Under the use-based classification of the IIP, which category recorded the highest growth in August 2026?

The correct answer is 8.0 per cent. Factory output measured by the Index of Industrial Production rose at that rate in August 2026 over the same month a year earlier, helped by manufacturing and by a strong showing from electricity and gas supply. The option of 6.7 per cent is wrong because that was the quick estimate for the previous month, July 2026, and is given only for comparison. The option of 5.4 per cent is wrong because no such headline rate was reported for the month under discussion. The option of 9.6 per cent is wrong as well; the figure closest to it in the release is the manufacturing sector's own growth rate, which was 9.0 per cent and applies to one sector rather than to the overall index.

The correct answer is mining and quarrying. It was the only one of the four sectors to shrink during the month, falling 5.6 per cent, and its index stood at 85.7, the lowest of the four. Manufacturing is wrong because it grew 9.0 per cent and was in fact the largest contributor to the headline number, taking its index to 126.6. Electricity and gas supply is wrong because it was the fastest growing sector of the month at 12.3 per cent, with an index of 133.9. Water supply, sewerage and waste management is wrong because it also grew, by 6.3 per cent, reaching an index of 147.6, the highest sectoral index value reported for the month. Mining was thus the only drag on an otherwise broad based month, one in which eighteen of the twenty three manufacturing industry groups at the two digit level of the national industrial classification registered positive growth over the same month a year earlier.

The correct answer is the Union Finance Minister. At the annual meeting of the AIIB Board of Governors the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs attends as India's Governor to the bank, and on this occasion she also leads a delegation of Ministry of Finance officials. Option A is wrong because the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India heads the central bank and is not the person who occupies India's seat on this board. Option C is wrong because the Commerce and Industry portfolio handles trade and industrial policy rather than representation at this bank. Option D is wrong because NITI Aayog is a policy think tank of the government and has no such representative role. Candidates should also note the bilateral meetings planned with the AIIB President and with counterparts from Jordan, Switzerland, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Nepal.

The correct answer is Doha. The eleventh annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is scheduled in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and the Union Finance Minister travels there on an official visit for it. Option A, Riyadh, is the capital of Saudi Arabia, and although a Saudi counterpart is among those she is to meet, the venue is not in that country. Option B, Abu Dhabi, is in the United Arab Emirates and is not the host city. Option D, Kuwait City, is likewise a different Gulf capital. Aspirants should link the edition of the meeting, the eleventh, with the host city Doha, since a question may keep one and change the other.

The correct answer is second largest shareholder. India is the second largest shareholder of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Union Finance Minister attends the annual meeting of its Board of Governors as India's Governor to the bank in that capacity. Option A is wrong because India is not the biggest shareholder of the institution, even though its stake is large enough to give it a leading voice. Options C and D, third and fifth largest, understate India's standing and would place other members ahead of it. This rank is the fact most often lifted into examination papers whenever the AIIB appears, so it should be revised along with the nature of the bank, which is a multilateral development bank for sustainable infrastructure in Asia.