Which capital subsidy does the National SC-ST Hub offer SC/ST-owned MSEs on plant and machinery financed by institutional credit?

The correct answer is the National Small Industries Corporation. The National SC-ST Hub was launched on 18 October 2016 and is implemented through NSIC, which also runs the Single Point Registration Scheme that gives registered micro and small enterprises free tender sets and exemption from Earnest Money Deposit. Option A, the Small Industries Development Bank of India, is the development finance institution for the small enterprise sector and lends to it, but it is not the implementing agency named for this scheme. Option C, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, promotes khadi and village industries and runs separate employment programmes. Option D, the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, works on credit for Scheduled Caste beneficiaries under a different ministry. For the examination, pair the scheme with the MSME Ministry as its parent and NSIC as its implementing arm.

The correct answer is Rs 4,013.42 crore, procured in 2025-26 from 12,524 micro and small enterprises. The figure matters because it marks a rise of nearly 39 times over the Rs 99.37 crore recorded in 2015-16, which is option A and therefore the starting point rather than the latest number. Option B, Rs 356.10 crore, is the amount disbursed under the Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme since 2016 and up to March 2026, which supported 3,160 enterprises in 233 districts across 27 States and Union Territories, so it belongs to a single component and not to procurement. Option C is a near miss designed to catch a half-remembered figure. Candidates should also recall the policy behind the growth: 25 per cent of annual purchases of Central Ministries, Departments and CPSEs must come from MSEs, with 4 per cent earmarked for SC/ST-owned units.

The correct answer is 4 per cent. Central Ministries, Departments and Central Public Sector Enterprises are required to procure 25 per cent of their annual purchases from micro and small enterprises, and within that requirement 4 per cent of total procurement is earmarked for enterprises owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs. Option D, 25 per cent, is the wider MSE obligation and is the commonest trap in this question, so the two numbers must be kept apart. Options A and C, 2 per cent and 10 per cent, do not appear in the policy as described. This mandate is the reason the Single Point Registration Scheme matters, since registration with NSIC brings free tender sets and exemption from Earnest Money Deposit, and it explains the sharp rise in procurement from SC/ST-owned units to Rs 4,013.42 crore in 2025-26.

The correct answer is pipeline leakages and breakages. Drawing on the findings of the Jal Seva Adhayan, the Secretary told the meeting that leakages and breakages in pipelines continue to be the single largest cause of disruption in rural water supply, and that power cuts and low-voltage problems come next. Option A is wrong precisely because power related problems were placed second rather than first, although the Mission Director did stress that poor power quality hurts service in several areas and that reducing power costs would improve operational sustainability. Option C is wrong because groundwater depletion, while a wider concern addressed through source sustainability work, was not named as the leading cause here. Option D is wrong because no such finding on staffing was reported at this review.

The correct answer is IIM Bangalore. The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti organised the regional review meeting at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, where Professor Gopal Naik, who holds the JJM Professor Chair at that institute, also presented a study on power cost optimisation in Mission schemes. Option B is wrong because no meeting is reported at Ahmedabad. Option C is wrong because the venue was a management institute and not an institute of technology. Option D is wrong because the Kozhikode campus had no role in this review. Aspirants should link the institute to the JJM Professor Chair and to the study comparing grid-based and solar-powered water supply configurations and their effect on life-cycle costs.