Everything a serious aspirant needs in one place: exact in-hand salary breakup, the complete Tier 1 and Tier 2 syllabus, previous years' cut off trend, an honest estimate for this year, eligibility, selection stages, and the real career ladder inside the ED.
Last verified: 14 July 2026The Assistant Enforcement Officer is a Group B, non-gazetted post recruited through SSC CGL into the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which functions under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. AEO is the entry-level rung of the ED's officer hierarchy — the same department that investigates money laundering (PMLA) and foreign exchange violations (FEMA), and regularly appears in national news for high-profile financial crime cases.
The role splits into two halves. On the desk side, AEOs review reports, brochures and financial documents submitted by organisations, maintain case files, and prepare official correspondence. On the field side, AEOs assist in raids, surveys and intelligence-gathering related to money laundering and economic offences — which is why the post carries more prestige (and more irregular working hours) than a typical desk-based Group B role.
| Criteria | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Educational Qualification | Bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university |
| Age Limit | 18 to 30 years as on the notification's cut-off date |
| Age Relaxation | As per standard government norms (SC/ST: +5 yrs, OBC: +3 yrs, PwBD/ESM: as applicable) — none for UR |
| Nationality | Indian citizen |
Note: There is currently no separate personal interview in the SSC CGL selection process — confirm this against each year's official notification since exam patterns are occasionally revised.
| Section | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| General Intelligence & Reasoning | 25 | 50 |
| General Awareness | 25 | 50 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 25 | 50 |
| English Comprehension | 25 | 50 |
| Total | 100 | 200 |
Duration: 60 minutes with sectional timing (~15 min per section). Negative marking: −0.5 per wrong answer.
| Paper | Subjects Covered |
|---|---|
| Paper 1 (compulsory, all posts) | Mathematical Abilities, Reasoning & General Intelligence, English Language & Comprehension, General Awareness, Computer Knowledge |
| Data Entry Speed Test (DEST) | Typing speed check — 8,000 key depressions per hour on a computer, based on a given passage |
Number System, Percentage, Profit & Loss, Simple & Compound Interest, Ratio & Proportion, Average, Time-Speed-Distance, Time & Work, Mensuration, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Data Interpretation.
Analogy, Classification, Series, Coding-Decoding, Blood Relations, Direction Sense, Syllogism, Venn Diagrams, Statement-Conclusion, Seating Arrangement, Puzzles, Non-Verbal Reasoning.
Grammar (Tenses, Articles, Prepositions, Subject-Verb Agreement), Error Spotting, Sentence Improvement, Cloze Test, Para-jumbles, One-word Substitution, Idioms & Phrases, Synonyms-Antonyms, Reading Comprehension.
Static GK (History, Polity, Geography, Economy, Science), Current Affairs, Government Schemes, Banking & Financial Awareness — the last two carry extra weight for AEO aspirants given the ED's financial-crime mandate.
Advanced Mathematics (Algebra, Trigonometry, Mensuration, Statistics basics), Computer Knowledge (MS Office, internet basics, hardware/software fundamentals), and the Data Entry Speed Test.
AEO sits in Pay Level 7 of the 7th Central Pay Commission matrix, with a basic pay of ₹44,900, rising up to ₹1,42,400 over the pay scale's higher stages as increments accrue.
| Component | Approximate Amount (X-city posting) |
|---|---|
| Basic Pay | ₹44,900 |
| Dearness Allowance (DA) | ≈ ₹17,000 |
| House Rent Allowance (HRA) | ≈ ₹10,700 – ₹12,100 |
| Transport Allowance (TA) | ≈ ₹3,600 |
| Gross Monthly Salary | ≈ ₹78,000 – ₹83,000 |
| Deductions (NPS, PF, etc.) | ≈ ₹13,000 – ₹16,000 |
| In-Hand Salary | ≈ ₹65,000 – ₹80,000+ |
Actual figures vary by posting city category (X/Y/Z), current DA rate, and applicable deductions. Metro postings typically land at the higher end of this range.
Promotions for AEO typically begin within the first 3 years, with the first two promotions generally achievable within 8–9 years of service. The broad ladder runs: AEO → Enforcement Officer → Assistant Director → Deputy Director → Joint Director and beyond, with all promotion processes overseen centrally from Delhi headquarters. Long-term in-hand compensation can comfortably cross ₹1 lakh/month at higher stages.
AEO is graded at Tier 1 under the general "posts other than JSO/AAO" bucket, shared with most other CGL posts. The AEO-specific cut off is actually decided later, at Tier 2 final merit — and since AEO is one of the most preferred posts after AAO/JSO, its Tier 2 merit cut off runs meaningfully higher than the general Tier 1 screening mark below.
| Category | Section I | Section II |
|---|---|---|
| UR | 54.00 | 63.00 |
| OBC / EWS | 45.00 | — |
| SC / ST | 36.00 | — |
These are minimum qualifying marks, not the actual selection cut off — final post-wise merit for preferred posts like AEO commonly stretches to 300+ combined marks once Tier 1 and Tier 2 scores are combined.
Based on the announced vacancy count (~12,256 for the 2026 cycle) and the recent trend of cut offs oscillating between the 2024 and 2025 marks shown above. This is an estimate for planning purposes only — always confirm the official cut off once SSC publishes it after the result.
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Start Practicing Free →Salary and cut off figures are compiled from publicly available SSC results and standard pay-matrix calculations for planning purposes. Always cross-check exact figures against the official SSC notification and result PDFs at ssc.gov.in before finalising your preparation strategy.
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