The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is a bank personnel recruitment agency. The IBPS conducts exams for recruiting specialist officers for the posts Agricultural Field Officer, HR/ Personnel Officer, Rajbhasha Adhikari, Law Officer, IT Officer, and Marketing Officer. The IBPS SO exam is a qualifying exam after which candidates secure a job at leading public sector banks such as Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and UCO Bank among several others. Although there are several recruitment posts for candidates who clear the IBPS SO examination, in this article, we will only discuss the life, job profile and salary of an Agriculture Field Officer. To learn more about IBPS SO salary, IBPS SO exam, IBPS SO notification, IBPS SO syllabus and more, visit our web page here.
IBPS SO examination is held toward the end of the year. The notification is released around October. The prelims are held in December and the mains are held in January. For candidates who qualify, the interview round is held in March. The final results are announced on April 1st. The joining date is scheduled for some time in June or July. To know the important dates for upcoming IBPS exams, read our blog on the IBPS Exam calendar. The annual package for an Agriculture Field Officer is around 9-10 lakhs.
Agriculture Field Officer- Responsibilities, Eligibility, and Salary
Agriculture Field Officer Responsibilities
- Agriculture Field Officer directly works with farmers & companies related to agriculture, rural development & its allied fields.
- Verifying revenue reports and providing sanctions to loans.
- Promotion of various government schemes in rural & agricultural lending.
- Expand, distribute & promote loan products in rural areas.
- Generate leads by networking with farmers & potential customers in related fields.
- Officers must conduct a pre-loan inspection before loans are finalized.
- Similarly, they must conduct follow-ups in case of recovery of the loan.
- AFOs need to work in coordination with the local Panchayats to understand the needs of the local people, particularly farmers.
The agriculture sector is a priority sector in India. An Agriculture Field Officer must maintain contact with senior authorities like NABARD, RRBs & RBI through regular review meetings to share progress. This is why the services of Agriculture Field Officers are indispensable for rural and semi-urban outlets of banks for proffering agriculture loans. The sectors of agriculture and allied fields like dairy, horticulture, pisciculture, poultry and the like receive priority in the sanction of loans.
Agriculture Field Officer Eligibility
There are mainly 3 criteria for eligibility. They are age, nationality and educational qualification. Some general eligibility qualifications have been given below.
- Candidates must be between 20-30 years of age.
- The age limit can be relaxed for various categories.
- Candidates must be a citizen of India
- There are varying requirements for candidates depending upon the job
You can learn about all the eligibility criteria here. To learn how to apply for the IBPS SO examination, visit here.
Let us now discuss the salary of a Scale-1 Specialist Officer working with a government bank. But why do you need to hear it from me? How about you hear it from an ex-AFO himself!
Meet Kailash Tiwari
Kailash earned a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. He then earned his M.Sc. in Agriculture in 2017 from the same university as well. Kailash cleared the IBPS SO examination in his first attempt itself and started his job as soon as he completed his post-graduation. He served as the Rural Development Officer at Union Bank (UBI), Nagla Tarai. He served as a Deputy Branch Head alongside as well.
Agriculture Field Officer- Salary
For our benefit, Kailash shared his salary slip for April 2021 in this YouTube video. Let us break down the gross amount salary of an Agriculture Field Officer to understand the perks, allowances and in-hand salary. The salary and break-downs that we will discuss below are as per his service experience of 3 years and 10 months.
The table below breaks down the various units that add to the total earnings
| ELEMENT | AMOUNT | CUMULATIVE AMOUNT | |
| 1 | Base salary | 40470.00 | 40470.00 |
| 2 | Dearness Allowance | 10595.05 | 10595.05 |
| 3 | Special Allowance (Grade Pay) | 6637.08 | 6637.08 |
| 4 | DA on Sp Allow (Grade Pay) | 1737.59 | 1737.59 |
| 5 | Location allowance | 700 | 700 |
| 6 | Learning allowance | 600 | 600 |
| 7 | DA on learning allowance | 157.08 | 157.08 |
Total Earnings: ₹60896.80
Let us look at the various deductions in the salary
| ELEMENT | AMOUNT | CUMULATIVE AMOUNT | |
| 1 | House Rent Recovery | 135.00 | 135.00 |
| 2 | AIBOA | 100.00 | 100.00 |
| 3 | Tax Deducted at Source | 3154.00 | 3154.00 |
| 4 | Festival Advance for Officer | 4000.00 | 4000.00 |
| 5 | Contributory Pension Scheme | 5106.51 | 5106.51 |
| 6 | Union Levy Deduction | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Total deductions: ₹12495.51
Net salary: ₹48401.29
Base salary + Increments
₹36,000 with an increment of ₹1490 for 7 years. This amounts to ₹46430. On this salary, there is an increment of ₹1740 for 2 years. Now the salary is ₹49910. There is an increment of ₹1990 on this amount for 7 years. As a Scale-I officer, the final salary can go as high as 63840. When you consider the various deductions in salary, the final gross amount comes to around ₹61,000. The Contributory Pension Scheme is mandatory for all employees. This deduction is received as a lump sum amount at the end of service when the employee leaves or retires. Festival Advance is deducted if employees take an advance on the same. This amount is deducted in 10 installments over 10 months. We will revisit the Festival Advance deduction later in the article again.
Dearness allowance: Dearness Allowance in India is calculated as a percentage of a public sector employee’s basic salary to attenuate the effect of inflation on citizens.
Monthly Allowances
Aside from a handsome salary, there are several allowances and perks that bank employees receive. Some perks and allowances are given monthly to help with the monthly expenditures. Read on below to learn more about them.
House Rent Lease- The major allowance is the House Rent lease allowance. This is for the accommodation of the Deputy officer ₹6500-8000. Depending upon the location of the bank and posting (rural, semi-urban, or urban). In Union Bank it is ₹ 6600-6800, in PNB, Bank of Baroda, or SBI it can
Conveyance allowance: 35-45 litre allowance (given in cash). Now that the petrol rates are around ₹100/litre, the conveyance allowance is between ₹3500-4500. Cleaning allowance is given quarterly. The monthly allowance is ₹550/month which comes to around ₹1650.
Newspaper allowance- ₹450
Mobile bill reimbursement- ₹500
Cleaning allowance- ₹550
Yearly Allowance
Some allowances are given on a yearly or biennial basis. Unlike the monthly perks, these yearly allowances are given for lesser urgent needs. Also, the amount awarded for these allowances is higher.
LFC- Leave Fare Concessions: If you want to travel, the bank gives you an allowance for it. This allowance, however, is variable. It is calculated upon the number of dependents on the bank’s employees.
Medical allowance: ₹10,000/ year for health check-ups. In case of other expenses like hospitalization, there are third-party arrangements made by banks. Banks have tie-ups with medical institutions where their employees can receive due treatment.
Entertainment allowance: ₹6000/year.
Mobile allowance: Given once in three years.
Briefcase allowance: Given once in three years.
Other benefits
- Overdraft facility (5-12 lakhs): Overdraft facility is a financial service that allows account-holders to withdraw money from your bank account, even if they do not have sufficient balance to withdraw the same. AFOs receive an overdraft facility of 5-12 lakhs. This is not given per year but as an overall overdraft bracket.
- Loans at lower rates of interest: Applicable for all kinds of loans.
- Festival advance: As we have seen before Kailash had taken a festival advance of ₹40000. So, in ten equal installments ₹4000 has been deducted from his salary in ten months.
- Salary advance: If it is necessary, employees can request an advance on their salaries.
- PL encashment: Privilege leaves which are earned leaves can be encashed. For example, if you encash thirty privilege leaves you get a salary for one month.
- Extra interest in fixed deposits.
Why is an Agriculture Field Officer’s job so lucrative?
- One of the best career options for students who have completed a B.Sc. in agriculture or similar degrees.
- Draws salary 60k + at present as we have seen from Kailash’s example who worked with UBI for three years and ten months.
- Permanence and security associated with government jobs.
- This is a white-collar job.
- Good reputation in society.
- A number of perks and emoluments.
As we have seen from Kailash’s experience, the job of an AFO is highly coveted. Take a look at Kailash Tiwari’s experience (ex-AFO at UBI) to understand what it is like to be an IBPS PO/SO. Candidates need to work hard and win the race against thousands of other applicants, but the prize at the end of the road is worth the struggle. But once again, I would like to reiterate that candidates need to work hard and outdo themselves. The good news is that ixamBee is at your service to help you through your struggle phase so that you can achieve your goal.
If you want any information related to the IBPS SO examination, ixamBee is your one-stop solution. Visit our webpage here to find all the information. If you are interested in appearing for some other government examination, you can find all the information here.
Kailash Tiwari is a faculty member at ixamBee. If you want to watch more of his videos or videos about the IBPS SO exams, please subscribe to our ixamBee channel for exam preparation YouTube videos. Also, subscribe to our Agribee channel for updates. ixamBee also provides free mock tests for IBPS SO examinations. Take them here.
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Also read:
RBI Grade B 2021: An Insight into RBI Grade B Salary and Perks
RBI Grade B 2019: RBI Grade B Notification, Eligibility, Salary And More Details
IBPS Exam Calendar 2021-22: Check IBPS Exam Dates
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