Make IBPS Bank Exam Photo

Annexure IV opens with the sentence that matters most: "until photographs and signatures are as per the specifications provided, the system will not allow the candidate to move forward to the next stage of application." Most portals accept whatever you give them and reject you weeks later. IBPS refuses to let you continue.

In practice that means you cannot leave the photo for last. If the registration window is closing and your image will not pass, you do not have an application at all — not a flawed one.

The annexure heads the section "Photograph Image : (4.5cm × 3.5cm)" and then, three lines down, states "Dimensions 200 x 230 pixels (preferred)". These are not the same photo — 4.5 x 3.5cm has an aspect ratio of 0.78, while 200 x 230 comes to 0.87.

The pixel figure is the one to follow, because it is the one the upload measures and the one the 20-50kb window is built around. Scan a 4.5 x 3.5cm print at the required 200 dpi and you get 354 x 276 pixels; squeezing that under 50kb visibly degrades the face. At 200 x 230 both rules hold at once.

This tool exports 200 x 230 pixels for exactly that reason. The centimetre figure is not wrong to know — it tells you what to ask a studio for if you are having a print made — but it is not what the portal reads.

Beyond the scanned image, IBPS requires a live photograph captured during the application itself — either through your webcam, or by scanning a QR code that opens a camera page on your phone. The captured picture is auto-uploaded into the form.

The rules for the live capture are the same as for the uploaded one: light-coloured background, adequate light, look straight at the camera, passport-size framing, no coloured glasses, sunglasses or caps, no mask, no shadow across the face. A blurred or dark capture is called out specifically as unacceptable.

So it is worth setting up your background once and using it for both. If you photograph yourself against a white wall for the upload, do the live capture in the same spot.

The same annexure sets out three further images. Signature: on white paper with a black ink pen, 140 x 60 pixels, 10-20kb, and not in capital letters. Left thumb impression: black or blue ink on white paper, 240 x 240 pixels at 200 dpi (3cm x 3cm), 20-50kb, JPG or JPEG.

Hand-written declaration: the prescribed text written by hand in English only, on white paper with black ink, 800 x 400 pixels at 200 dpi (10cm x 5cm), 50-100kb. If it is written by anyone else, or in any other language, the application is treated as invalid. Capital letters are not accepted for the signature or the declaration either.

One more consequence worth knowing: if the signature you write at the exam centre does not match the one you uploaded, IBPS disqualifies the candidate. The upload is not a formality.

If you are scanning a printed photo rather than shooting a digital one, IBPS specifies a scanner resolution of at least 200 dpi and colour set to True Colour. Crop in the scanner to the edge of the photograph first, then use the portal's own upload editor to crop to the final size.

If a file comes out over the limit, the annexure's own advice is to adjust the scanner settings — DPI resolution, number of colours — rather than re-compressing repeatedly. The file must be JPG or JPEG; the notification even gives an example filename, image01.jpg.