SEBI Grade A 2026: Eligibility, Salary, Exam Pattern & Job Profile

What Is SEBI Grade A?

SEBI Grade A is the recruitment examination for the post of Officer Grade A (Assistant Manager) at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

SEBI is the statutory regulator of India's securities market. Its responsibilities include protecting investors, promoting the development of the securities market and regulating the securities market.

The latest recruitment cycle covered seven streams:

• General
• Legal
• Information Technology
• Research
• Official Language
• Engineering (Electrical)
• Engineering (Civil)

The 2025 recruitment process began with applications from October 30 to November 28, 2025. Phase I was held on January 10, 2026, Phase II on February 21, 2026, followed by interviews.

Important: As of September 2026, the latest completed SEBI Grade A recruitment cycle is the 2025 recruitment exercise. The next notification may have different vacancies, dates, qualifications or exam rules.

SEBI Grade A 2026: Quick Overview

The pay, age, selection structure and other service conditions are based on the latest official SEBI recruitment advertisement.

SEBI Grade A Vacancy

The original 2025 notification advertised 110 posts across seven streams.

SEBI subsequently increased the vacancies in the General and Research streams.

SEBI's November 2025 addendum increased General vacancies from 56 to 77 and Research vacancies from 4 to 8, taking the total to 135 posts. The application closing date remained November 28, 2025.

Will SEBI Grade A 2026 have 135 vacancies?

Not necessarily.

The 135 vacancies belong to the 2025 recruitment cycle. SEBI determines vacancies separately for each recruitment exercise.

Therefore, candidates should wait for the next official advertisement before using a vacancy number for the next cycle.

SEBI Grade A Eligibility 2026

SEBI Grade A eligibility depends on the stream.

This is particularly important because SEBI does not have one common qualification for every Grade A position.

The latest notification covered different educational backgrounds for different streams.

SEBI Grade A General Stream Eligibility

For the General stream, candidates could qualify through several educational routes, including:

• Master's Degree or postgraduate diploma of minimum two years' duration in any discipline
• Bachelor's Degree in Law
• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering
• Chartered Accountant
• Chartered Financial Analyst
• Company Secretary
• Cost Accountant

The postgraduate diploma must meet the equivalence conditions specified by SEBI.

Important

A simple BA/BCom/BSc graduation degree alone does not automatically satisfy the latest General Stream qualification.

This is an important difference between SEBI Grade A and many conventional banking examinations.

Candidates should check the exact educational qualification in the relevant notification.

SEBI Grade A Legal Eligibility

The Legal stream requires:

Bachelor's Degree in Law from a recognized University/Institute.

The latest notification listed two years of post-qualification experience as an Advocate as a desirable qualification rather than the mandatory educational qualification.

SEBI Grade A IT Eligibility

For the Information Technology stream, the latest notification accepted:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering in any branch

OR

• Bachelor's Degree in any discipline with a postgraduate qualification of minimum two years' duration in:

• Computer Science
• Computer Application
• Information Technology

from a recognized university/institute.

This makes the IT stream relevant for candidates from both engineering and certain postgraduate computer/IT backgrounds.

SEBI Grade A Research Eligibility

The Research stream accepts specified postgraduate qualifications.

The latest notification covered areas including:

• Economics
• Commerce
• Business Administration
• Econometrics
• Quantitative Economics
• Financial Economics
• Mathematical Economics
• Business Economics
• Agricultural Economics
• Industrial Economics
• Business Analytics
• Finance
• Quantitative Finance
• Mathematical Finance
• Quantitative Techniques
• International Finance
• Business Finance
• International and Trade Finance
• Project and Infrastructure Finance
• Agricultural Business Finance
• Statistics
• Mathematical Statistics
• Statistics & Informatics
• Applied Statistics & Informatics
• Data Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Big Data Analytics
• Mathematics with specified postgraduate statistics qualification

The exact combination of degrees must satisfy the conditions in the recruitment notification.

SEBI Grade A Engineering Eligibility

Electrical Engineering

The latest recruitment required:

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Additional experience in areas such as electronic/security systems, maintenance and construction/project management was listed as desirable.

Civil Engineering

The latest recruitment required:

Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering.

The notification also listed several desirable experience areas, including construction and project management, property maintenance and relevant technical software.

SEBI Grade A Official Language Eligibility

The Official Language stream has specialized language qualifications.

The latest notification accepted specified Master's degrees involving:

• Hindi/Hindi Translation
• English
• Sanskrit
• Economics
• Commerce

with the required Hindi/English subject combinations at bachelor's level.

SEBI Grade A Age Limit

For the latest 2025 recruitment:

Maximum age: 30 years

The age was calculated as of September 30, 2025. Candidates had to be born on or after October 1, 1995, subject to applicable relaxations.

Age relaxation

The latest notification provided, among others:

The exact applicability depends on the reservation and candidate category conditions in the notification.

For the next recruitment, candidates should use the new notification's cut-off date rather than simply applying the 2025 date.

Can Final-Year Students Apply for SEBI Grade A?

The latest notification allowed candidates who had appeared or were appearing for their final examinations to participate in Phase I and Phase II.

However, candidates reaching Phase III had to provide evidence that they had successfully obtained the required qualification.

Therefore, final-year candidates should carefully check the qualification cut-off conditions of the applicable recruitment cycle.

SEBI Grade A Exam Pattern

SEBI Grade A has a three-stage selection process:

1. Phase I – Online examination
2. Phase II – Online examination
3. Phase III – Interview

The latest notification clearly specifies this three-stage structure.

Phase I Exam Pattern

Phase I contains two papers, each carrying 100 marks.

For the General stream, Paper 2 covers:

• Commerce
• Accountancy
• Management
• Finance
• Costing
• Companies Act
• Economics

For other streams, Paper 2 tests the relevant specialized subject.

Phase I Cut-Off

The latest notification specified:

• Paper 1 minimum: 30%
• Paper 2 minimum: 40%
• Aggregate minimum: 40%

Phase I marks are used for shortlisting candidates for Phase II and are not counted in the final selection score.

Negative marking

The latest Phase I examination had one-fourth negative marking for questions in both papers.

SEBI Grade A Phase II Exam Pattern

Phase II also consists of two papers.

Paper 1 – English

The paper tests drafting and written communication skills.

Paper 2

Paper 2 is stream-specific.

For the General stream, it covers:

• Commerce
• Accountancy
• Management
• Finance
• Costing
• Companies Act
• Economics

Paper 2 carries 100 marks, with a 90-minute duration for the General stream.

Phase II Cut-Off

The latest recruitment required:

• Paper 1: minimum 30%
• Paper 2: minimum 40%
• Aggregate: minimum 50%

For the aggregate, Phase II Paper 1 had 1/3 weightage, while Paper 2 had 2/3 weightage.

Candidates meeting the requirements were shortlisted for the interview according to the prescribed selection criteria.

SEBI Grade A Interview

The final stage is the interview.

The latest recruitment gave:

• 85% weightage to Phase II
• 15% weightage to Interview

For Legal, Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering streams, relevant post-qualification experience could receive additional weightage within the interview component, subject to the notification's conditions.

SEBI Grade A Salary

SEBI Grade A has a significantly different pay structure from many traditional banking examinations.

The latest official recruitment notification specified the Grade A pay scale as:

₹62,500 – 3,600 (4) – ₹76,900 – 4,050 (7) – ₹1,05,250 – EB – 4,050 (4) – ₹1,21,450 – 4,650 (1) – ₹1,26,100

The scale spans 17 years under the stated progression.

Initial gross emoluments

SEBI stated that the present gross emoluments at the minimum of the scale in Mumbai were approximately:

₹1,84,000 per month without accommodation

and approximately:

₹1,43,000 per month with accommodation.

These figures include applicable components such as SEBI's NPS contribution, Grade Allowance, Special Allowance, Dearness Allowance and other allowances.

These are official figures from the 2025 recruitment advertisement. Actual compensation can vary by posting, accommodation and applicable allowances.

SEBI Grade A Benefits

Apart from salary, the latest recruitment notification listed several benefits, including:

• Leave Fare Concession
• Medical expenses
• Eye-refraction benefits
• Knowledge upgradation allowance
• Briefcase allowance
• Conveyance expenses
• House cleaning allowance
• Staff furnishing scheme
• Computer purchase scheme
• Subsidized lunch
• Accommodation, subject to availability

SEBI Grade A Probation

Selected candidates recruited as Officer Grade A are required to undergo:

Two years of probation.

Confirmation in service is subject to satisfactory performance during probation.

SEBI Grade A Job Profile

SEBI Grade A is different from a conventional bank PO or clerk position.

An officer works in a financial-market regulatory organization rather than primarily handling branch banking operations.

Depending on the department and stream, responsibilities can include:

• Securities-market regulation
• Policy formulation
• Intermediary registration
• Market supervision
• Inspection
• Investigation
• Adjudication
• Compliance
• Legal work
• Financial analysis
• IT systems and cybersecurity-related work
• Economic research
• Data analysis
• Official-language work
• Engineering and infrastructure-related assignments

SEBI states that officers can be assigned to different departments and that their work can range from policy formulation to registration, inspection, supervision, investigation and adjudication.

Can SEBI Grade A Officers Be Transferred?

Yes.

The latest recruitment notification states that officers may be posted and transferred to locations across India where SEBI has offices.

It also states that recruited officers may be posted to any SEBI department irrespective of the stream through which they were recruited.

Therefore, selecting an IT, Legal, Research or Engineering stream does not necessarily mean that the officer will remain permanently within that functional department.

SEBI Grade A Career Growth

SEBI's career structure progresses through several officer grades.

The broad hierarchy is:

Grade A – Assistant Manager

↓

Grade B – Manager

↓

Grade C – Assistant General Manager

↓

Grade D – Deputy General Manager

↓

Grade E – General Manager

↓

Grade F – Chief General Manager

SEBI states that officers can progress through these grades, with promotion rules depending on the grade and applicable service conditions. Officers at Grade F can progress further to Executive Director positions subject to the applicable process.

SEBI Grade A General Stream Syllabus

The General stream is particularly important because it is open to candidates from several educational backgrounds meeting the qualification requirements.

Phase I Paper 1

Major areas include:

General Awareness

• Current affairs
• Financial markets
• Banking
• Economy
• Government policies
• National and international events
• Financial-sector developments

English

• Reading comprehension
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Sentence correction
• Para jumbles
• Fill in the blanks

Quantitative Aptitude

• Percentage
• Ratio
• Average
• Profit and loss
• Time and work
• Time, speed and distance
• Data interpretation
• Probability
• Basic arithmetic

Reasoning

• Puzzles
• Seating arrangement
• Syllogism
• Inequality
• Coding-decoding
• Logical reasoning
• Blood relations
• Data sufficiency

Phase I & Phase II Paper 2 for General Stream

The core subjects are:

• Commerce
• Accountancy
• Management
• Finance
• Costing
• Companies Act
• Economics

Candidates should prepare these subjects at the depth required by the official syllabus rather than treating SEBI Grade A as a conventional aptitude-only banking exam.

Commerce and Accountancy

Important areas include:

• Accounting principles
• Financial statements
• Corporate accounting
• Partnership accounts
• Cash-flow statements
• Ratio analysis
• Accounting standards
• Auditing concepts

Management

Important areas include:

• Management principles
• Planning
• Organizing
• Staffing
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Communication
• Organizational behaviour
• Human-resource management
• Decision making

Finance

Important areas include:

• Financial markets
• Capital markets
• Money markets
• Banking
• Risk management
• Portfolio management
• Derivatives
• Financial institutions
• Corporate finance
• Securities markets

Economics

Important areas include:

• Microeconomics
• Macroeconomics
• Monetary policy
• Fiscal policy
• Inflation
• Economic growth
• National income
• Balance of payments
• International trade
• Indian economy

Companies Act and Securities-Market Awareness

Candidates should also understand:

• Companies Act
• Corporate governance
• Securities-market structure
• Stock exchanges
• Market intermediaries
• Investor protection
• Regulatory framework
• SEBI's role
• Primary market
• Secondary market

The exact syllabus should always be matched with the latest SEBI notification.

SEBI Grade A Preparation Strategy

SEBI Grade A preparation should be divided into three major areas:

1. Phase I Paper 1

Build speed in:

• Reasoning
• Quantitative Aptitude
• English
• General Awareness

2. Stream-specific Paper 2

This should receive substantial preparation time because it carries significant weightage in the later selection stages.

3. Descriptive English

Practise:

• Essays
• Precis
• Business communication
• Reports
• Letters
• Analytical writing

How to Prepare for SEBI Grade A General Stream

A practical preparation structure is:

SEBI Grade A vs RBI Grade B

Both are regulatory-sector officer examinations, but their organizations and job functions are different.

Candidates should compare the actual job responsibilities and eligibility requirements rather than treating both examinations as identical because both are regulatory-sector careers.

SEBI Grade A vs Bank PO

Is SEBI Grade A a Government Job?

SEBI is a statutory regulatory body established by an Act of Parliament.

Its Grade A recruitment is therefore a regulatory-sector public-sector career, but it should not be confused with a regular commercial-bank job.

SEBI's own recruitment advertisement describes the organization as a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament to protect investors, promote development of the securities market and regulate the securities market.

Is SEBI Grade A Suitable for Engineers?

Yes, depending on the stream and qualification.

The latest recruitment included:

• Information Technology
• Engineering (Electrical)
• Engineering (Civil)

The IT stream accepted a bachelor's degree in engineering in any branch, subject to the notification conditions. Electrical and Civil Engineering had their respective engineering-degree requirements.

This makes SEBI Grade A relevant to candidates who want to move from a technical educational background into financial-market regulatory work.

Can a BTech Graduate Apply for SEBI Grade A?

It depends on the stream.

For example:

• BTech/BE candidates can potentially qualify for the IT stream under the latest rules.
• Electrical Engineering graduates can apply for the Electrical Engineering stream.
• Civil Engineering graduates can apply for the Civil Engineering stream.
• Engineering graduates can also meet the General stream qualification route under the latest notification.

However, the exact degree and stream combination must be checked against the recruitment notification.

Can a Law Graduate Apply for SEBI Grade A?

Yes.

The latest recruitment included a dedicated Legal stream requiring a Bachelor's Degree in Law from a recognized university/institute.

Can a BCom Graduate Apply for SEBI Grade A?

A BCom degree by itself did not satisfy the General stream's latest listed qualification route.

However, candidates with an appropriate postgraduate qualification or professional qualification such as CA, CS, CFA or Cost Accountant could qualify under the General stream, subject to the notification requirements.

This is an important eligibility distinction for graduates.

Important SEBI Grade A Points

1. Qualification is stream-specific

Do not assume that every graduate is eligible for every Grade A stream.

2. Paper 2 is important

SEBI Grade A has substantial subject-specific content.

3. Phase I is a screening stage

Marks obtained in Phase I are used for shortlisting and are not counted in final selection under the latest recruitment rules.

4. Phase II carries most of the final written-exam weight

The latest selection structure gave Phase II an 85% weightage and the interview 15%.

5. Multiple streams are possible

The latest notification allowed candidates to apply for a maximum of two streams, provided they were eligible for those streams. Separate applications and fees were required.

6. Posting is not restricted to the recruitment stream

SEBI states that recruited officers may be posted to any department and transferred to any location where SEBI has offices.

SEBI Grade A 2026 FAQs

What is SEBI Grade A?

SEBI Grade A is the recruitment examination for Officer Grade A (Assistant Manager) positions at the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

What is the SEBI Grade A salary?

The latest official recruitment notification specifies a Grade A basic pay scale beginning at ₹62,500. SEBI stated that gross emoluments at the minimum of the scale in Mumbai were approximately ₹1.84 lakh per month without accommodation.

What is the SEBI Grade A age limit?

The maximum age in the latest recruitment cycle was 30 years, with applicable category-based relaxations.

How many vacancies were available in SEBI Grade A?

The 2025 recruitment originally advertised 110 posts. After an addendum increasing General and Research vacancies, the total became 135 posts.

Is there an interview in SEBI Grade A?

Yes. The latest selection process consisted of Phase I, Phase II and Phase III Interview.

Is SEBI Grade A difficult?

The examination requires preparation in aptitude, general awareness, financial-sector awareness and substantial stream-specific subjects. The General stream also covers Commerce, Accountancy, Management, Finance, Costing, Companies Act and Economics.

Can engineers apply for SEBI Grade A?

Yes, depending on their degree and the stream. The latest recruitment included IT, Electrical Engineering and Civil Engineering streams, along with an engineering qualification route for the General stream.

Can a law graduate apply for SEBI Grade A?

Yes. The latest Legal stream required a Bachelor's Degree in Law.

Can I apply for more than one SEBI Grade A stream?

Under the latest notification, candidates could apply for a maximum of two eligible streams, with a separate application and fee for each stream.

Where can a SEBI Grade A officer be posted?

Officers may be posted or transferred to locations across India where SEBI has offices. SEBI also states that recruited officers may be posted to departments other than the stream through which they were recruited.

Final Takeaway

SEBI Grade A is an officer-level regulatory-sector recruitment opportunity for candidates interested in securities markets, finance, regulation, economics, technology, law, research and related professional areas.

The latest 2025 recruitment covered seven streams and, after a subsequent vacancy increase, had 135 posts. The selection process consisted of Phase I, Phase II and Interview.

For candidates preparing for the next recruitment, the major areas to focus on are:

• Stream-specific eligibility
• Phase I aptitude and awareness
• Financial-sector current affairs
• Commerce and Accountancy
• Management
• Finance
• Economics
• Companies Act
• Descriptive English
• Stream-specific technical subjects
• Interview preparation

Because SEBI can change vacancies, eligibility and examination rules between recruitment cycles, candidates should use the latest official SEBI Grade A notification as the final authority.