Alerts and Updates for Bank Promotion Examination (Scale I to Scale II)

Scale I to Scale II promotion, bank by bank, as sourced

These are four separate processes, not four versions of one exam. Each bank fixes its own feeder service, channel structure, test pattern and interview weighting under its own board-approved promotion policy, and the cut-off date against which service is reckoned moves every cycle. Nothing in this table transfers from one bank to another.

Dates and windows

Every date here belongs to one named bank and to one cycle only. There is no shared calendar, and no source seen publishes a forward date for a 2026-27 Scale I to Scale II process at any public sector bank.

What this means for your preparation

The most common mistake is treating Scale I to Scale II as one examination with one syllabus and one date. It is not. Each public sector bank promotes its own officers under its own board-approved promotion policy, with its own feeder service requirement, its own channels, its own test and its own interview weighting. Preparation that is not anchored to the candidate's own bank's circular is preparation against the wrong paper.

Read your own bank's circular, not a generic guide

The two banks whose current-cycle documents could be sourced differ on almost every parameter. Canara Bank fixed three years of qualifying service for the merit channel and five for the normal channel, reckoned as on 01 April 2026. Punjab National Bank instead published channel-wise feeder cut-off dates, with 01 April 2021 for the normal non-rural route and 01 April 2023 for merit and fast track, and attached a separate four-year rural service condition to the rural normal channel. Neither pattern can be read across to the other bank. The operative document is the promotion circular on the officer's own HRMS or intranet, and it is reissued with fresh dates every cycle.

The reckoning date, not today's service, decides eligibility

Both sourced circulars fix eligibility against a future reckoning date rather than the date of application. Canara Bank counted qualifying service as it would stand on 01 April 2026 while collecting willingness in September 2025, and Union Bank of India reckoned clerical service as on 31 January 2026 for a February 2026 window. An officer who is a few months short on the day the willingness form opens may still be eligible, and one who counts from the wrong date may miss a cycle that was open. Work out the shortfall against the circular's stated date before concluding you must wait a year.

Willingness is a hard gate with a short window

In both sourced cycles the written test sat six to ten weeks behind a willingness window that stayed open for about a week. Punjab National Bank ran 14 to 21 October 2025 with controlling-office approval required by 23 October 2025, ahead of a 07 December 2025 test. Canara Bank closed willingness on 30 September 2025 for a 23 November 2025 online test. The approval step matters: a form submitted but not approved by the controlling office inside the deadline does not put the officer on the list. Study time is what remains after that window, so the real preparation runway is short and known in advance.

Marks are split across test, interview and service record

The one promotion mark scheme that could be sourced in detail, Union Bank of India's clerical to Scale-I exercise, awarded 100 marks to each objective test, 20 marks at interview and up to 25 marks for service, experience, rural posting and qualifications, with a 35 per cent qualifying bar for general candidates and 30 per cent for SC, ST and PwD. That architecture, where a non-examinable block of service and posting marks sits alongside the paper, is characteristic of internal promotion and absent from open recruitment. It means a strong paper does not always close a gap opened by posting history, and rural service is frequently the swing component.

Do not prepare from an open-market recruitment notice

Bank of India's publicly posted notice of 01 August 2026 under Project 2026-27/02, with applications from 10 to 25 September 2026, recruits into Scales I to IV from the open market. It is indexed heavily and is not a promotion notice. Its scheme, a 25-mark qualifying English test, a 100-mark professional knowledge paper over 100 composite minutes, one-fourth negative marking and a 60:40 test-to-interview weighting, describes lateral entry, not internal elevation. Serving officers who prepare from it are working to a specification their own bank has not set. Verify the document's own words before treating a scheme as yours.

Common questions

Is there one common Scale I to Scale II promotion exam for all banks?

No. No source found in this review points to a common examination or a common conducting body for Scale I to Scale II promotion across public sector banks. Each bank promotes its own officers under its own promotion policy, issues its own circular on its internal HRMS or intranet and sets its own dates. Punjab National Bank tested on 07 December 2025 and Canara Bank on 23 November 2025 in the same season, under entirely separate processes.

How many years of service do I need for Scale I to Scale II?

It depends on the bank and on the channel. Canara Bank required three years of qualifying service in the JMG Scale-I feeder cadre for its merit channel and five years for its normal channel, both reckoned as on 01 April 2026. Punjab National Bank instead published feeder cut-off dates by channel, including 01 April 2021 for normal non-rural and 01 April 2023 for merit and fast track. Check the reckoning date in your own bank's current circular.

Where is the promotion notification published?

On the bank's own staff systems rather than its public recruitment page. Punjab National Bank routed its promotion willingness through HRMS at www.hrms.pnb.bank.in, and Union Bank of India used its internal Union Parivar portal for the February 2026 exercise. This is why promotion circulars are hard to find by web search and why the copies circulating on coaching sites are secondhand. Treat the intranet copy as authoritative and the public reproduction as indicative only.

Does the promotion process include an interview?

In the schemes that could be sourced, yes, but with modest weight. Union Bank of India's clerical to Scale-I exercise carried 20 interview marks against objective tests of 100 marks each, plus up to 25 marks for service, experience, rural posting and qualifications. Neither the Punjab National Bank nor the Canara Bank source seen states the interview weighting for Scale I to Scale II, so no figure should be assumed for those banks.

What is the qualifying mark in a bank promotion test?

No common figure applies. The only qualifying marks that could be sourced for an internal promotion exercise are Union Bank of India's, which set 35 per cent for general candidates and 30 per cent for SC, ST and PwD candidates in its clerical to Officer Scale-I process. Whether the same thresholds apply to a Scale I to Scale II process at that bank, or at any other bank, is not stated in any source reviewed here.

When is the next Scale I to Scale II promotion cycle?

No forward date could be sourced. The most recent cycles located closed in late 2025, with Canara Bank testing on 23 November 2025 and Punjab National Bank on 07 December 2025, and Canara Bank's eligibility reckoned as on 01 April 2026. Banks commonly run the exercise annually around the financial year, but no source reviewed announces a 2026-27 Scale I to Scale II date, so officers should watch their own HRMS rather than any public calendar.