NABARD Grade A Officer Salary: CTC, Allowances, Perks, Increments, Promotion & Job Profile

The salary and perks associated with a government job are an important motivating factor for aspirants. Today, we bring you a detailed breakdown of a NABARD Grade A officer’s salary to give you that final nudge in your preparation journey. Let us take a deep dive into the CTC, salary, allowances, perks, and benefits enjoyed by a NABARD Assistant Manager.

Salary of a NABARD Grade A Officer:

NABARD Grade A Officers start at a basic salary of Rs. 44,500 with yearly increments. They are also eligible for Dearness Allowance, Local Compensatory Allowance, House Rent Allowance, Special Allowance and Grade Allowance, among others.

If you take a look at a NABARD Assistant Manager salary slip, you will find different components that add up to a very handsome lump sum figure. Below is the salary slip of a newly inducted NABARD Grade A officer for the month of April 2023.

As some components on a salary slip are unique to the employee, they have been hidden to protect the officer’s privacy.

NABARD Assistant Manager Salary: A Detailed Break-up

The salary structure for NABARD Grade A officers includes basic pay, dearness allowance (DA), house rent allowance (HRA), and other allowances. The starting basic pay for Grade A officers in NABARD, as mentioned in this article’s introduction is INR 44,500 per month. All the allowances are added to this amount.

Monthly Allowances with Salary:

The allowances that are added to the basic salary of a NABARD Grade A officer are as follows:

• Local Compensatory Allowance

This allowance is given in the form of a stipend to the employees to cover the difference in living expenses between their hometown and their location of employment.

• House Rent Allowance (HRA)

This allowance is provided to NABARD officers who are unable to obtain housing through NABARD due to a lack of available units. In almost all the cities, there are lodging options available, but lodging is subject to availability and you can get paid up to INR 25,000.

• Dearness Allowance

To counteract the effects of inflation, NABARD pays dearness allowance to its employees. This is paid out as a percentage of the basic salary. Currently, the dearness allowance is nearly 55% of the basic salary.

• Grade Allowance

For Grade A Officers, it is INR 6,250. This changes over the years as you keep getting promoted to higher grades.

• Conveyance Allowance

Employees are entitled to an allowance for travelling daily between their office and residence. For those who own vehicles, they can claim nearly INR 21,000 for petrol alone. The cap on this differs between cities. The base is fixed at 150 litres per month. But employees get 30 litre extra for metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, etc. and 50 litre extra for Mumbai.

• Household and Maintenance Allowance

Employees are also entitled to INR 5,000 to maintain their household. An additional INR 500 is also given out for miscellaneous needs.

• Internet Allowance

INR 1500 is paid monthly for the employee’s home internet connection.

• Newspaper Allowance

NABARD encourages its employees to have a good understanding of the current issues in the country and the world. INR 800 is paid for a monthly newspaper subscription.

• Mobile Allowance

To ensure their employees are reachable if and when needed, a monthly mobile call and data charges of up to INR 1,100 is given.

• Sodexo Coupons

These are meal coupons that can be used for food in the canteen or grocery stores. Coupons worth INR 5,000 are given out monthly.

• Children’s Education Allowance

This allowance is paid monthly at INR 7,000 per child for up to 2 children, only for employees with children.

Yearly Allowances and Other Benefits:

The additional components that determine the final Cost to Company (CTC) of a NABARD Grade A Officer are as follows:

• Book Grant

NABARD encourages its employees to be well-rounded individuals with a deep understanding of the human condition. To help them indulge, it allows a book grant of INR 7,000 every year.

• Medical or Declaration

NABARD covers its employees and their immediate family’s medical needs with an annual allowance of INR 13,000. This is separate from the medical insurance whose premium is borne by the employee.

• Briefcase

This allowance of INR 4,000 is provided annually to ensure NABARD’s employees have access to basic official needs.

• Furniture

A total of INR 2.7 lakhs, with a limit of 55,000 at a time, is given once every 5 years to an employee to furnish their living quarters. This is not available for immediate joiners but is only given to employees after their probation period is complete.

• Spectacle Allowance

Up to INR 9,000  is given once in 2 years, for the employee and their spouse each to get their eyeglasses made. This is paid out on actuals on the production of the bill.

• Leave Fare Concession (LFC)

NABARD provides its employees free travel with their families, up to 4 dependents, to any location in India or their domicile place, once every 2 years. The employee’s or officer’s eligibility determines the kind of transportation and the distance that can be travelled. This is only available to employees who have already served their probation period and there is a cap of INR 15,000 per person.

Taxes and Other Deductions:

There are several deductions made from the gross salary. Some of them are:

• Provident Fund/National Pension Scheme

The Provident Fund (PF) is a government-managed retirement savings plan. It is a compulsory deduction for a NABARD Grade A Officer. The National Pension Scheme (NPS) is a long-term, voluntary investment plan for retirement that is under the control of the Central Government and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). A NABARD Assistant Manager pays roughly INR 8,300 in these two funds.

• Medical Premium

A NABARD Assistant Manager pays roughly INR 300 monthly for their health insurance policy. This is a negligible amount considering the medical coverage they get for themselves and their families.

• Income Tax

As responsible citizens, NABARD Grade A Officers pay an income tax of approximately INR 8,300 towards nation-building.

• Professional Tax

State governments charge a tax on all kinds of professions, trades, and employment based on income. A NABARD Grade A Officer pays INR 200 a month as professional tax.

NABARD Grade A In-Hand Salary:

Taking into account all monthly payouts and deductions, the in-hand salary of a NABARD Assistant Manager stands at roughly INR 80,000, as per the latest salary slip.

NABARD Grade A CTC:

The below table lists all monthly payouts given to a NABARD Assistant Manager.

The below table further breaks down the miscellaneous monthly allowances.

Most of these allowances are based on actuals i.e. employees must produce bills to claim them.

Adding them together, the total compensation package becomes:

(96,000 + 66,900) x 12 + 1,03,000 = 20,57,800

Thus, the annual CTC a NABARD Grade A Officer gets is approximately INR 20,00,000 LPA, which makes this position one of the highest paying government jobs in India.

Additional Perks: NABARD’s Leave Policy

A newly recruited Grade A officer has the same quota of leaves as that of a serving officer post their probation period. An officer gets 15 days of Casual leave in a calendar year that can be accumulated for up to 3 years and utilised as Special Sick Leave during this period.

An officer is eligible to accumulate 1 Ordinary Leave for every 11 days which can be accumulated for up to 10 months.

There is also 1 day of Sick Leave per month which can be accumulated without limit. A Sick Leave can also be taken by forgoing half of the average pay or by taking 2 days of Sick Leave at full pay.

Then there is Study Leave which only a confirmed officer in the services of NABARD is eligible to avail on certain terms and conditions.

All these rules keep getting updated as per the latest developments in terms of service.

NABARD Grade A Annual Increment:

NABARD Grade A Officers start at a basic salary of Rs. 44,500 in the scale of 44,500-2500 (4) – 54,500-2850 (7) – 74,450 – EB – 85,850-3300 – (1) – 89,150 (17). This means that the starting basic pay for a NABARD Grade A Officer is Rs. 44500 per month.

For the first four years, there would be an INR 2,500 annual raise. This will be further increased to INR 2,850 annually after 4 years of service, and this will continue for another 7 years. At the end of 11 years, your basic pay would be Rs 74450. At this point, efficiency bar (EB) has been achieved by the employee. The efficiency bar is a stage in the pay scale of an employee where all further increment is subject to their efficiency, work and conduct in their duties. The maximum basic salary you may get is Rs 89150, and your last one-time raise will be Rs 3300.

NABARD Grade A vs NABARD Grade B Salary

NABARD Grade A Officers start at a basic salary of Rs. 44,500 in the scale of 44500 – 2500 (4) – 54500 – 2850 (7) – 74450 – EB – 85850 – 3300 (1)- 89150 (17 years). On the other hand, NABARD Grade B Officers start at a basic salary of Rs. 55,200 in the scale of 55200 – 2850 (9) – 80850 – EB – 2850 (2) 86550 -3300 (4) – 99750 (16 years).

Find below the salary and increment comparison of NABARD Grade A and Grade B officers:

Thus, there is an INR 11,000 difference in the starting basic pay. This will only get magnified when the entire salary is calculated. Furthermore, because Grade B officers start at a higher scale, the increments they receive over the years are also much higher.

NABARD Grade A Promotion:

There is no fixed tenure when a NABARD Officer can expect to be promoted. Typically, getting promoted from Grade A to Grade B can take anything between 4 to 5 years, depending on vacancies and current organisational policies. The higher up you go, the longer it takes for you to be eligible for the next promotion as vacancies are comparatively fewer.

A Grade B Officer takes 4 to 6 years to be promoted to Grade C by clearing an interview. To get further promoted to Grade D, you must serve another 4 years and then clear a written test, followed by an interview. In another 3 years, you’ll be eligible to be promoted to Grade E after clearing an interview. And finally, you will be promoted to Grade F based on your performance.

Overall, the career growth in NABARD, starting with Grade A, is as follows:

NABARD Grade A Job Profile: Life as an Assistant Manager

NABARD is India’s apex development bank. It was created in 1982 through a parliamentary Act to support just and sustainable rural and agricultural development.

Since then, NABARD has changed lives in Indian villages through agri-finance, infrastructure development, banking technology, promotion of microfinance, and rural entrepreneurship through SHGs & JLGs, and more. As an Assistant Manager at NABARD, your primary task is to help improve the lives of the agrarian communities of India.

By ensuring that the financial aid and scheme from NABARD reach the right people, a NABARD Grade A Officer can dramatically better their quality of life. Helping farming communities for stable cooperatives, leveraging the benefits the government has designed for them, or just imparting the right technical knowledge, working at NABARD is a step towards nation-building.

Work-Life Balance

Assistant Managers typically have administrative work with a 9 to 5 schedule. However, it is hardly lifeless and dull work; it is dynamic and very fulfilling as one gets to add value to the largest employment sector of this nation. In this organization’s managerial hierarchy, the Assistant Manager holds the lowest rank. However, this does not diminish the status or importance of the work done by them. On a day-to-day basis, as a NABARD Grade A Officer, you get to execute various state and central government programmes related to Agriculture and Rural Development. Furthermore, you get to work with liaisons from banking institutes to make the lives of our farmers easier.

The organisation doesn’t discriminate between specialists and generalists. However, specialists may be assigned departments that may be related to their specific educational qualifications and some ‘additional-special’ responsibilities. NABARD officers are expected to be voracious readers who can keep up with every minute change in the agricultural sector of the country and innovations around the world. Although a large chunk of the work is of a clerical nature, including responding to emails and drafting official documents, limited opportunities to acquire field experience are a highlight of the job.

Postings and Transfers

Officers serve their 2 years probation period in a city away from their home state. NABARD Grade A job locations are urban, with assistant managers posted across offices in tier-1 and tier-2 cities, generally confined to state capitals. Thus, this job is an excellent opportunity for anyone who would like to work for the rural population of the country, while still enjoying the perks of city life.

In most cases, an officer must spend 5-6 years at one posting. After four years, they are eligible for transfer and must choose between zones (South, East, West, North, North East, Andaman, and Jammu and Kashmir and then select a state within that zone. The transfer is determined according to the availability of vacancies. One simply cannot devote his/her entire career to one centre (unless you work in the law department).

The officer’s tenure may vary depending on his or her rank, experience, and the organization’s special requirements. Transfer decisions are heavily influenced by performance. Officers may also be transferred to acquire exposure to different functions, industries, or areas, allowing them to gain diverse experiences and improve their skills and knowledge. On achieving Grade D, i.e., Deputy General Manager, there is no fixed tenure, and you can be transferred to any other office or city.

NABARD Grade A vs NABARD Grade B: Responsibilities

The main difference between a Grade B officer and a Grade A officer is the hierarchy. NABARD Grade A officers are posted as Assistant Managers and NABARD Grade B Officers are posted as Managers. Grade B is the next position in the organizational hierarchy. The Grade A officer will get promoted to Grade B in about 4 to 5 years from the start of their service.

NABARD Grade B Officers have additional interdepartmental responsibilities. It is a demanding job. NABARD conducts direct recruitment for NABARD Grade B as well, but it is a lot less frequent than NABARD Grade A recruitment, which is an annual process. Furthermore, the number of positions to be filled in Grade B is much lower than in Grade A, which means the competition is much more.

Given the uncertainty, it is advised that you focus more on cracking NABARD Grade A exam, before aiming for Grade B.

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