Indian Economy Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 11)

NITI Aayog anchors the ADP. It works with Central Ministries, State Governments and district offices. The RBI, the Planning Commission and the Election Commission do not run the programme.

The ADP was launched by the Prime Minister in January 2018. The Aspirational Blocks Programme, which copies the idea at block level, came later in January 2023. So 2018 is the answer, and 2023 is the common trap.

Pairs 1 and 2 are correct. DMIC links Delhi NCR with Mumbai. AKIC runs from Amritsar to Kolkata. In pair 3, the Bengaluru-Mumbai corridor links Bengaluru with Mumbai, not Chennai. The Chennai link is a different corridor, CBIC.

AURIC is the Shendra-Bidkin industrial area near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad. It lies in Maharashtra. PIB calls it one of India’s first greenfield industrial smart cities.

The Vizag-Chennai corridor is the first phase of the East Coast Economic Corridor. That corridor will run from Kolkata in the east to Tamil Nadu in the south. The Asian Development Bank is funding the first phase.

The National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) develops the national corridors. It was first set up for the Delhi-Mumbai corridor. The Trust, NICDIT, supplies the Centre’s equity.

Japan helped conceive the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. It is a joint project of India and Japan.

The 2026-27 Budget Estimate for the Gender Budget is ₹5,00,878.73 crore, or about ₹5.01 lakh crore. The 2025-26 Budget Estimate was ₹4.49 lakh crore, so the rise is about 11.55%.

Kerala became the first Indian state to adopt gender budgeting in 2009-10. Many other states later started their own gender budget exercises. Kerala’s move followed the Union government’s lead from 2005-06.

Part A lists schemes with 100% provision for women and girls. Part B has schemes with 30-99%. Part C, added later, has schemes below 30%. Part A is therefore the only fully women-specific part.

The Gender Budget Statement was first introduced in Budget 2005-06. India has published it with every Union Budget since. The other years are not when the statement began.

Gender-responsive budgeting is a strategy that creates budgets that work for everyone. It studies gender gaps and uses the findings to shape budgets. The other options describe things unrelated to gender, such as cutting ministries or tax abolition.

The answer is statements 1 and 3 only. Platforms do offer flexible hours. Digital and safety barriers do hold women back. Statement 2 is wrong. NITI Aayog said app-taxi and delivery work is largely male, so women are not a majority there. Hook: gain and gap, not majority.

The answer is Rajasthan. It passed the first state law on platform-based gig workers in 2023. Karnataka followed, and its Act was notified on 12 September 2025. Bihar passed a law in 2025, and Telangana’s Assembly passed a Bill in March 2026. Kerala and Maharashtra are not the first. Hook: Rajasthan led, others followed.

The answer is about 23.5 million. The 2022 report of NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think tank, put the workforce at 7.7 million in 2020-21. It projected 23.5 million by 2029-30, or 6.7% of the non-farm workforce. The 8.5 million, 15 million and 40 million figures do not match the report. Hook: 7.7 now, 23.5 later.

The answer is e-Shram. It is the national database of unorganised workers, and gig and platform workers can register on it. Budget 2025-26 tied the identity cards and health cover to e-Shram registration. UMANG is a government services app. SWAYAM is a free online course portal. GeM, the Government e-Marketplace, is a government buying portal. Hook: e-Shram, the worker’s own register.

The answer is a worker who performs work outside the traditional employer-employee relationship. That is how the Code on Social Security, 2020 defines a gig worker. A platform worker is a gig worker whose work runs through an online platform. A factory payroll worker has an employer, so that option fails. The Factories Act covers factory workers. PM-KISAN, a farmer income scheme, covers farmers. Hook: gig means no regular employer.

The 2021 Act withdrew the retrospective reach. No demand is raised for indirect transfers made before 28 May 2012. Earlier demands are nullified if conditions are met, such as withdrawing pending litigation. Refunds carry no interest.

The Act says such an amount shall be refunded, but no interest under Section 244A is paid on it. The refund follows only when the taxpayer meets the conditions, such as withdrawing pending litigation.

Vodafone and Cairn Energy are the two best-known cases. Vodafone used the India-Netherlands treaty and won its award on 25 September 2020. Cairn used the India-UK treaty and won an award of about $1.2 billion in December 2020.

The Finance Act, 2012 gave the amendment retrospective effect from 1 April 1962. The date 28 May 2012 is different. It is the date the Finance Bill, 2012 got assent, and the 2021 Act protects transfers made before it.

The RBI reports the debt share of firms by ICR band. It calls the share with ICR below unity a key indicator of financial vulnerability. That share fell from 37.6% in 2019-20 to 18.0% in 2023-24.

DSCR is the broader measure: it covers both interest and scheduled principal repayment. ICR covers only interest, not principal.

An ICR below 1 means EBIT is smaller than the interest expense. Allianz Trade says such a firm might struggle to meet interest payments. The RBI’s lowest band counts firms at or below 1.

The RBI’s Financial Stability Report defines ICR as the ratio of EBIT to interest expenses. Earnings go on top and interest goes below. Flipping it gives a number that means the opposite.