In what can be good news to millions of graduates, banking behemoth State Bank of India has lowered the minimum qualification required to apply for the post of probationary officers.

In a notification for recruiting 1,500 probationary officers issued on Wednesday, SBI prescribed graduation in any discipline as the minimum qualification without mentioning any percentage of marks.

“Till last year, candidates were required to have a minimum of 55 per cent to be eligible to apply for probationary officers. This notification does not mention this,” C. S. Vepa, Director, National School of Banking, a training institute for bank exams, said.

The candidates were happy. “Actually, many of us who do not have 55 per cent can also do well in the written exam because the skill sets required are different in academic and bank exams,” Subba Reddy, a commence graduate said.

Interested candidates can apply online between January 30 and February 23. A written examination would be conducted on April 28 this year.

Graduates in the age group 21-30 years are eligible to apply. The remuneration for a probationary officer goes up to a maximum of Rs 69,000 a month depending on the place of posting.

>naga.gunturi@thehindu.co.in