Indian Economy Mixed Practice — MCQs with Answers (Set 18)

IGC membership is not required to export or import rice or wheat. The Council’s role is market transparency, analysis, and policy dialogue, not gatekeeping trade.

India is a member of the International Grains Council, designated as an exporting member based on its trade position in grains, rice, and oilseeds.

Only pairs 2 and 4 are correctly matched. The Malhotra Committee predates IRDA and was formed by the Government of India, not “under” IRDA. The Urjit Patel Committee dealt with monetary policy framework, not housing-sector lending.

The Y.H. Malegam Committee, constituted by the RBI in 2010-11, studied concerns in the Microfinance Institutions sector and suggested regulatory measures.

The Urjit R. Patel Committee (2013), formed by the RBI, recommended a flexible inflation-targeting monetary policy framework, which led to the creation of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) — not housing-sector lending reform, a common exam trap.

The L.C. Gupta Committee, appointed by SEBI in 1998, prepared the regulatory roadmap for introducing derivatives trading in India.

The R.N. Malhotra Committee (1993) recommended comprehensive reforms of the insurance sector. Its recommendations directly led to the creation of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in 1999.

The RBI Master Direction on TReDS, 2026 (issued 23 June 2026) fixed a minimum net worth of ₹25 crore for platform operators, aligning them with other non-bank payment system operators. Existing operators have until 31 March 2028 to comply.

RXIL, M1xchange, and Invoicemart are the three established TReDS platforms. NeSL (National E-Governance Services Limited) is India’s Information Utility under the IBC, unrelated to TReDS.

The original 31 March 2025 deadline for mandatory TReDS onboarding was extended to 30 June 2025.

The Ministry of MSME’s notification of 7 November 2024 lowered the mandatory turnover threshold to ₹250 crore, replacing the earlier 2018 threshold of ₹500 crore.

TReDS financing is without recourse to the MSME seller. If the corporate buyer later defaults, the financier who discounted the invoice bears the loss, not the small business.

Token ownership depends on off-chain legal structures, so custody failures or unregulated custodians can break the link between the token and the actual asset title — a real risk even though tokens are technically tradeable 24×7.

SEBI’s SM REIT rules require assets worth ₹50 to 500 crore and at least 200 investors, governing fractional real-estate platforms in India.

RBI’s Certificate of Deposit tokenization pilot, settled via wholesale CBDC rails, is a distinct instrument — separate from both general RWA tokenization and the retail Digital Rupee (e-Rupee).

IFSCA runs the tokenization regulatory sandbox at GIFT City, starting with real estate and expanding to art, ships, and aircraft. In January 2026 it updated its sandbox guidelines, lowering the beneficial-ownership disclosure threshold to 10%.

Fractionalization splits a high-value asset into many smaller tokens, lowering the entry barrier so retail investors can buy a small slice instead of the whole asset.

The answer is Entry 46 of the State List, and Assam. Entry 46 reads “Taxes on agricultural income”. Entry 82 of the Union List covers income other than agricultural income. Assam’s Commissioner of Taxes says income from tea leaf is taxable under the Assam Agricultural Income Tax Act. The Lok Sabha was told in 2023 that this tax comes under the State List.

The answer is that it sets the slab on non-agricultural income. The Finance Bill 2026 says net agricultural income is taken into account only for charging tax on the total income. The rule applies when net farm income is above ₹5,000 and total income is above the basic limit. The farm income itself is not taxed. ITR-3 for 2026-27 has a line for it “for rate purpose”.

The answer is rural agricultural land. Section 2(14)(iii) leaves out agricultural land in India. The land is not left out if it lies in a town of 10,000 people or more, or within 2, 6 or 8 km of such a town, depending on its size. So profit from selling rural farm land is not taxed as capital gains. The 2025 Act repeats this in section 2(22)(iii).

The answer is Section 2(1A). It defines agricultural income as four kinds of income. These are rent or revenue from farm land, income from that land by farming, income from a farm building, and income from nursery saplings. Section 10(1) then leaves it out of total income. The 2025 Act puts the same definition in section 2(5).

The correct answer is (c) Both 1 and 2.

Statement 1 is correct: crowdfunding pools small amounts from a large number of investors, typically through internet-based platforms or social networking sites, to fund a specific project.

Statement 2 is correct: crowdfunding gives SMEs an alternative financing route with fewer formalities and lower costs than traditional routes like bank loans or public issues.

The correct answer is (c) To break the dominance of large e-commerce platforms by enabling interoperability across networks.

ONDC unbundles the core components of e-commerce — discovery, logistics, payments, grievance redressal — and makes them interoperable across platforms. Buyers and sellers can transact across different apps built on the network, instead of being locked into one dominant platform. This aims to democratise digital commerce and give small businesses and MSMEs a level playing field, rather than replace private players, mandate any single payment method, or hand government direct control over transactions.

The correct answer is (a) Dropshipping Model.

In dropshipping, the seller acts as seller of record: it lists products, sets the retail price, and handles customer service, but never holds inventory. Once an order and payment come in, the seller passes the order and shipping details to a third-party supplier, who ships the product directly to the customer.

The Affiliate Revenue Model earns commission for referring buyers, without ever handling the sale itself. The Transaction Fee Revenue Model charges a fee per transaction facilitated on a platform. The Agency Revenue Model earns a fee for representing another business, rather than reselling its own listed goods.

The answer is 2021-22 to 2025-26, with an outlay of Rs 4,679.85 crore. It is the Central Sector Scheme for the development of the silk industry. By 26 March 2025 the Centre had paid Rs 1,075.58 crore to States for about 78,000 beneficiaries.