RBI Grade B Finance: Syllabus, Important Topics and Preparation
Last updated: 2026-11-13 · MockMentor
Finance is half of Paper-III, General Finance and Management (FM), in RBI Grade B Phase 2. The paper has 30 objective questions for 50 marks in 30 minutes and 4 typed descriptive answers (out of 6 questions) for 50 marks in 90 minutes, shared between Finance and Management. Finance questions often come from recent RBI and SEBI circulars, so study static concepts together with current developments.
Syllabus units
Each linked line opens a full chapter on that topic.
Financial System
- Structure and Functions of Financial Institutions: the Indian financial system and financial regulators
- Functions of Reserve Bank of India
- Banking System in India: structure and developments; Financial Institutions: SIDBI, EXIM Bank, NABARD, NHB, NaBFID
- Recent Developments in Global Financial System and its impact on Indian Financial System
- Role of Information Technology in Banking and Finance
- Non-Banking System
- Developments in Digital Payments
Financial Markets
- Primary and Secondary Markets: money market, bond market, equity market, foreign exchange market, and mutual funds and other investment vehicles: functions, instruments, recent developments
General Topics
- Financial Risk Management
- Basics of Derivatives
- Global financial markets and International Banking: broad trends and latest developments
- Financial Inclusion
- Alternate source of finance, private and social cost-benefit, Public-Private Partnership
- Corporate Governance in Banking Sector
- The Union Budget: concepts, approach and broad trends, with taxation and GST
- Basics of Accounting and Financial Statements: Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss, Cash Flow Statements; Ratio Analysis (Debt to Equity, Debtor Days, Creditor Days, Inventory Turnover, Return on Assets, Return on Equity and others); supporting concept: time value of money
- Inflation: definition, trends, estimates, consequences and remedies; WPI and CPI, components and trends; striking a balance between inflation and growth through monetary and fiscal policies
What the 2023 to 2026 questions show
- In Finance, accounting and ratio numericals keep rising: 3 questions in 2025 and 6 in 2026, the largest Finance topic that year. 2026 also brought RBI liquidity management (4) and stablecoins (3).
- Some 2026 topics crossed papers: the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2025 to 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 |
|---|---|
| Capital markets and SEBI circulars | RBI functions (Retail Direct, supervision) |
| Financial institutions (NaBFID, small finance banks) | Derivatives to types, participants, risks |
| RBI functions and banking structure | Financial markets to AT1 bonds, investing |
| Accounting and ratio analysis (numericals) | Digital and fintech to ONDC, UPI, AI risks |
| Corporate governance in banking | Capital markets to SEBI steps |
| Inflation to WPI, CPI, Phillips curve | Budget, and monetary vs fiscal policy |
| MSME and TReDS (rising in 2025) |
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)
- Monetary Theory and Public Policy: Kenneth Kurihara
- Indian Economy: Mishra & Puri
- Economic Growth and Development: Meier and Baldwin
- Financial Management: Prasanna Chandra
- International Business: Hill and Jain
- Major financial newspapers
- RBI Annual Report, Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India, Report on Currency and Finance
- Economic Survey
- Material from the RBI website
Source: syllabus and reading list from the RBI advertisement for Officers in Grade B (DR), Panel Year 2026.
Finance: all pages
- Financial System
- Functions of RBI
- Banking System
- Banking Reforms
- Financial Institutions
- Financial Regulators
- Global Financial System
- IT in Banking
- NBFCs
- Digital Payments
- Money Market
- Bond Market
- Equity Market
- Forex Market
- Mutual Funds
- Risk Management
- Derivatives
- International Banking
- Financial Inclusion
- Alternate Finance
- PPP
- Corporate Governance
- Union Budget
- Taxation and GST
- Accounting Basics
- Ratio Analysis
- Time Value of Money
- Inflation
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.