India's Exports Reach 399.27 Billion Dollars in April-August

The correct answer is 399.27 billion US dollars, the cumulative figure for merchandise and services exports taken together over the five months of the current financial year covered by the release. Option A is the same cumulative export figure for the corresponding months of the previous financial year, and it is the number against which the growth rate is worked out, so it belongs in the comparison rather than in the answer. Option C is the cumulative import figure for the current period, which is larger than exports and therefore leaves a trade deficit. Option D is merchandise exports alone, that is goods without services, and a candidate who forgets that the headline number combines both will fall for it. Fix the pair together: the export value and the growth rate that goes with it.

The correct answer is electronic goods, whose exports in the month climbed from 2.93 billion dollars a year earlier to 5.55 billion dollars, a jump the release lists first among the drivers of merchandise export growth. Option A is wrong; engineering goods did grow, but at a far smaller rate, rising from 9.87 billion dollars to 12.32 billion. Option B is wrong as well; petroleum products grew strongly in the month, yet their rate was lower than that of electronics. Option D is wrong because marine products appear only in the longer list of commodity groups with positive growth and are nowhere near the top. The lesson for an aspirant is to attach the highest growth rate of the month to electronics, and to remember that the release names the drivers in descending order of importance.

The correct answer is the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, which issued these estimates for the month and for the cumulative period of the financial year. Option A is wrong because the finance ministry handles taxation, expenditure and the budget rather than the monthly trade release, although it does publish revenue collections. Option C is wrong because the statistics ministry brings out national income and labour force data, not the export and import bulletin. Option D is wrong because corporate affairs deals with company law and registration. One more caution is worth remembering with this release: the services figures for the latest month are an estimate, since the released data for that sector covers only the previous month, and the earlier months of the year have been revised using quarterly balance of payments data.