RBI Young Scholars Award

24th November, 2012

The exam takes place by the end of January and the results are out by the beginning of April or the end of March. The exam applications usually open around mid-November but this time it hasnt come out yet. But when it comes out the link to the application form can be found here. http://www.rbi.org.in/youngscholars.aspx The syllabus keeps changing. But static knowledge has got immense weightage. Its usually the Finance Report for that year by the RBI and some other important topic like the RBI Report on the 2008 Recession. The syllabus is mentioned during the application process. The exam is open for UG students only. Many students write the exam (around 20000 in 2008 and an exact 51,521 in 2011 ) out of which 50 are selected who write the exam in English and 100 from regional languages. No caste based reservation. The exam consists of 120 questions, to be answered in 90 minutes, may be rote based or application type, difficult or easy varying from year to year. The cutoff can be anywhere between 60-90 depending on the year again. Its just guesswork. RBI doesnt declare the cutoff. Negative marking is supposedly not mentioned. The questions may or may not have negative marking. Copy Paste this link to find a model question paper issued by the RBI itself. http://www.scribd.com/doc/114277028/RBI-YSA-Model-Paper About the Internship The internship is supposed to be very easy as you are just made familiar with the functioning of banks, mostly RBI. The people who have completed an internship there differ in opinions regarding its learning value. Good food, accommodation and lots of free time. You can even take holidays and only your stipend will be deducted which is 7.5k per month. It is like a paid holiday. The free time ensures that you can simultaneously do a core project under a professor provided you are allowed to work from home. An ideal internship for those whore undecided about core/non-core as you can do a project as well as a non-core internship at the same time. Topics from which questions can be expected Indian financial system and its markets, Commercial Banking, RBI and its Monetary Policies, Methods of Issuing Currency Notes, Regulatory Issues and their latest Committees and Reforms, Regional Rural Banks and Micro Finance, Negotiable Instruments, NABARD, NBFC, The Great Depression, Keynesian Theory, Inflation and its Challenges, Rupee Depreciation, 2008 Recession, FEMA and EXIM Policies, Important International Financial Institutions, RBIs Government Financing, RBI relations with State Governments and Priority Sector Lending.
A few Previous Years Questions What is the function of the clearing corporation of India? Why does the RBI concern itself with the Government Deficit? Which of these indicates the government's borrowing from the RBI? (Monetized Deficit, Fiscal Deficit and 2 more options) On whose recommendations were the Banking Department & Issue Department created?

Who issues commercial paper? The tradeoff between Inflation & Unemployment as per the Phillips curve holds over which time horizon? (Short/long/medium) Can the RBI open Gold Accounts abroad? What action can the RBI take against a bank that flouts guidelines? Recommendations of the 2nd Narasimham Committee. Chairman of the committee dealing with Capital Accounts Convertibility. Distinctive feature of micro credit. Currency notes of which denominations are printed currently? When was first central bank set-up? On whose recommendation was RBI set up? What is the annual calendar of RBI. How much did government borrow from RBI in 2009-10? What is 'Impossible Trinity'? How much percentage of total loan given by banks is to be given to Priority Sector Lending? How much is the share of agriculture in GDP? What was the growth rate of food-grain with respect to population in last 2 years? The major cause of the financial crisis ? What is the new series of notes issued by RBI? Total number of bank branches in India? What does Subprime mean? Where in India does the RBI have currency printing press? No of Currency chests in India? Meaning of Ombudsman? What is official currency of China ? What is CRR? What do you understand by Repo Rate? Some other topics from which questions were drawn Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Present SLR Rate, Mergers and Acquisitions of Banks, Various Financial Institutions in our country and their role, Various Acts, Foreign Exchange Regulation, Money Laundering, GDP of previous year, Contribution of Banking Sector to GDP, Cause of decrease in the liabilities abroad for Indian banks, Risk in Government Securities, How many banks in India, How many foreign banks in India, Preamble of RBI Act, FRBM Act, Result of Devaluation of Rupee, Role of Financial Action Task Force, NPAs, Headline Inflation, Extensible Markup Language (i don't know why they asked this), who can be authorized dealer(something like that), Bankex, Authority of Ombudsman, Which is the Worlds Central Bank, SIDBI. Important Sources of Preparation Banking in India Wikipedia Page. RBI first 40 pages of annual Report. A laymans knowledge about banks. Refer RBIs section For Common Man on its website and also read the FAQs. Bank mergers and other important financial events in the last two years. Know everything about RBI and its operations. A knowledge of Macroeconomics is of immense help.

And finally give your best if youre preparing for the exam. Because if you succeed then fuck you! But if you dont, the preparation is a unique experience in itself and it will equip you with knowledge and give you an edge over others if you plan to move to careers in finance or consultancy or management. ALL THE BEST!!!