J&K Bank Probationary Officer Recruitment 2026 — 20 Ladakh Vacancies
Advertisement No. JKB/HR/Rectt/2026-494 | Dated 7 November 2026 | UT of Ladakh only
Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited is recruiting 20 Probationary Officers for the Union Territory of Ladakh. The selection is for Junior Management Grade Scale-I, with online Preliminary and Main examinations conducted by IBPS followed by a Bank interview. Applications and fees are accepted online from 7 November to 26 November 2026 through the Bank's Careers section. Only persons with Ladakh UT domicile are eligible; the presence of examination centres outside Ladakh does not make this an all-India recruitment.
The single most important feature of this Ladakh notification is the combination of its 80% Scheduled Tribe reservation rate in the governing UT policy and a one-time additional five-year age relaxation for recruitment in 2025 and 2026, granted to reserved as well as unreserved applicants, subject to the notification's overall age ceiling. The Bank has stated 20 vacancies in total; it has not provided 20 individual category-wise vacancy figures. Reservation percentages must not be mistaken for a final seat-by-seat roster.
Essential recruitment details
Important distinction: The dates above are the bank's registration dates, not confirmed examination dates. The advertisement does not announce an exact hour on 26 November at which the online form closes.
Twenty posts: reservation rules and what the numbers mean
The bank refers to Ladakh Reservation Rules, 2005, as amended, and specifically to S.O. 77 dated 27 June 2025 issued by the Social & Tribal Welfare Department, Administration of UT Ladakh. The stated percentages are policy rates, not a published category-wise breakup of these 20 PO vacancies.
How to read the vertical-reservation figures
📊 Ladakh PO: statutory vertical reservation rates
These figures are the four notified reservation rates for separate categories. They do not describe 20 separately verified seat allocations, and the 4% PwBD horizontal concession overlaps the vertical categories rather than being added on top. The official advertisement supplies no allocation allowing us to state a fixed number such as 16 ST vacancies. Applicants must use the eventual official category roster, if separately issued, rather than multiplying the percentage by 20 and treating the result as confirmed seats.
The notification explains that unfilled EWS vacancies, when sufficient eligible EWS candidates are unavailable, will be treated as unreserved under the cited Ladakh rule. A reserved-category applicant selected on open merit is not to be adjusted against the reserved vacancy merely because of their original category. In score ties, the older candidate is placed above the younger candidate. A valid reserved-category certificate must already be held when the online registration is made; applying first and securing the certificate later does not satisfy that specific condition.
PwBD eligibility and horizontal reservation
The notified 4% benchmark-disability reservation covers the applicable classes of visual impairment; hearing impairment; locomotor disability including the specified spinal conditions; intellectual disability; and multiple disabilities, according to the categories and their sub-allocations given in the document. A qualifying benchmark-disability certificate is generally for not less than 40% specified disability, with the separate writing-limitation provisions applying in the specified circumstances. The Bank can verify the certificate, UDID details and suitability and may require medical-board assessment.
The document further states that PwBD certificates specifying a temporary condition 'likely to improve' are not eligible for the reservation benefit under the referenced December 2025 Government memorandum. Candidates whose documents specify 'progressive', 'non-progressive' or 'not likely to improve' should follow the formal certification and applicability rules in the notification. This is a document-eligibility condition, not a separate seat count.
Do not mix this notice with the Ladakh Banking Associate advertisement: this Probationary Officer document does not present the Banking Associate's ex-serviceman or outstanding-sportsperson horizontal-reservation arrangements as standalone PO entitlements.
Who can apply — three eligibility tests before paying the fee
1. Domicile must be of Ladakh, not Jammu & Kashmir
This PO recruitment is restricted to domiciles of the Union Territory of Ladakh. A qualifying J&K domicile does not substitute for Ladakh domicile. Selected candidates must produce the official Ladakh domicile certificate issued by the competent authority. The post is Ladakh-specific even though the employing institution is named Jammu & Kashmir Bank and the online examination has centres outside the UT.
2. Graduation must be complete by 26 November 2026
An applicant must hold a graduate degree in any discipline from a university recognised by the Government of India, or an equivalent qualification recognised by the Central Government/UGC. The degree/marksheet must establish that the candidate is a graduate on the last date of registration, 26 November 2026. A final-year candidate who has not obtained the requisite qualification by the deadline must not treat a later result as fulfilling this clause.
When filling the application, enter the graduation aggregate as a percentage to two decimal places and preserve evidence of your university's conversion rule if the result is in CGPA/OGPA. The advertisement calculates percentage using all subjects across all years/semesters. It expressly does not round 59.99% to 60% or 54.99% to 55%. No blanket minimum graduation percentage beyond having the recognised qualification is separately specified as an eligibility cutoff in this notice.
3. Base age and the one-time Ladakh concession
The base age is 20 to 30 years as on 1 January 2026. For base eligibility without age relaxation, the stated date-of-birth interval is 1 January 1996 through 1 January 2006 (both inclusive). That ordinary base interval must not be presented as the only permitted dates for candidates who qualify for the special Ladakh concession or another lawful relaxation.
The notification invokes General Administration Department Order 280-LA(GAD) of 2025, dated 30 June 2025: an additional five years is granted for recruitments conducted in 2025 and 2026, expressly including unreserved as well as reserved candidates. The total age relaxation remains subject to an overall maximum age of 56 years, as the original notice states. Under Ladakh's reservation table, SC, ST and the identified ALC-SEBC applicants each have a five-year category concession; PwBD applicants have a ten-year concession with the specified cumulative provisions; EWS by itself attracts no additional category-based relaxation. The universal one-time five-year measure is a separate provision, so an EWS or UR applicant is not excluded from it merely for lacking a category-specific concession.
Example of the distinction, not a substituted official DOB table: A candidate who is 34 on the reference date is over the unrelaxed maximum of 30, but the five-year Ladakh dispensation may make the candidate age-eligible if every other condition is satisfied. Category relaxations and the overall 56-year cap must be applied according to the bank's rules rather than by inventing an open-ended maximum for each category. The minimum notified age remains 20 years; the five-year concession does not erase that minimum.
Pay scale, posting, probation and service bond
The initial basic pay is ₹48,480 per month in the JMGS-I scale ₹48,480–2,000/7–62,480–2,340/2–67,160–2,680/7–85,920, together with other applicable perks and benefits. This is a staged basic-pay scale, not a promise that take-home pay will be ₹85,920 or a declaration of an exact net monthly salary. Net earnings depend on applicable allowances, deductions and payroll rules not quantified in this notification.
The recruitment is not a transferable all-India placement at entry. A selected PO must serve within the Ladakh Zone for at least five years, and the Bank bars transfer outside the Ladakh Zone before that minimum period. A specific city, branch or office is not pre-allotted in the notification; the posting decision is made by the Bank. The fixed zone rule matters to applicants who may otherwise assume that passing a bank exam offers immediate transfer elsewhere.
Joining: selected candidates must join within 45 days from issue of the provisional appointment letter. Probation: the first two years from joining. Supervisors assess performance and conduct annually and provide appraisal reports. Confirmation requires satisfactory conduct/performance and passing a separate qualifying evaluation examination. For that subsequent confirmation evaluation, the stated qualifying score is 40% for General Category and 35% for reserved categories. Do not confuse this post-joining evaluation with the entrance Preliminary or Main Examination.
Service bond: at joining, a selected officer executes a ₹2,00,000 bond to serve the Bank for at least two years. The Bank may invoke the bond if the officer resigns before completing that period. The two-year bond commitment and five-year Ladakh Zone posting restriction are different obligations; finishing the minimum bond period does not by itself terminate the zone restriction.
Three-stage selection — how candidates actually move forward
The selection process is (1) IBPS Preliminary Online Examination; (2) IBPS Main Online Examination, with objective and descriptive components; and (3) Bank Interview. The official notice does not announce a physical efficiency test, separate language qualifying exam or mandatory prior banking experience for this post.
Phase 1 — Preliminary, 100 questions, 100 marks
📊 Ladakh PO Preliminary: marks by test
Each section has a separate 20-minute timer; time remaining in one section cannot simply be transferred to another. Candidates must meet individual-test cutoffs fixed by IBPS with the Bank. The stated minimum aggregate qualifying marks are 40% for General and 35% for reserved-category candidates, subject to overall merit and additional cutoffs. Candidates ranked for the next stage are shortlisted at approximately 10 times the vacancies in each category, as the notice states. Ten times 20 is not a guaranteed 200 Main Exam seats, because category shortlisting and actual qualifying results govern.
Phase 2 — Main Examination, 200 objective + 25 descriptive marks
📊 Ladakh PO Mains: official paper-wise mark allocation
Objective papers account for 170 questions, 200 marks and 160 minutes. The descriptive paper adds two tasks, 25 marks and 30 minutes; the complete Main Examination therefore totals 225 marks over 190 minutes, not a 225-question paper. The Bank states a 40% aggregate qualifying requirement for General and 35% for reserved categories, with separate paper and overall cutoffs. Only Main marks, not Preliminary marks, determine whom the Bank calls to interview; the interview shortlist is set at three times the vacancies in each category according to the notified procedure.
Phase 3 — Interview and final merit
The Bank interview is worth 100 marks. Candidates require at least 40/100 for General Category or 35/100 for reserved categories. A candidate who fails the interview minimum is not made eligible simply by obtaining a high Main score. The Bank creates final merit from the Main Examination and Interview in an 80:20 ratio, after the applicable qualifying and category rules.
🥧 Ladakh PO: final-merit weighting prescribed by the bank
The 80:20 ratio is a weight, not a merger of raw 225-mark Main and raw 100-mark Interview scores without conversion. For illustration only, a Main score of 180/225 is 80% of the Main maximum and an interview score of 70/100 is 70%; their weighted contribution would be 64 and 14 respectively, yielding 78 on a 100-point weighted scale, subject to the Bank's precise processing/normalisation and qualifying rules. This example is arithmetic, not a declared selection cutoff.
Penalty, normalization and score integrity
For an incorrect objective answer, one-fourth of the marks assigned to that question is deducted. A question left unanswered draws no negative mark. In multiple sessions, the Bank may use the notified equi-percentile method to normalise corrected scores; scores can be reported to two decimals. No notification-specific final cutoffs, rank list or exam date have been announced. Original marksheet processing and score disclosure at each stage follow the bank's published procedure.
Fees: actual amounts and additional GST
📊 Ladakh PO: online fees, before GST
The amounts are exclusive of GST, and the applicant also bears applicable bank transaction charges. Fees must be paid online between 7 and 26 November 2026 using the permitted debit/credit card, internet banking, IMPS or other gateway options. Save both the e-receipt and the application form showing payment. If the portal does not generate an e-receipt, the transaction may have failed; candidates should check the Bank's guidance rather than treating a submitted form without successful payment as complete. Once properly paid, the fee is not refundable and cannot be carried to another examination. No SC/ST/PwBD zero-fee exemption is announced: the discounted notified charge is ₹1,000 excluding GST.
Apply online correctly — registration sequence and document standards
The Bank accepts applications only through its official Careers section at https://jkb.bank.in/. Select the advert for Probationary Officer — UT of Ladakh (JKB/HR/Rectt/2026-494), rather than the J&K PO or Ladakh Banking Associate notice. The relevant Apply Online action opens the Bank's designated registration process. The notice does not give a verified standalone registration URL, so candidates should navigate from the Bank's own Careers page.
- Before registering, check Ladakh domicile, your graduation completion date, the correct reservation certificate and age position under the special Ladakh relaxation.
- Prepare one recent colour passport photograph, your own black-ink signature, left-thumb impression, handwritten English declaration and any relevant qualification/category certificates.
- Select New Registration; enter your actual name, email and phone correctly, and preserve the registration number and password received by SMS/email.
- Complete the educational, personal, domicile and other requested details. Use Save & Next, validation and preview steps; changes may not be possible after Complete Registration.
- Upload the required images and other supporting certificates under the field that matches each document. Capture/upload the additionally required live photograph by webcam or mobile, as directed by the Bank.
- Use the payment tab and complete the online fee transaction; collect the e-receipt. Print/save the final application and keep the registered mobile number/email active until recruitment concludes.
Photograph and handwritten declarations — actual upload specifications
The declaration text to be reproduced in the application, with the candidate inserting their own name, is:
I, _______ (Name of the candidate), hereby declare that all the information submitted by me in the application form is correct, true and valid. I will present the supporting documents as and when required.
The notice sets a specific adapted process for visually impaired candidates who cannot handwrite the declaration. For everyone else, having another person write it, providing it in a different language, or supplying an unclear signature/left thumb image may invalidate the form. The online form cannot be treated as registered without the required image uploads. Do not submit a fully capitalised signature or a fully capitalised handwritten declaration.
Certificates to have ready at application stage
Prepare the Class 10 certificate/marksheet for date-of-birth evidence; your graduation certificate or consolidated marksheet; Ladakh domicile evidence; reservation certificate if claiming a reserved category; disability/scribe paperwork where relevant; and any employer-related documents needed for subsequent verification. The photo-identity name must match the form and call letter. If a name has changed lawfully, retain the appropriate Gazette notification or marriage certificate for verification. False or unsupported category or identity information can lead to cancellation even after provisional selection.
Exam centres, call letters and what to carry
Six centre preferences are required, at least four of them outside Ladakh. The Bank lists Leh and Kargil as its Ladakh centres. The listed outside-UT options include Delhi NCR, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bengaluru, Phagwara, Pune and Mumbai/Navi Mumbai/Thane, subject to the Bank's ability to add or change centres. This four-outside-Ladakh requirement is different from the J&K PO notice and should not be overwritten with a three-centre requirement. A preferred centre does not guarantee actual allotment; the Bank may assign another centre.
Preliminary, Main and interview call letters will appear in the official Careers section when issued. The Bank has not announced these dates yet. Download using the requested registration/roll number and password or date of birth, affix the same photograph as used for registration, and bring the correct original photo ID together with its photocopy. Ration cards and learner's driving licences are not acceptable substitutes in the specified list. The same exact name must appear on identity proof and admission documents.
A candidate advancing to Main should retain the authenticated/stamped Preliminary call letter and stamped ID-copy. The Bank's instructions require presenting them with the Main call letter; losing them can prevent admission to the Main Examination. It also requires biometric verification (thumb/fingerprint and photograph) at the Main examination and later selection stages. Keep fingers clean and dry and inform the invigilator about any injury affecting the selected finger. Candidates should carry the additional required matching photograph and arrive before reporting cutoffs; a 60-minute test may require substantially more time on site for document verification and other formalities.
The notice bars many items at the venue, including mobile phones, smart watches, electronic devices, calculators, communication accessories, loose papers, bags and certain personal belongings. Candidates should follow the individual call letter's instructions instead of relying on general exam-centre habits. Arrangements for safekeeping are not guaranteed.
Interview-day certificates, disability accommodations and post-selection checks
Applicants shortlisted for interview must produce originals and self-attested copies of the relevant documents. In addition to interview call letter and printed application, the notice lists date-of-birth proof, original photo identity, graduation marksheets/certificate, Ladakh domicile, category certificate and EWS income-and-asset certificate in the prescribed format where claimed. Those claiming PwBD facilities need the correct disability certificate/UDID and any relevant scribe paperwork. A person already working in a Government organisation, PSU, nationalised bank or financial institution must present an unconditional employer NOC, not a letter valid only for appearing at interview. Relevant experience certificates, if any, are also to be produced. Original records are verified; sending loose documents privately to the bank is not a substitute.
For candidates with eligible specified disabilities, the notice permits a scribe subject to the prescribed certificate, upload and undertaking requirements. A scribe's qualification must normally be one step below that of the candidate under the cited rules; the candidate arranges the scribe at their own cost. Eligible candidates generally receive 20 minutes compensatory time per hour or as otherwise directed. The scribe cannot be another candidate for the same examination or coach/prompt answers. A candidate requiring such support should select the provision while applying; the exam system may not grant unregistered extra time later. Visually impaired candidates may have magnification options subject to the conditions in the notice.
Passing tests and interview does not remove the need for Ladakh domicile verification, original academic proof, category validation, identity checks and satisfactory medical/other appointment requirements. The Bank expressly reserves its decision on eligibility at every stage. A provisional call letter or selection announcement is not an unconditional employment offer.
Reserve list is not a second confirmed recruitment
The Bank may draw a reserve list up to 50% of the vacancies in each category, depending on available qualified candidates. Its validity is one year from publication of the selection list or until the next recruitment notification, whichever comes first. Reserve-list inclusion gives no guaranteed appointment; it matters only if eligible vacancies are actually supplied and the Bank calls candidates within the validity period. The Bank says it will not issue a separate notice of reserve-list expiry. This is not an extra 10 confirmed Ladakh PO vacancies.
The key decisions before applying
Ladakh domicile comes first. A candidate with a relevant graduate qualification but no Ladakh domicile is not eligible for this notification. Next check the age rule for the right territory: this notice's additional five-year dispensation is distinct from J&K rules. Then check the selection workload: 100-mark Prelims, 225-mark Mains (including English descriptive paper), and a 100-mark interview. Qualifying Prelims alone is not final appointment. Finally examine the service obligations: five years in the Ladakh Zone, a ₹2 lakh/two-year bond and a separate two-year probation period.
For updates and applications, use the Bank's official Careers section and the precise Ladakh PO notice. No specific examination date, admit-card release, answer-key date, interview timetable or final cutoff is stated in the advertisement dated 7 November 2026. Such dates should be reported only after J&K Bank itself publishes them.
