SIDBI Grade A (Assistant Manager) Syllabus 2026

The complete SIDBI Grade A (Assistant Manager) syllabus for 2026 — 5 sections and 49 topics in all, organised exactly as the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) prescribes. Use it as your revision checklist, then test yourself with a free SIDBI Grade A (Assistant Manager) mock below.

MSME Ecosystem (Phase II — high weight, SIDBI-specific)12 topics

MSMED Act 2006 + 2020 amendment thresholds — Micro: investment ≤ Rs 1 crore + turnover ≤ Rs 5 crore; Small: investment ≤ Rs 10 crore + turnover ≤ Rs 50 crore; Medium: investment ≤ Rs 50 crore + turnover ≤ Rs 250 crore
MSME classification — Manufacturing vs Service composite definition (post-2020 amendment unified the two; investment-and-turnover combined ceiling)
Udyam Registration portal — replaced earlier Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) and EM-II registrations from July 2020; PAN and GSTIN-linked, fully online
MSME credit guarantee — CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises, established 2000); guarantee coverage up to Rs 5 crore (post-2023 enhancement) on collateral-free MSE loans
MUDRA Yojana — Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana launched April 2015; Shishu (up to Rs 50,000), Kishor (Rs 50,001-5 lakh), Tarun (Rs 5-10 lakh), Tarun Plus (up to Rs 20 lakh per 2024 enhancement); routed through banks, NBFCs, MFIs
Stand-Up India scheme — launched April 2016; bank loans Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore for greenfield enterprises to at least one SC/ST and one woman borrower per bank branch
PSB Loans in 59 Minutes (psbloansin59minutes.com) — in-principle MSME loan approval portal launched November 2018
MSME Samadhaan portal — delayed payment grievance redressal for MSMEs under Section 15-16 of MSMED Act 2006
Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) — digital invoice-discounting platform for MSME receivables; RXIL (NSE-SIDBI JV), M1xchange (Mynd Solutions), Invoicemart (Axis-Junction)
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) — COVID-era credit support scheme; design and outcomes for MSME sector
Mission Swavalamban — SIDBI's umbrella development programme covering enterprise promotion, financial literacy, capacity-building for MSME entrepreneurs
Cluster development — UNIDO cluster approach, MSE-CDP scheme of Ministry of MSME

SIDBI-Specific Knowledge (Phase II + Interview)9 topics

SIDBI Act 1989 — establishment, capital structure, functions, governance under the Board of Directors
SIDBI's three functional roles — Direct Credit (loans to MSMEs), Refinance (to banks/NBFCs/MFIs for on-lending to MSMEs), Development (Mission Swavalamban, capacity building, financial literacy)
SIDBI subsidiaries and associates — SIDBI Venture Capital Limited (SVCL), India SME Asset Reconstruction Company (ISARC), India SME Technology Services Limited (ISTSL), Receivables Exchange of India Limited (RXIL — TReDS platform)
Major SIDBI schemes — Smile Equipment Finance, Smile Loan, Make in India Soft Loan Fund for MSMEs (SMILE), SIDBI Loan for Purchase of Equipment for Enterprise's Development (SPEED), 4E (End-to-End Energy Efficiency)
SIDBI as nodal agency — for several Government of India MSME schemes including India Aspiration Fund, ASPIRE, SVAVALAMBAN (Stand-Up India)
SIDBI Cluster Development Fund — long-term credit for state government cluster development projects
Partial Risk Sharing Facility (PRSF) — SIDBI's facility for risk-sharing on energy efficiency loans through banks/NBFCs
Recent SIDBI initiatives — Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS, GoI's Rs 10,000 crore corpus managed by SIDBI), Self-Reliant India Fund, India Inclusive Innovation Fund
SIDBI's relationship with RBI — SIDBI under RBI regulation as a Development Financial Institution (DFI); SIDBI's role in policy transmission to MSME sector

Economic & Social Issues (Phase II)9 topics

Nature of Indian Economy — sectoral composition, structural transformation, 1991 reforms, post-2014 policy phase
Inclusive growth, poverty alleviation, employment generation (MGNREGA, NRLM, DAY-NULM, PMKVY skilling)
Globalisation, BoP, FDI in MSME and manufacturing, India's trade agreements
Indian financial system — RBI, NABARD, SIDBI, EXIM, NHB, commercial banks, RRBs, cooperative banks, SFBs, Payments Banks, NBFCs, MFIs
Money supply, inflation (CPI, WPI), monetary policy framework with 4% +/- 2% inflation target, MPC composition
Human Development — HDI, MPI, GDI, NITI Aayog SDG India Index
Education and Health — NEP 2020, Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY)
Sustainable Development Goals — 17 SDGs, India's voluntary national review
Indian budgeting — Union and State Budgets, fiscal/revenue/primary deficit, FRBM Act 2003, Finance Commission devolution

Management & Finance (Phase II — distinctive section)14 topics

Indian financial system structure — money market, capital market, foreign exchange market; regulators (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, PFRDA, IBBI)
Money market instruments — call money, T-bills, CDs, CPs, repo and reverse repo
Capital market — equity (primary IPO/FPO and secondary), debt (corporate bonds, G-secs), derivatives
Banking system — commercial banks, RRBs, cooperative banks, SFBs, Payments Banks, NBFCs (categories), MFIs
Banking regulation — Banking Regulation Act 1949, BR (Amendment) Act 2020, Basel III norms (CAR, CCB, LCR, NSFR)
Monetary policy — repo, reverse repo, CRR, SLR, MSF, OMO, MSS, FIT framework, MPC composition
Fiscal policy and public finance — Union Budget, FRBM Act 2003, fiscal/revenue/primary deficit
Taxation — direct taxes, GST (CGST, SGST, IGST, compensation cess), GST Council
Corporate finance — capital structure (MM theorem, trade-off, pecking order), capital budgeting (NPV, IRR, payback), working capital management
NPA framework — SARFAESI Act 2002, IBC 2016, PCA framework, Bad Bank (NARCL)
Microfinance regulation — 2022 RBI MFI framework, FOIR-based household indebtedness cap, harmonised pricing norms across NBFC-MFIs/banks/SFBs/NBFCs
Management fundamentals — Taylor's scientific management, Fayol's principles, Maslow's hierarchy, Herzberg's two-factor, McGregor's X-Y, leadership styles (transactional vs transformational)
Organisational behaviour — perception, attitudes, learning, personality, group dynamics, conflict management
Strategic management basics — SWOT, PESTEL, Porter's 5 forces, value chain, BCG matrix, Ansoff matrix

Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, English, Computer (Phase I + Phase II Paper I)5 topics

Quantitative Aptitude — simplification, number series, quadratic equations, DI (tables, bar/line/pie/caselet), percentage, ratio-proportion, profit-loss, simple/compound interest, time-work, time-speed-distance, mensuration, probability
Reasoning — puzzles (linear, circular, floor, scheduling), seating arrangement, syllogisms, inequalities, blood relations, direction sense, input-output, coding-decoding, data sufficiency
English Language — reading comprehension (1-2 passages), cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, para-jumbles, fillers, word usage, idioms/phrases
Computer Knowledge — generations, hardware, OS basics, MS Office, networking (LAN/WAN, OSI/TCP-IP), internet/email, DBMS basics, cyber security
General Awareness — banking and financial awareness (last 6-8 months), national and international current affairs, sports, awards, summits, books, deaths, appointments, MSME-sector developments

Know the syllabus — now see where you stand.

Practice SIDBI Grade A (Assistant Manager) free →