Which ministry announced the reduction in import duty on major edible oils?

The correct answer is nil. Among the oils covered by this decision, crude sunflower oil is the only one whose Basic Customs Duty was taken all the way down to zero, from the earlier level of 10%. Option A names the new rate of the other two oils in the announcement, crude soybean oil and crude palm oil, each of which came down from 10% to 5%, so it is the right figure attached to the wrong oil. Option D is the rate that applied before the change and not the rate that applies now, and a candidate who reads the question in a hurry can easily settle on the old number. Option C is a rate that does not figure in this decision at all. The safest way to hold the answer is to remember the pattern: one oil to zero, two oils to five, all three starting from ten.

The correct answer is 19.25%. While cutting the duty on crude oils, the government also trimmed the duty on the matching refined oils, but it kept the distance between the two rates at this level rather than letting it shrink. The purpose is stated plainly: a gap of this size keeps domestic refining capacity in use, discourages excessive imports of refined oil and gives Indian refiners a more level playing field, so the value addition takes place within the country. Options A, B and D are plausible only because they look like tariff percentages of the same order, and none of them is the figure named in the announcement. This is the single number from the decision that a paper setter is most likely to ask for, because it carries a policy reason with it rather than being a bare rate.

The correct answer is the Price to Distributors and the Maximum Retail Price, usually written as PTD and MRP. The advisory issued to the edible oil associations and other industry stakeholders asks them to bring both of these down in step with the lower landed cost, and to advise member firms to act without delay, so that the gain from the tariff cut is not retained in the supply chain. Option A lists prices paid to farmers for crops, which are fixed by the government and are not what a refiner or a packer revises. Option C names two price indices, which measure inflation rather than set it, so they cannot be revised by a company at all. Option D refers to prices in the public distribution system, a separate arrangement for subsidised foodgrain.

The correct answer is twelve approved and five operational. The backgrounder states that the government has cleared this many semiconductor projects under the Semicon India programme, and that five commercial semiconductor units were already running by September of that year. The first option is wrong on both counts, understating the approvals as well as the units in production. The third option is wrong because it inflates the approvals and the operating units alike, and no such tally appears in the release. The fourth option is wrong for the same reason and is the furthest from the stated position. The point worth carrying forward is the gap between approvals and operations: a project being approved does not mean a plant is producing, which is why the release reports the two numbers separately. Candidates should also link this with the Production Linked Incentive schemes and the India Semiconductor Mission, the two instruments named as driving this build-up.

The correct answer is more than 600. The backgrounder records that the event brought together this many exhibitors, of whom close to three hundred were international companies, and treats that mix as a sign of the global interest now being shown in the country's semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The first option is wrong because it falls short of the stated count and appears nowhere in the release. The third option is wrong for the opposite reason; it overstates the number, and no such figure is given. The fourth option is wrong as well, since a four-figure count is not claimed anywhere in the document. The useful pairing for an examination is the total against the international share, because a question may supply one and ask for the other, and the second figure is also the one that shows how much of the participation came from outside India.