IBPS SO · Agricultural Field Officer · Scale I
ASTHRA - IBPS AFO 2027
Prelims + Main · Recorded classes · CRP SPL-XVII
Across Prelims and Main you answer 252 questions. Only 50 of them - the Professional Knowledge questions in the Main exam - carry into your rank. Everything else is qualifying. ASTHRA is built around that fact, and still teaches you every section you have to clear on the way.
The 2027 notification (CRP SPL-XVII) is not out yet. That gap is the whole point. Pattern, syllabus and qualification rules have held steady across recent AFO cycles - only dates, fees and vacancy counts move. The months before the notification are the only ones you get with no application deadline pulling at your attention.
Secure checkout on Agriguru EdTech · Instant access on app, web and PC · Offline download · Access till the selection process is complete
Free demo classes
See how we teach before you enrol
Two sample classes in the same format as the full batch - one from Professional Knowledge, one from a qualifying section. Watch them free, then decide.
The exam, verified
IBPS AFO at a glance
Every figure on this page is taken from the confirmed CRP SPL-XVI notification - the cycle whose exam was conducted in 2026, for postings in FY 2027-28. Anything the 2027 cycle has not announced yet is marked 2027: TBA, with the 2026 figure shown beside it as a reference. We correct this page the day IBPS publishes CRP SPL-XVII.
What this recruitment is
One Common Recruitment Process a year, six Specialist Officer posts, eleven public sector banks.
Recruitment summary
| Conducting body | Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) |
|---|---|
| Post | Agricultural Field Officer (AFO), Scale I - Specialist Officer cadre |
| Recruitment process | CRP SPL-XVII for the 2027 cycle 2027: TBA |
| Stages | Preliminary exam → Main exam → Common Interview → Provisional allotment |
| Who it is for | Agriculture and allied-science graduates with a 4-year degree |
| Participating banks | 11 public sector banks |
| How allotment works | Clear all three stages and IBPS provisionally allots you to one participating bank on merit, vacancies and reservation norms - not on your choice of bank |
| Starting basic pay | ₹48,480 per month |
| Official website | www.ibps.in |
The 11 participating banks
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of India
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Canara Bank
- Central Bank of India
- Indian Bank
- Indian Overseas Bank
- Punjab National Bank
- Punjab & Sind Bank
- UCO Bank
- Union Bank of India
Allowances are fixed by whichever bank you are provisionally allotted to. The entry grade - Scale I - is the same across all six Specialist Officer posts.
Two-tier online exam
Prelims, Main, and where the marks sit
Each test in Prelims, and each objective test in the Main, carries its own qualifying cut-off decided by IBPS. Wrong answers cost 0.25 of that question's marks at both stages. Unattempted questions carry no penalty.
Three rules that decide how you sit the paper
They apply at both stages, and together they change how you have to practise.
- 1
Every section has its own clock
In the Prelims that is 20 minutes each for English, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and Professional Knowledge. The Main gives 25, 35, 25 and 40 minutes to the four objective tests, then 30 for the Descriptive Paper.
- 2
No going back, no jumping ahead
When a section's time runs out the screen moves on by itself. You cannot return to a section you have left, and you cannot carry unused time forward. Minutes saved on an easy section are simply gone.
- 3
Every section has its own cut-off
IBPS sets a minimum for each test. Score well overall but fall below the line in one section and your attempt ends there - which is exactly why the qualifying sections still have to be prepared rather than skipped.
Read rules 2 and 3 together and the real risk becomes clear. Professional Knowledge decides your rank, but a single weak section - Quant, say - can end your attempt before that score is ever counted. And because the clock is sectional, you cannot rescue it by spending longer there on the day. It has to be fixed in preparation, which is why ASTHRA teaches all four subjects and times its practice the way the exam does.
Preliminary exam
100 questions · 125 marks · 80 minutes with sectional timing · a wrong answer costs one-quarter of that question's marks
| Test | Questions | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 25 | 25 | 20 min |
| Reasoning | 25 | 25 | 20 min |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 25 | 20 min |
| Professional Knowledge (Agriculture) | 25 | 50 | 20 min |
| Total | 100 | 125 | 80 min |
- Professional Knowledge is the only Prelims test where each question is worth 2 marks - 25 questions, 50 marks.
- Prelims is qualifying. Its marks do not carry into the final merit list.
Main exam
152 questions · 225 marks · 155 minutes · a wrong answer costs one-quarter of that question's marks
| Test | Questions | Marks | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 25 min |
| Reasoning | 40 | 40 | 35 min |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 30 | 30 | 25 min |
| Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 50 | 100 | 40 min |
| Descriptive Paper (English) | 2 | 25 | 30 min |
| Total | 152 | 225 | 155 min |
Read this part twice. In the Main exam, English, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and the Descriptive Paper are qualifying only. Interview shortlisting and the final selection list are built purely on the Professional Knowledge score. You must clear the other sections - but clearing them is all they do for you.
Why this course is built differently
You answer 252 questions. 50 of them decide your rank.
Add up everything you write across both exams and it comes to 350 marks. Exactly 100 of those - the Professional Knowledge paper in the Main - reach the merit list. Here is the same thing as a table.
Where the marks that decide your rank actually sit
| Stage | Marks | Counts toward final merit? |
|---|---|---|
| Prelims: English, Reasoning, Quant, Professional Knowledge | 125 | No · screening only |
| Main: English, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude | 100 | No · qualifying only |
| Main: Descriptive Paper (English) | 25 | No · qualifying only |
| Main: Professional Knowledge (Objective) | 100 | Yes · 80% of final score |
| Common Interview | 100 | Yes · 20% of final score |
This is where most agriculture graduates lose the post. Reasoning, English and Quant are the sections they fear, so that is where the study hours go - and those hours buy a pass mark, nothing more. Meanwhile Professional Knowledge, the one paper their degree already prepared them for, gets treated as revision. ASTHRA teaches all four subjects, because you have to clear all four. It just refuses to spend your time as if they were worth the same.
Professional Knowledge
The scoring paper, taught as one
- Full coverage of all seven Professional Knowledge areas, from Agriculture in India through to Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science.
- Agricultural Finance taught the way a bank asks it - crop loans, KCC, farm-equipment credit and crop insurance schemes.
- Tests written to the format the paper actually uses - 2 marks a question, and half a mark lost for a wrong one.
English, Reasoning, Quant
The qualifying sections, taught to clear
- Standard banking-exam level, shared across all six Specialist Officer posts - so the material is proven, not improvised.
- Sectional timing practice, because you get 20 minutes per section in the Prelims, cannot go back to a section once it closes, and cannot borrow time from one to finish another.
- Enough depth to clear each section's own cut-off - the line that quietly ends most attempts before Professional Knowledge is ever counted.
- Descriptive Paper practice for the Main - 2 questions, 25 marks, 30 minutes, English.
Eligibility · CRP SPL-XVI reference
Age, degree, nationality
The exact age cut-off date and the application window for 2027 are not out yet. The age band below carries forward from CRP SPL-XVI; only the reference date shifts once IBPS notifies the 2027 cycle.
Age · 20 to 30 years 2027: TBA
| Category | Age relaxation |
|---|---|
| SC / ST | +5 years |
| OBC (Non-Creamy Layer) | +3 years |
| Persons with Benchmark Disability | +10 years |
| Ex-servicemen / ECOs / SSCOs (min. 5 yrs service) | +5 years |
2026 cycle reference: born not earlier than 02.07.1996 and not later than 01.07.2006, age reckoned as on 01.07.2026.
SC/ST/OBC relaxation is cumulative with only one other applicable category - it does not stack across every row.
Educational qualification
A 4-year degree in any one of these
- Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Veterinary Science, Dairy Science
- Fishery Science, Pisciculture, Fisheries Engineering
- 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
The degree must be from a University, Institution or Board recognised by the Government of India, and must match this list exactly - no equivalent qualification is considered. Your final result must be declared on or before the cut-off date IBPS notifies.
Computer proficiency
Required for AFO, as for all non-IT posts
A certificate, diploma or degree in computer operations, or Computer Science / Computer Applications studied as a subject at school or college, satisfies this requirement.
Application fee 2027: TBA
2026 cycle reference
₹850 for General, OBC and EWS candidates. ₹175 for SC, ST and PwBD candidates. Both inclusive of GST.
Nationality
A candidate must be one of the following.
- A citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal or Bhutan.
- A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1 January 1962 with the intention of settling permanently.
- A person of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, the East African states of Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania, or from Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam, intending to settle permanently in India - with an eligibility certificate issued by the Government of India.
Selection process
Three stages, then an allotment you do not choose
The stage order below is settled. The dates are the 2026-cycle schedule, shown as a reference - 2027 dates replace them once IBPS notifies CRP SPL-XVII.
- 1
Preliminary exam
Online, 80 minutes, 125 marks. Each test carries its own qualifying cut-off. Qualifying in nature - the marks do not reach the merit list.
- 2
Main exam
Online, 155 minutes, 225 marks. Only the Professional Knowledge score carries forward. Everything else must be cleared, not maximised.
- 3
Common Interview
100 marks, minimum qualifying 40% (35% for SC/ST/OBC/PwBD). Conducted by the participating banks and coordinated by the nodal bank for your state or region.
- 4
Provisional allotment
Final score = 80% Main + 20% Interview. IBPS allots you to one participating bank on merit, category and vacancy. You do not pick the bank.
Tentative schedule
| Stage | 2026 reference | 2027 cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Registration & fee payment | Jul 2026 | TBA |
| Preliminary exam | Aug 2026 | TBA |
| Main exam | Nov 2026 | TBA |
| Common Interview | Nov–Dec 2026 | TBA |
| Provisional allotment | Jan 2027 | TBA |
- The registration window in recent cycles has run about three weeks. Watch ibps.in rather than relying on a reminder.
- IBPS allows one application per candidate per cycle across the six Specialist Officer posts. Multiple applications are summarily rejected.
Previous cut-off trends
What a selected candidate has scored
This is the minimum combined score - Main plus Interview, out of 100 - held by a candidate who actually received a provisional allotment. It is the only cut-off that matters, because it is the one you have to beat.
Final cut-off by category · minimum allotted score out of 100
| Cycle | UR | EWS | OBC (NCL) | SC | ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Latest | 70.33 | 67.33 | 69.00 | 61.27 | 59.33 |
| 2024 | 62.27 | 57.40 | 58.67 | 47.60 | 45.67 |
| 2021 | 63.87 | 62.00 | 63.47 | 56.67 | 53.00 |
| 2020 | 76.53 | 74.20 | 76.00 | 67.13 | 65.00 |
The UR line, cycle by cycle
Final cut-off out of 100, so the bars are drawn to the actual scale of the score.
- PwBD cut-offs in the 2025 cycle: HI 45.33 · OC 60.40 · VI 54.73 · ID 42.20.
- Prelims is a separate, lower bar. In the 2025 cycle the AFO Prelims cut-off was 50.13 out of 125 for UR, OBC, EWS and SC, and 45.63 for ST. In 2024 it was 51.00, and 46.00 for ST. Clearing it gets you into the Main exam and nothing else.
- Figures are compiled from published reports of IBPS's provisional-allotment cut-off documents and cross-checked across independent sources. We have left out the 2022 and 2023 cycles because the sources for those years do not agree with each other. IBPS publishes the authoritative version with each final result - confirm against ibps.in.
Two things to take from that table. First, the line moves, and it moves hard: the UR cut-off went from 62.27 in the 2024 cycle to 70.33 in 2025 - eight marks in a single year, on a syllabus that did not change. Anyone preparing to last year's number is preparing to miss. Second, look at how tight the top is. In the 2025 cycle the lowest allotted UR score was 70.33 and the highest was 80.80. Ten and a half marks separate the last selected candidate from the first, and 80% of that score comes from one 100-mark Professional Knowledge paper. The whole contest is decided inside a single test, by margins of two and three marks.
Vacancies
190 posts in the last notified cycle
Category-wise AFO vacancies as published in the CRP SPL-XVI notification, for 2027-28 postings. Actual 2027-cycle numbers depend on each bank's business needs that year.
CRP SPL-XVI · Agricultural Field Officer
| Bank | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of Baroda | 15 | 7 | 27 | 10 | 41 | 100 |
| Bank of Maharashtra | 13 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 38 | 90 |
| Six other banks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Three other banks | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Total (excluding NR banks) | 28 | 13 | 51 | 19 | 79 | 190 |
- The six banks that declared no AFO vacancy that cycle: Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank and Punjab National Bank.
- NR = vacancy not reported at notification stage, by Indian Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India. Totals may include backlog vacancies.
- PwBD sub-quota within the above: HI 2, OC 2, VI 2, ID 1.
- Two banks accounted for every reported post in that cycle. Which banks hire, and how many, changes from cycle to cycle - so does the number worth planning around.
The job
Salary, role and where it leads
Pay scale · Scale I
Officer cadre entry grade
₹48,480 starting basic
₹48,480 – 2000/7 – 62,480 – 2340/2 – 67,160 – 2680/7 – 85,920
Basic pay progresses through fixed increments. HRA, DA, medical and other allowances are added according to the rules of the bank you are allotted to, so in-hand pay varies between banks and between postings.
A specialist track, not general banking
What the post actually is
Agricultural Field Officers handle crop loans, farm credit appraisal, Kisan Credit Card processing and agri-advisory for a bank's rural and semi-urban branches. You are hired for the agriculture knowledge, and the job keeps using it.
Promotion to Scale II, Scale III and above follows the same officer cadre as other Scale I entrants, under the allotted bank's internal promotion policy and tenure norms.
Day-to-day role
Crop loan appraisal
Assess farm credit proposals against cropping patterns, yields and local scale-of-finance norms.
Kisan Credit Card processing
Process and renew KCC limits, and handle the documentation behind short-term crop credit.
Field visits & advisory
Visit farms and borrowers, verify end-use of credit, and advise on schemes and crop insurance.
Agri portfolio support
Support the branch's priority-sector and agriculture lending targets, and the reporting that goes with them.
This description of the day-to-day role is a general overview of the AFO function in public sector banks, not official IBPS or bank text. Actual duties are assigned by the bank you are allotted to.
Syllabus
Every subject, topic by topic
Tap a subject to see its topics. IBPS does not publish a Professional Knowledge topic list - the seven areas below are the syllabus as it has consistently appeared across recent AFO Main papers, and they are the backbone of the ASTHRA curriculum.
Always confirm the final syllabus and pattern against the official CRP SPL-XVII notification when IBPS publishes it.
What you get
Everything in ASTHRA
Built for this exam, not a general agriculture course repackaged for banking. The batch is already running ahead of the 2027 notification, so early movers get a full, unhurried run at the syllabus.
- 100% recorded premium Prelims + Main classes - study on your own schedule, revisit any topic as often as you need
- All four subjects covered: Professional Knowledge, Reasoning, English Language and Quantitative Aptitude
- Built on the latest exam pattern - Prelims, Main and the Descriptive Paper as IBPS sets them today
- Live doubt-clearing sessions with the faculty who taught the recordings
- Expert-led classes by seasoned professionals, taught in English
- 5,000+ exam-level questions across all four subjects
- Full-length mock tests that simulate the complete Prelims and Main papers
- Practice tests and sectional mock tests, run against the sectional clock the real exam gives you
- Professional Knowledge mock tests - dedicated practice on the one paper that decides your rank
- Notes for descriptive writing, for the 2-question, 25-mark Descriptive Paper in the Main
- Offline download on the app, and full access on a PC for longer study sessions
- Content refreshed the moment IBPS releases the 2027 (CRP SPL-XVII) notification
- Course access till the selection process is complete - the whole 2027 cycle, registration through to provisional allotment
150
Video lectures
43
Tests
89
Files & notes
FAQs
Common questions
Quick answers about the ASTHRA batch and about the IBPS AFO recruitment itself.
Getting started
Start learning in three steps
Enrol on this page, or set up the app and continue from there.
- 1
Download the app
Get the Agriguru EdTech app from Google Play or the App Store. On iOS, enter the code
IICZSGwhen the app opens. - 2
Sign in & find ASTHRA
Log in with your phone number, then search for "ASTHRA IBPS AFO 2027" in the courses list.
- 3
Enrol and start learning
Purchase on the app or at www.agriguruedtech.com and get instant access to every recorded class, test and file - on the app, on the web, or on your PC.
iOS: open app → enter code IICZSG
Talk to us on WhatsApp
Want to know more about the batch?
Ask us anything about ASTHRA - how the recorded classes are structured, when doubt-clearing sessions run, what the 43 tests cover, or how to join. Our team replies on WhatsApp.
Opens WhatsApp with your message ready - just tap send.
Prefer to call? +91 85907 53947 · Mon–Sat, 9 AM – 5 PM IST
Train for the 50 questions that decide your rank
Recorded Prelims and Main classes across all four subjects, live doubt clearing, 43 tests and 89 files - in English, with access till the selection process is complete.
Mon–Sat, 9 AM – 5 PM IST