NABARD Grade A Syllabus 2025-2026 for Prelims & Mains

Have a glimpse of the NABARD Grade A and B exam pattern and syllabus for the preliminary and mains examination, marking scheme, and other details from the below summary of the NABARD Syllabus 2025-2026.
Organisation National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Posts Name Grade A & Grade B
NABARD Vacancies 170 (Grade-A)
Category Syllabus
Selection Process Prelims, Mains, Interview
Types of Questions Prelims- Objective
Mains- Objective & Descriptive
Duration Prelims- 120 minutes
Mains- 90 minutes each paper
Negative Marking Prelims- 0.25 Marks
Official website www.nabard.org

NABARD Grade A Exam Pattern 2025-2026

The NABARD Grade A prelims exam is conducted online with 200 Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) with duration of 2 hours and the NABARD Grade A Mains exam comprises two papers - I, II with duration of 90 minutes each. Have a look at the detailed NABARD Exam Pattern from here.

NABARD Grade A Prelims Exam Pattern 2025-2026

NABARD Grade A Prelims Exam is of qualifying nature and the candidates will be shortlisted for Mains Exam based on the sectional and overal cut-off marks.
S.No. Name of Test Number of Questions Maximum Mark Total Time
1. Reasoning Ability 20 20
2. English Language 40 40
3. Computer Knowledge 20 20
4. General Awareness 20 20
5. Quantitative Aptitude 20 20 120 Minutes
6. Economic & Social Issues (with focus on Rural India) 40 40
7. Agriculture & Rural Development (with focus on Rural India) 40 40
TOTAL 200 200

NABARD Grade A Mains Exam Pattern 2025-2026

The NABARD Grade A Mains Examination consists of two papers. Paper I is a descriptive test on General English and Paper-II will be of multiple-choice-based questions depending on the posts selected.
Paper Subjects Type of Paper Total Marks Duration
Paper-I General English Descriptive 100 90 minutes
Paper-II Varies According to the Post Multiple Choice Based 100 90 minutes

NABARD Grade A Prelims Syllabus 2025-2026

Name of Section Topics asked
Reasoning Ability
  1. Puzzles & Seating arrangement
  2. Syllogism
  3. Data sufficiency
  4. Statement based questions (Verbal reasoning)
  5. Inequality
  6. Miscellaneous Questions
  7. Input-Output
  8. Blood relations
  9. Coding-Decoding
Quantitative Aptitude
  1. Data Interpretations
  2. Quadratic Equations
  3. Number Series
  4. Implification Approximation
  5. Data Sufficiency
  6. Arithmetic Questions
  7. Quantity Comparisons
  8. Mathematical Inequalities
English Language
  1. Reading Comprehension
  2. Cloze test
  3. Sentence improvement
  4. Spotting the errors
  5. Fill in the blanks
  6. Sentence rearrangement
  7. Para Jumbles
  8. New pattern questions
General Awareness Current Affairs and Banking and Economy, Insurance.
In Current Affairs, questions can be asked from recent appointments, awards, and honors, sports,
new schemes, national and international news, the latest developments in science and technology.
Computer Knowledge
  1. Networking
  2. Input-output devices
  3. DBMS
  4. MS Office
  5. Internet
  6. History of computers & generations, Shortcuts.

NABARD Grade A Mains Syllabus 2025-2026

The NABARD Grade A Mains Examination consists of two papers. Paper I is a descriptive test on General English and Paper-II will be of multiple-choice-based questions depending on the posts selected.
Name of Section Topics asked
Nature of Indian Economy
  1. Structural and Institutional features
  2. Economic Underdevelopment
  3. Opening up the Indian Economy
  4. Globalization
  5. Economic Reforms in India Privatization
Inflation Trends in Inflation & their Impact on National Economy and Individual Income.
Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation in India
  1. Rural and Urban
  2. Measurement of Poverty
  3. Poverty Alleviation Programmes of the Government
Population Trends
  1. Population Growth and Economic Development
  2. Population Policy in India
Agriculture
  1. Characteristics / Status
  2. Technical and Institutional changes in Indian Agriculture
  3. Agricultural performance
  4. Issues in Food Security in India
  5. Non-Institutional and Institutional Agencies in rural credit
Industry
  1. Industrial and Labour Policy
  2. Industrial performance
  3. Regional Imbalance in India's Industrial Development
  4. Public Sector Enterprises
Rural banking and financial institutions in India
  1. Reforms in the Banking/ Financial sector.
Globalization of Economy
  1. Role of International Funding Institutions
  2. IMF & World Bank
  3. WTO
  4. Regional Economic Cooperation
Education
  1. Multiculturalism
  2. Demographic trends
  3. Urbanization and Migration
  4. Gender Issues Joint family system
  5. Social Infrastructure
  6. Education
  7. Health and Environment
Social Justice
  1. Problems of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
  2. Socio-economic programmes for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and other backward classes.
Positive Discrimination in favour of the underprivileged
  1. Social Movements
  2. Indian Political Systems
  3. Human Development

NABARD Grade A- Agriculture & Rural Development Syllabus 2025-2026

Name of Section Topics asked
Agriculture
  1. Definition, meaning and its branches
  2. Agronomy: Definition, meaning, and scope of agronomy.
  3. Classification of field crops.
  4. Factors affecting crop production
  5. Agro Climatic Zones
  6. Cropping Systems: Definition and types of cropping systems.
  7. Problems of dry land - Seed production, seed processing, seed village.
  8. Meteorology: weather parameters, crop-weather advisory.
  9. Precision Farming
  10. System of Crop Intensification
  11. System of Crop Intensification
Soil and Water Conservation
  1. Major soil types
  2. Soil fertility
  3. Fertilizers
  4. Soil erosion
  5. Soil conservation
  6. Watershed management
Water Resource
  1. Irrigation Management
  2. Types of irrigation
  3. Sources of irrigation
  4. Crop-water requirement
  5. Command area development
  6. Water conservation techniques
  7. Micro-irrigation
  8. Irrigation pumps
  9. Major, medium and minor irrigation.
Farm and Agri Engineering
  1. Farm Machinery and Power
  2. Sources of power on the farm- human, animal, mechanical, electrical, wind, solar and biomass, biofuels
  3. Water harvesting structures
  4. Farm Ponds
  5. Agro-Processing
  6. Controlled and modified storage, perishable food storage, godowns, bins, and grain silos.
Plantation & Horticulture
  1. Definition, meaning, and its branches
  2. Agronomic practices and production technology of various plantation and horticulture crops
  3. Post-harvest management, value, and supply chain management of
  4. Plantation and Horticulture crops
Animal Husbandry
  1. Farm animals and their role in the Indian economy
  2. Animal husbandry methods in India
  3. Common terms pertaining to different species of livestock
  4. Utility classification of breeds of cattle.
  5. Introduction to common feeds and fodders, their classification, and utility.
  6. Introduction to the poultry industry in India (past, present, and future status)
  7. Common terms pertaining to poultry production and management
  8. The concept of mixed farming and its relevance to socio-economic conditions of farmers in India
  9. Complimentary and obligatory nature of livestock and poultry production with that of agricultural farming.
Agriculture
  1. Fisheries resources
  2. Management and exploitation - freshwater, brackish water, and marine
  3. Aquaculture- Inland and marine
  4. Biotechnology
  5. Post-harvest technology
  6. Importance of fisheries in India
  7. Common terms pertaining to fish production.
Forestry
  1. Basic concepts of Forest and Forestry
  2. Principles of silviculture, forest mensuration, forest management, and forest economics
  3. Concepts of social forestry, agroforestry, joint forest management
  4. Forest policy and legislation in India, India State of Forest Report 2015
  5. Recent developments under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Agriculture Extensions
  1. Its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programs
  2. Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra's (KVK) in the dissemination of Agricultural technologies.
Ecology and Climate Change
  1. Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, sustainable management, and conservation
  2. Causes of climate change, GreenHouse Gases (GHG), major GHG emitting countries, climate analysis
  3. Distinguish between adaptation and mitigation
  4. Climate change impact on agriculture and rural livelihoods
  5. Carbon credit
  6. IPCC, UNFCCC, CoP meetings
  7. Funding mechanisms for climate change projects
  8. Initiatives by Govt of India, NAPCC, SAPCC, INDC.
Present Scenario of Indian Agriculture and Allied activities
  1. Recent trends
  2. Major challenges in agriculture measures to enhance
  3. Viability of agriculture Factors of Production in agriculture
  4. Agricultural Finance and Marketing
  5. Impact of Globalization on Indian Agriculture and issues of Food Security
  6. Concept and Types of Farm Management.
Rural Development
  1. Concept of Rural Area
  2. Structure of the Indian Rural Economy
  3. Importance and role of the rural sector in India
  4. Economic, Social and Demographic Characteristics of the Indian rural economy
  5. Causes of Rural Backwardness.
  6. Rural population in India
  7. Occupational structure
  8. Farmers, Agricultural Laborers, Artisans, Handicrafts, Traders, Forest dwellers/tribes and others in rural India
  9. Trends of change in rural population and rural workforce
  10. Problems and conditions of rural labour
  11. Issues and challenges in Hand-looms
  12. Panchayati Raj Institutions – Functions and Working.
  13. MGNREGA, NRLM – Aajeevika, Rural Drinking water Programmes, Swachh Bharat, Rural Housing, PURA, and other rural development programs.

NABARD Grade A- Information Technology Syllabus 2025-2026

Subject Topic
Information Technology
  1. Introduction to Software
  2. Data Structure through ‘C’ and ‘PASCAL’
  3. Elements of Systems Analysis and Design
  4. Numerical and Statistical Computing
  5. Data Communication and Networks
  6. Object-Oriented Computer Architecture
  7. Object-Oriented Systems
  8. Computer Fundamentals
  9. File Structure and Programming in COBOL
  10. Database Management Systems
  11. Software Engineering
  12. Accounting and Finance on Computers
  13. Operating Systems
  14. Intelligent Systems
  15. Relational Database
  16. Management Systems

NABARD Grade A- Legal Services Syllabus 2025-2026

Subject Topic
Legal Services
    The paper will be based on proficiency in interpreting various Laws viz.
  1. Banking
  2. Negotiable Instruments
  3. Company, Industrial and Cooperative Laws
  4. Cyber laws, Commerce/Property transactions
  5. Rural non-life insurance
  6. Direct financing
  7. Staff matters
  8. Good experience in drafting various types of documents