RBI Grade B ESI: Syllabus, Important Topics and Preparation
Last updated: 2026-11-11 · MockMentor
Paper-I, Economic and Social Issues (ESI), carries 100 marks in RBI Grade B Phase 2: 30 objective questions for 50 marks in 30 minutes, and 4 typed descriptive answers (out of 6 questions) for 50 marks in 90 minutes. Its questions come from four syllabus units, and current affairs (schemes, reports, the Union Budget and the Economic Survey) feed into all of them.
Syllabus units
Each linked line opens a full chapter on that topic.
Growth and Development
- Measurement of growth: National Income and per capita income and human development
- Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation in India: poverty and employment
- Sustainable Development and Environmental issues
Indian Economy
- Economic History of India
- Changes in Industrial and Labour Policy, Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy since reforms of 1991
- Priorities and recommendations of Economic Survey and Union Budget
- Indian Money and Financial Markets: Linkages with the economy
- Role of Indian banks and Reserve Bank in the development process
- Public Finance
- Political Economy
- Industrial Developments in India
- Indian Agriculture
- Services sector in India
Globalization
- Opening up of the Indian Economy
- Balance of Payments, Export-Import Policy
- International Economic Institutions: IMF and World Bank, WTO
- Regional Economic Co-operation
- International Economic Issues
Social Structure in India
- Multiculturalism
- Demographic Trends
- Urbanisation and Migration
- Gender Issues
- Social Justice: Positive Discrimination in favour of the under-privileged
- Social Movements
- Indian Political System
- Human Development
- Social Sectors in India: Health and Education
What the 2023–2026 questions show
- Government schemes are the biggest group of ESI objective questions every year, but the schemes change. Agriculture and farmer schemes went from 1 question in 2023 to 7 in 2024 and 8 in 2025, then none in 2026, when a passage on Lakhpati Didi (4 questions) and savings and welfare schemes came instead.
- IMF and global reports came back strongly in 2026 with 5 questions (the World Economic Outlook passage, the WEF Chief Economists' Outlook and the IMF Fiscal Monitor), after none in 2025.
- New in ESI in 2026: fiscal policy and the FRBM Act (4 questions), the Periodic Labour Force Survey (3) and RBI's FREE-AI committee report on AI in finance (3).
- Some 2026 topics crossed papers: the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2025–30 was asked in both the ESI and Finance descriptive papers, and stablecoins in both Finance objective and ESI descriptive.
High-priority topics for 2027
| Objective | Descriptive |
|---|---|
| Government schemes – health, insurance and savings | Sustainable development and environment |
| Agriculture and farmer schemes (PM-KISAN, PMDDKY) | Gender issues and reports (UNDP, UN Women) |
| Sustainable development and environment | Monetary policy and its instruments |
| Labour and employment schemes | World Development Report – welfare and migration |
| IMF / WEO and global reports (passage-based) | Current affairs – digital and AI |
| Social welfare schemes | Startups and industrial corridors |
| Report-based – gender and SDG |
These priorities come from MockMentor's analysis of memory-based Phase 2 questions; RBI does not publish its papers. Use them to plan revision, but cover the full syllabus. Year-by-year counts are in the previous year question analysis.
Reading suggested by RBI (indicative)
- Indian Economy: Uma Kapila (series of books)
- Indian Economy: Misra & Puri (latest edition)
- Growth and Development: Debraj Ray
- Sociology: C.N. Shankar Rao
- Public Finance: K K Andley and Sundaram
- Prominent financial newspapers
- Magazines, periodicals and bulletins including RBI Bulletins, EPW, India Today
- Reports: World Development Report, Economic Survey of India, RBI Annual Report, Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India, Report on Currency and Finance, IMF World Economic Outlook
- Material from the RBI and BIS websites
Source: syllabus and reading list from the RBI advertisement for Officers in Grade B (DR), Panel Year 2026.
ESI: all pages
- National Income
- Human Development
- Poverty
- Employment
- Sustainable Development
- Economic History and Planning
- Economic Reforms Since 1991
- Industrial and Labour Policy
- Monetary Policy
- Fiscal Policy
- Indian Agriculture
- Services Sector
- Money and Financial Markets
- Banks and RBI in Development
- Economic Survey and Budget
- Opening Up and Balance of Payments
- Export-Import Policy
- International Institutions
- Regional Economic Cooperation
- International Economic Issues
- Multiculturalism
- Demographic Trends
- Urbanisation and Migration
- Gender Issues
- Social Justice
- Social Movements
- Indian Political System
- Health and Education
Prepare with MockMentor
RBI Grade A/B 2027 Elite Course (₹3,500) – Phase 1 and Phase 2 preparation of static and current affairs content, with a special focus on Phase 2. 365 days validity.