Correct answer: B — PFRDA Act, 2013.

The PFRDA Act, 2013 provides the statutory regulatory framework for PFRDA and the pension system it supervises.

Correct answer: A — Pension funds and the National Pension System framework.

PFRDA develops and regulates the pension sector, including the National Pension System, under the applicable law.

Correct answer: D — Permanent Retirement Account Number.

PRAN is a unique Permanent Retirement Account Number identifying an NPS subscriber.

Correct answer: C — Maintain subscriber records and transactions.

A CRA performs central recordkeeping and related subscriber-transaction functions in the NPS architecture.

Correct answer: B — Investor-facing NPS service and distribution interface.

PoPs provide subscriber-facing services within the NPS architecture, subject to regulatory requirements.

Correct answer: A — Manages pension assets in permitted investments.

Pension funds manage investment portfolios according to regulations, mandates and investment guidelines.

Correct answer: D — DC benefit depends on contributions and investment outcomes; DB benefit follows a promised formula.

A defined-contribution scheme accumulates contributions and returns; a defined-benefit scheme promises benefits based on scheme rules.

Correct answer: C — Separation of recordkeeping, custody and investment management roles.

Separation of key functions, oversight and reconciliation form part of safeguards for retirement assets.

Correct answer: B — A stream of periodic payments.

An annuity converts capital or a contract right into payments over specified intervals and conditions.

Correct answer: A — Negative returns near withdrawals can damage sustainable retirement income.

Investment losses near retirement or early withdrawal years can have disproportionate effects when money is being drawn down.

Correct answer: D — Revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts.

The deficit captures borrowing needs after subtracting non-borrowing receipts from total expenditure.

Correct answer: C — ₹150.

A spending multiplier of 1.5 means modelled ΔY = 1.5 × 100 = ₹150. Actual effects vary with economic conditions.

Correct answer: B — Overall prices of domestically produced final output.

The GDP deflator is nominal GDP divided by real GDP times 100, reflecting economy-wide domestic output prices.

Correct answer: A — Higher interest rates.

Refinancing higher-cost debt can increase interest expenditure, all else being equal.

Correct answer: D — Higher taxable incomes tend to face higher marginal rates.

Progressivity refers to rates rising with taxable income under the relevant schedule.

Correct answer: C — Review of economic developments and policy analysis.

The Economic Survey analyses macroeconomic trends, sectors and policy issues; exact publication practices can change.

Correct answer: B — Inflation and unemployment.

The Phillips-curve framework examines inflation-unemployment dynamics, with expectations and supply shocks affecting the relationship.

Correct answer: A — Reduces banks’ deployable resources.

A higher required reserve share ties up more deposits in required reserves, affecting bank liquidity.

Correct answer: D — Current external payments exceeding current receipts.

It reflects a net shortfall on the current account, including trade, services, income and transfers.

Correct answer: C — 0.6.

MPC = change in consumption / change in disposable income = 60/100 = 0.6.

Correct answer: B — Core revenue-generating operations.

Operating cash flows generally arise from the principal revenue-producing activities of the entity.

Correct answer: A — Inventory for sale.

Inventory is generally held for sale or consumed in the ordinary operating cycle and is classified as current.

Correct answer: D — Existing shareholders under specified terms.

A rights issue generally gives eligible existing shareholders an opportunity to subscribe for additional shares.

Correct answer: C — Capitalising eligible reserves in accordance with law.

A bonus issue capitalises qualifying reserves and increases paid-up share capital without fresh cash subscription.

Correct answer: B — Current ratio.

Current ratio compares current assets with current liabilities.

Correct answer: A — Systematic allocation of the depreciable amount.

Depreciation allocates an asset’s depreciable value over its estimated useful life.

Correct answer: D — Give eligible employees an option to acquire company shares under a plan.

ESOPs can align employee incentives with share value subject to vesting and applicable regulations.

Correct answer: C — Liability until earned.

Until performance obligations are met, consideration received in advance generally gives rise to a contract liability.

Correct answer: B — ₹7,25,000.

Equity = 12,00,000 − 4,75,000 = ₹7,25,000.

Correct answer: A — 37.5%.

Gross profit = ₹3 lakh; gross margin = 3/8 × 100 = 37.5%.

Correct answer: D — Controlling.

Controlling measures performance against objectives and triggers corrective action.

Correct answer: C — Above belongingness and below self-actualisation.

The conventional hierarchy proceeds physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self-actualisation.

Correct answer: B — Hygiene factors.

Herzberg grouped satisfaction drivers as motivators and dissatisfaction-preventing conditions as hygiene factors.

Correct answer: A — Expectancy, instrumentality and valence.

Expectancy theory models effort-performance belief, performance-outcome belief and the attractiveness of outcomes.

Correct answer: D — Assigning authority to perform tasks while retaining accountability.

Authority can be delegated to subordinates, but the delegating manager remains accountable for results.

Correct answer: C — Forming–storming–norming–performing.

Tuckman’s model describes forming, storming, norming and performing, later extended by adjourning.

Correct answer: B — Multiple stakeholder perspectives.

Multi-rater feedback can include supervisors, peers, subordinates and other relevant raters.

Correct answer: A — Two managers at similar hierarchical level coordinate.

Lateral or horizontal communication occurs across the same organisational level.

Correct answer: D — Participation in decisions.

Participative or democratic leadership seeks input while retaining appropriate responsibility for decisions.

Correct answer: C — Self-awareness and interpersonal feedback.

The Johari Window contrasts what is known and unknown to self and others, supporting feedback and awareness.

Correct answer: B — Issue of new securities.

The primary market channels funds to issuers through fresh securities offerings.

Correct answer: A — Trading of existing securities.

Secondary markets provide liquidity and price discovery for securities already issued.

Correct answer: D — An exchange-traded standardised derivative.

Futures are usually standardised exchange-traded derivative contracts with clearing and margin arrangements.

Correct answer: C — Exchange of specified cash flows between parties.

Swaps exchange contractual cash flows such as fixed and floating interest payments.

Correct answer: B — In opposite directions.

For ordinary fixed-coupon bonds, higher required yields reduce present value and hence price.

Correct answer: A — Combining imperfectly correlated exposures.

Imperfect correlation can reduce portfolio volatility relative to concentrating in one exposure.

Correct answer: D — A debt security.

Debentures ordinarily represent a company’s borrowing instrument, subject to terms and legal classification.

Correct answer: C — ₹100.

Present value = 110/(1.10) = ₹100.

Correct answer: B — 8%.

Holding-period return = (1,080−1,000)/1,000 = 8%.

Correct answer: A — Money market.

The money market facilitates trading in short-term funds and instruments such as Treasury bills and commercial paper.

Correct answer: D — Selling price minus variable cost per unit.

Contribution per unit is selling price less variable cost and contributes towards fixed cost and profit.

Correct answer: C — Fixed cost / contribution per unit.

At break-even, total contribution equals fixed costs, so units = fixed costs ÷ unit contribution.

Correct answer: B — Monthly factory rent.

Rent generally does not vary with each unit over a relevant range, unlike direct variable costs.

Correct answer: A — Variable and fixed costs.

Marginal costing separates variable costs from fixed costs and uses contribution for decision-making.

Correct answer: D — Actual purchase price is lower than standard, holding quantity constant.

A lower actual price than the standard creates a favourable price difference for actual quantity acquired.

Correct answer: C — Reduce inventory and produce or obtain inputs when needed.

JIT reduces excess stock and waiting by synchronising supply with production demand, though resilience is important.

Correct answer: B — Continuous incremental improvement.

Kaizen emphasises ongoing small improvements supported by employee involvement and feedback.

Correct answer: A — Sort.

The 5S method begins with sorting necessary from unnecessary items in the workplace.

Correct answer: D — 3,000.

Contribution = 150−90 = ₹60; break-even = 1,80,000/60 = 3,000 units.

Correct answer: C — 35%.

Contribution ₹70; contribution margin ratio = 70/200 ×100 = 35%.

Correct answer: B — Chapter III.

Chapter III addresses prospectus and allotment of securities; consult the Act for exact sections and exceptions.

Correct answer: A — Chapter IV.

Chapter IV covers share capital and debentures in the Companies Act, 2013.

Correct answer: D — Chapter VIII.

Chapter VIII sets out the framework relating to declaration and payment of dividends.

Correct answer: C — Chapter X.

Chapter X concerns audit and auditors, including appointment, duties and related requirements.

Correct answer: B — Chapter XI.

Chapter XI addresses appointment and qualifications of directors.

Correct answer: A — Chapter XII.

Chapter XII governs meetings of the Board and its powers.

Correct answer: D — Chapter XXVII.

Chapter XXVII provides for the National Company Law Tribunal and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Correct answer: C — Members consider prescribed annual business.

An AGM is a members’ meeting at which legally prescribed ordinary and special business may be considered.

Correct answer: B — Act in good faith for company objects and members, subject to law.

Section 166 describes directors’ duties, including good faith, reasonable care and avoidance of improper conflicts.

Correct answer: A — Objective oversight and independent judgment.

Independent directors support board oversight and challenge, within the Companies Act and governance framework.

Correct answer: D — Purchasing power falls as prices rise.

When nominal income is fixed and prices rise, purchasing power declines.

Correct answer: C — Proportions invested across asset classes.

Asset allocation distributes retirement savings among classes such as equities, debt and other permitted assets.

Correct answer: B — For the annuitant’s lifetime subject to contract.

A life annuity provides contractual payments over the annuitant’s life; different variants address survivors or guarantee periods.

Correct answer: A — Atal Pension Yojana.

APY is a pension scheme with specified benefit options subject to eligibility and the applicable rules.

Correct answer: D — Align portfolio risk with withdrawal horizon.

Time horizon, liabilities and risk capacity influence an appropriate retirement asset mix.

Correct answer: C — Labelled input-output examples.

Supervised learning uses labelled examples to learn a mapping for prediction or classification.

Correct answer: B — Unsupervised learning.

Clustering discovers structure in unlabelled data and is a common unsupervised-learning task.

Correct answer: A — Memorises training idiosyncrasies and generalises poorly.

An overfit model learns noise or peculiarities of the training set, producing weaker performance on unseen cases.

Correct answer: D — Estimating out-of-sample performance across data splits.

Cross-validation divides data into training-validation folds to assess generalisation and select models.

Correct answer: C — Classifying customer grievance text by topic.

NLP systems analyse or generate human language, including categorisation, sentiment and summarisation.

Correct answer: B — Attitudes or emotional tone in text.

Sentiment analysis classifies expressed polarity or emotion, although context and sarcasm can reduce reliability.

Correct answer: A — Training uses information unavailable at actual prediction time.

Leakage contaminates training or validation with future or target-related information, inflating apparent accuracy.

Correct answer: D — Hallucination.

Language-model hallucination refers to generated content unsupported by actual evidence, requiring verification.

Correct answer: C — Privacy safeguards, human escalation and factual source verification.

Sensitive financial services need privacy protection, transparency, escalation and verifiable responses.

Correct answer: B — Interactions and reward signals.

Reinforcement learning optimises policies based on rewards from interaction with an environment.

Correct answer: A — Dividing a broad market into groups with shared characteristics.

Segmentation identifies meaningful groups to tailor appropriate services or communication strategies.

Correct answer: D — Product, price, place and promotion.

The classic 4Ps are product, price, place and promotion.

Correct answer: C — Privacy, fairness and manipulation.

Highly granular targeting can create privacy and fairness risks, particularly with sensitive behavioural data.

Correct answer: B — Blending of previously separate media formats and channels through digital technologies.

Convergence describes overlapping distribution, content and communication functions across media.

Correct answer: A — Access to and ability to use digital technology.

Digital inclusion depends on connectivity, devices, affordability, literacy and accessibility.

Correct answer: D — Clarifying, paraphrasing and attending to the speaker.

Active listening checks understanding through attention, questions, paraphrase and constructive feedback.

Correct answer: C — Conversion rate.

Conversion rate is the number completing the target action divided by the relevant visitor or audience base.

Correct answer: B — A research-informed representation of a target user group.

Personas synthesise user needs, contexts and behaviours and should be based on evidence rather than stereotypes.

Correct answer: A — Use plain language and disclose risks, limits and conditions.

Accessible, accurate and balanced messages help people understand pension choices without misleading claims.

Correct answer: D — Restate the issue, identify interests and agree on next steps.

Good resolution uses neutral listening, fact gathering, reasonable options and a clear agreed action plan.

Correct answer: C — Excess demand or shortage.

A binding price ceiling can raise quantity demanded while discouraging quantity supplied, causing shortage.

Correct answer: B — Quantity demanded to a price change.

Own-price elasticity is percentage change in quantity demanded divided by percentage change in price.

Correct answer: A — Higher public spending or lower taxes, other things unchanged.

Expansionary fiscal measures seek to support aggregate demand through spending and tax adjustments.

Correct answer: D — Marginal propensity to consume.

The coefficient b measures the change in consumption per unit change in disposable income.

Correct answer: C — Make exports cheaper to foreign buyers and imports costlier domestically.

Currency depreciation changes relative prices, but volumes and the trade balance also depend on elasticities and contracts.