NRA (National Recruitment Agency) — BBPS to be the only Fee Payment Channel
Quote from Speech of Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance dt. February 1, 2020 of Budget 2020–2021
The Government intends to introduce major reforms in recruitment to Non-Gazetted posts in governments and public sector banks. At present, candidates have to appear for multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies at different points of time, for similar posts
This places enormous burden on time, effort and cost of young people.
To mitigate their hardship faced, it is proposed to set up a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) as an independent, professional, specialist organisation for conduct of a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test for recruitment to Non-Gazetted posts.
A test-centre in every district, particularly in the Aspirational Districts would be set up.
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Assumption 01) Each job aspirant has to register only once in the NRA Portal.
The NRA registration number is valid for life time.
Aadhaar number may be the unique reference number for the job aspirant’s registration.
The registered users will complete the NRA Life-Cycle process through his/her registered account only.
The NRA Life Cycle may include
A) Application for the CET
B) Application for the next level respective Boards vacancies. Indicative Boards as of now are SSC, RRB, IBPS. In the near future, other Level 2 employers too will join NRA.
C) Interview scheduling, issuance of Appointment Orders
Assumption 02) Candidates have to pay Exam Fees to NRA to write the CETs
On clearing the CETs, candidates have to pay to the respective specialised exam boards for the next levels.
Union Cabinet on 19/08/2020 gave nod to the National Recruitment Agency. NRA Common Eligibility Test, CET would be conducted as a single recruitment qualifying examination for all the non-gazetted government jobs.
NRA was proposed by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2020.
As a single body for conducting the screening tests for various government jobs, NRA would change the way candidates appear for the examinations for various RRB, SSC and IBPS jobs
Q: What is NRA — National Recruitment Agency?
Ans: Starting with the basic question, simply put, NRA is a testing agency which would be responsible for conducting the preliminary ‘eligibility’ examination for non-gazetted posts.
This includes the banking jobs in government sector banks, railway jobs (RRB) and SSC jobs.
The agency, to be set up under the Societies Registration Act would have representatives of the Ministry of Railways, Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB and IBPS.
NRA would be located in New Delhi and the finer operational details will be in public domain in the next few months.
The following are few thoughts regarding the NRA Fee Collection
Variation 01) 100% Online Mode
The BBPS Module is integrated into the NRA Portal. Candidates can pay the fees through BBPS enabled online modes i.e Net Banking, UPI, Cards, Wallets etc
Candidates cannot pay with Cash as cash is an offline product.
Variation 02) Mix of Online and Offline Mode
Under this mode apart from the usual online payment process, candidates can pay via Cash through designated BBPS Cash counters.
On choosing the ‘Cash’, option, a prefilled challan with BBPS Unique ID and QR Code is generated and the candidate deposits cash at the BBPS Cash counters.
BBPS Cash Counters refers to the various BBPS Agents spread across India who accept Cash for BBPS Payments.
Additional Control: Last Payment Date is highlighted on the Prefilled Challan. Payments will not be accepted after the Last Payment Date. The QR Code too can have this additional control.
Variation 03) Mix of Online and Offline Mode
Option for candidates to pay later via ‘Pay Later’ option.
On choosing the ‘Pay Later’ option, a prefilled challan with BBPS Unique ID and QR Code is generated and the candidate deposits cash or pays via Online Mode at the BBPS Agent counters or Payment APPs.
Additional Control: Last Payment Date is highlighted on the Prefilled Challan. Payments will not be accepted after the Last Payment Date. The QR Code too can have this additional control.
Variation 04) Fee Refund? Peculiar feature of RRBs (Railway Recruitment Boards)
RRBs have a peculiar rule of ‘Fee Refund’. Yes, this is true!!
RRBs refund part of the Application Fee to candidates who have appeared for the respective RRB Exams.
The RRB Exam appeared Candidates who paid exam fee through Banks, Credit Card, Debit Card & UPI will be refunded to the same account through which they made the payment or to the bank account details furnished in the
To facilitate refund of the exam fee to those candidates who made the payment through Post Office & Paytm a LINK is provided on the websites of RRBs between specific dates to furnish Bank Account Details.
May be a NRA wallet will be required to handle refunds.
Sample Fee Details:
(SSC) Staff Selection Commission –
Lastly, candidates can proceed to submit the application fee for SSC CGL 2020 either via online mode (through BHIM UPI, Net Banking, by using Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, RuPay Credit or Debit cards) or offline mode (through cash in SBI Branches by generating SBI Challan). A candidate must pay Rs. 100/- as SSC CGL 2020 Online Application Fee. The category wise examination form fee details are given below:
Category Application Fee
General/ OBC Rs. 100
Female, SC, ST, PwD, & Ex-Servicemen Nil
(RRB) Railway Recruitment Board –
RRB — Railway Recruitment Board Examination Fee:
Candidates applying for the posts in this CEN have to pay the prescribed fee as per their
category detailed below:
For all candidates except the fee Concession categories mentioned below.
Out of this fee of INR 500/- an amount of Rs 400/- shall be refunded to their bank account
duly deducting bank charges, on appearing in CBT.
For candidates belonging to SC / ST / Ex-Servicemen / PwBDs / Female / Transgender /
Minorities / Economically backward class INR250/-
This fee of INR 250/- shall be refunded to their bank account duly deducting bank charges as applicable, on appearing in CBT
7.1 Modes of Payment of Fee: Offline and Online
(a) ONLINE fee payment: Through internet banking or debit/credit cards or UPI
(b) OFFLINE fee payment: Through 1. SBI Bank Challan Payment mode in any branch of SBI
2. Post Office Challan Payment mode in any branch of computerized post office
All applicable service charges shall be borne by the candidate. If the fee is paid through off line mode viz (b)
1 & 2 above, the receipt should be preserved. The same should be produced on demand at the time of Document Verification (DV)
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CEN 02/2019 (Paramedical Categories) Exam Fee Refund
Furnishing of Bank Account Details Railway Recruitment Boards had initiated refund of examination fee to the candidates who had attended CBT for Paramedical category Posts against CEN 02/2019.
The Candidates who paid exam fee through Banks, Credit Card, Debit Card & UPI have been refunded to the same account through which they made the payment or to the bank account details furnished in the ONLINE application.
To facilitate refund of the exam fee to those candidates who made the payment through Post Office & Paytm a LINK is being provided on the websites of RRBs from 22.02.2020 to 28.02.2020 to furnish Bank Account Details.
Candidates to note that further opportunity will NOT be provided to furnish Bank details for refund. A message is also being sent through SMS & e-mail in this regard.
Please note and provide your bank account details with Correct Account Holder Name, Account Number and IFSC code immediately and RRBs shall not entertain any correspondence for failure of refund transaction on account of incorrect bank details.
Chairpersons
Date: 21.02.2020 Railway Recruitment Boards
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(IBPS) Institute of Banking Personnel Selection
(IBPS) Institute of Banking Personnel Selection Fee details:
Candidates from the unreserved or general category have to pay Rs 850 for the application fee. Whereas, aspirants from Schedule Cast (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST) and Person with Disability (PwD) category have to pay Rs 175.
The application form is integrated with the payment gateway and the payment process can be completed by following the instructions.
(iii) The payment can be made by using Debit Cards (RuPay/Visa/MasterCard/Maestro), Credit Cards, Internet Banking, IMPS, Cash Cards/ Mobile Wallets by providing information as asked on the screen.
References:
01) Union Cabinet approves setting up of National Recruitment Agency @ https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=1647000
02) What is NRA? IBPS, RRB, SSC which exams will come under common eligibility test? & other FAQs answered @ https://www.timesnownews.com/education/article/national-recruitment-agency-faqs-all-you-need-to-know-about-nra-cet-for-ibps-rrb-ssc-and-other-exams/639766
By the way, keying in NRA in Google Search will throw up search results of National Rifle Association — USA!!