IBPS Clerical: Can one Apply for any State?

The common written examination for clerk jobs in 19 public sector banks are being conducted by IBPS (Institute of Banking Personnel Selection) with test centres across India.Once the exam results are out, banks announce vacancy positions for which eligible candidates have to apply.Now, a questions doing rounds is ‘Can I apply for vacancies in any state’?


Looking at the readers comments on this website,our facebook page & also through email, many seem to have this doubt.Hence we have put together the rules of applying for bank clerk jobs that would help you in understanding the conditions.

What are the conditions?

Before moving further, eligibility conditions (for location) for clerical cadre given by public banks & IBPS are

• should have appeared from a centre in a State/UT for which vacancies he/she wishes to apply
• must possess proficiency (read/write/speak) in the official language of the State

Can I apply to other state?

In short, the answer is No.Candidates are eligible to apply only for the state where they chose to write the test.

If a person had chosen Kolkata as his test centre, he/she will be eligible to send applications for banks that advertise vacancies in West Bengal.

A similar question being asked is “I appeared for the test at a centre in a different state since I had studding/ working there.Now I have shifted back to my native place.Can I apply for the current state, where I am?” The answer shall be again, No.

To explain it with an example,

A candidate from Delhi who had taken the clerical common exam in Chennai due to some reason can apply for vacancies in the state of Tamilnadu only.

Even if you are ready to work in another state, there is another pre-requisite..

Local language necessary

On selection, candidates shall be posted in any branch within a state/UT they applied for & it is necessary to be proficient in the regional language.

As clerks are the first point of contact for customers, fluency in the official language has been made a must.

So, if you are not aware of the local lingo you cannot apply for vacancies in that state.

Or wait for next exam

The above rules are not one-off but apply to all banks.

It wont be possible to apply for clerk posts across 19 public banks, if you don't fulfill any one of them as they are the minimum eligibility criteria.

As there is no facility to modify your preferred state details midway, to wait for the next clerk CWE by IBPS & register for the correct state is the only solution!

No doubt, missing the recruitments will be a costly lesson for those who hadn't read the exam advertisement carefully