.

Pay is set by the industry-level bipartite settlement and Joint Note for bank officers, so it's the same at a given scale across all public sector banks.

Customer Service Associates, recruited through IBPS, are paid on the clerical scale of the same settlement. Apprentices get a stipend, not a salary, and aren't employees of the bank.

Use the new website

The bank's site is now unionbankofindia.bank.in, under the Reserve Bank's .bank.in scheme. The old unionbankofindia.co.in recruitment page still shows listings from 2021. Apply through the Recruitment page on the new address.

The clerical entry isn't on that page beyond allotment lists. IBPS runs it, and the post is now called Customer Service Associate.

Before you apply

• Apply for one post only. Duplicate applications for a post, or turning up for interview more than once, mean summary rejection.
• Have proof of the post-qualification experience your post asks for. Certificates listed in the form are checked at interview.
• Use an email address and mobile number you'll keep. Call letters and handouts are downloaded from the bank's site.

Keep checking after you apply

The 2026-27 project had a corrigendum on 7 August 2026 and an extension on 10 August. Recruitments are also cancelled at times, with fees refunded, as happened with Wealth Managers and Deputy Internal Ombudsman.

Material written for Andhra Bank or Corporation Bank recruitment is out of date: both have been part of Union Bank since 2020.

Separate notifications the bank runs

• Apprentices under the Apprentices Act 1961: most recently 1,865, after an earlier batch of 2,691.
• Local Bank Officers for particular states.
• Contract specialists: chief compliance officer, chief risk officer, chief economic advisor, data scientists, ML engineers, internal ombudsman and others.
• Sportspersons, including stipendiary players and meritorious female sportspersons.

Each has its own eligibility, and several are contract posts rather than regular ones.

IBPS route: IBPS centres across the country, chosen in the IBPS application.

Bank's own route: the centre is named in the call letter. There may be no exam at all, since that is decided after applications close, and Scale IV to VI posts have none.

Expect to be at the venue for about three hours even for a 60-minute paper, for verification, logging in and instructions. Late arrivals aren't let in.

Bring the call letter and an original photo ID in the same name as on the application.

There's no fixed calendar. IBPS runs its own, with notifications usually around the middle of the year. The bank's own projects appear when it has posts to fill.

Union Bank Recruitment Project 2026-27

Vacancies in that project

By category: 57 SC, 27 ST, 105 OBC, 36 EWS and 170 unreserved, with horizontal reservation for candidates with benchmark disabilities.

Other recent processes

• 1,865 apprentices: notified April 2026, provisional selections July 2026.
• Customer Service Associates, IBPS CRP XV 2026-27: allotment and reserve lists published by the bank.
• Wealth Managers and Deputy Internal Ombudsman: cancelled by public notice, fees refunded.

For the bank's own recruitment, call letters are downloaded from the Recruitment page, through an IBPS-hosted login. Each phase gets its own exam date notice first; in 2026-27, phase I covered 13 posts and phase II covered 32.

Information Handouts in English and Hindi, and scribe guidelines, come out with the call letter. If you're entitled to a scribe or extra time, read them as soon as they appear.

On the IBPS route, call letters come from ibps.in and the bank only publishes allotment lists afterwards.

Merit lists are drawn up separately for SC, ST, OBC, EWS and General.

• Clear the online exam's qualifying marks and rank high enough to be called. Interview calls are 1:3 against vacancies, though the bank can change the ratio.
• Score at least 50 of 100 at interview for General and EWS, 45 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD. Below that you're out, whatever your written score.
• Final merit is the aggregate of exam and interview. If only an interview (or GD and interview) is held, it's those marks alone.
• Ties go to the older candidate.

The interview looks at job knowledge, expression, clarity of thought, leadership, interests, demeanour and fit for the post.

Shortlists and selection lists appear on the Recruitment page. For the IBPS route, the bank publishes the list of candidates allotted to it, with reserve lists, the medical certificate format and tie-up hospitals.

Union Bank publishes no cut-off marks for its own recruitment. The only fixed figures are the qualifying marks: 40% (35% reserved) in each aptitude test for general banking officer posts, and 50 (45 reserved) out of 100 at interview.

Each of the 395 posts in 2026-27, coded G01 to G19 and S01 to S108, has its own merit list by category, so any single "cut-off" figure would mean little. Shortlists appear on the Recruitment page. For the IBPS route, IBPS publishes cut-offs on ibps.in after each result.

1. Work out which route your post takes. PO, Customer Service Associate and SO Scale I go through IBPS; everything else is the bank's own. Different applications, papers and timelines.
2. Professional knowledge is where places are won. The aptitude tests on general banking officer posts only have to be cleared.
3. Read the regulator. RBI master directions and circulars on your post's subject at rbi.org.in are current, public and what a banking professional is expected to know.
4. Don't guess blind. A wrong answer loses a quarter of the question's marks.
5. Know the bank. The 2020 merger, its size and its recent results come up at interview more than people expect.
6. For the IBPS route, use the IBPS handouts and the usual IBPS PO and Clerk preparation.

Union Bank publishes no previous papers or answer keys for its own recruitment.

The closest official guides are the 78-page notification, with every post's eligibility and the exam structure, and the Information Handouts released with each call letter on the Recruitment page. For the IBPS route, IBPS puts its handouts on ibps.in with the call letters.

• Union Bank of India, now on the .bank.in domain
• The bank's Recruitment page: notifications, corrigenda, call letters, Information Handouts and allotment lists
• Union Bank Recruitment Project 2026-27 notification (PDF)
• IBPS, for Customer Service Associate, PO and SO Scale I
• Reserve Bank of India, for master directions and circulars

Does Union Bank recruit through IBPS or directly?

Both. PO, Customer Service Associate and SO Scale I go through IBPS. Specialist, general banking and senior posts are advertised by the bank.

What happened to Corporation Bank and Andhra Bank?

Both merged into Union Bank on 1 April 2020, making it the fifth largest public sector bank. Neither recruits separately now.

Is there always a written exam?

No. It depends on the number of applicants, and Scale IV to VI posts have none: selection there is by group discussion or other assessment and interview.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, a quarter of the question's marks for each wrong answer.

What do I need to pass the interview?

50 out of 100 for General and EWS, 45 for SC, ST, OBC and PwBD.

Where do I apply?

On the bank's Recruitment page for its own posts, and at ibps.in for PO, Customer Service Associate and SO Scale I.