Q390. Consider the money multiplier:
(1) Currency held by the public reduces deposit creation.
(2) Larger cash reserves increase the multiplier.
(3) A higher CRR restricts bank credit creation.
Which statements are correct?
[SSC CGL Tier I 2025]
A. 1 and 3 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 1 and 2 only
D. 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (A) 1 and 3 only
Explanation: Holding cash outside banks interrupts the deposit-lending cycle. Higher required reserves also leave less of each deposit available for loans, reducing the banking multiplier. It is therefore wrong to suggest that accumulating additional cash reserves expands the multiplier.
Q389. Which public institution provides financial services through postal staff and Gramin Dak Sevaks?
[SSC CGL Tier I 2025]
A. National Social Assistance Programme
B. India Post Payments Bank
C. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
D. PRAGATI
Answer: (B) India Post Payments Bank
Explanation: India Post Payments Bank uses the postal network for doorstep banking and basic financial inclusion. Postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks assist with accounts, payments and related services; the other choices concern social assistance, healthcare assurance or governance monitoring.
Q388. What is the principal objective of monetary policy in India?
[MPPSC Prelims 2025]
A. Promoting stock-market turnover
B. Maintaining price stability while keeping growth in mind
C. Fixing every commercial-bank lending rate
D. Eliminating all government borrowing
Answer: (B) Maintaining price stability while keeping growth in mind
Explanation: Under the amended RBI Act, monetary policy gives priority to price stability while keeping economic growth in mind. The Monetary Policy Committee sets the policy repo rate to meet the inflation target; it does not directly administer every loan interest rate.
Q387. Which item is not normally considered a component of the financial-sector reform programme initiated after 1991?
[RPSC RAS Prelims (2024 cycle, held 2025) 2025]
A. Capital-adequacy requirements
B. Recognition and resolution of non-performing assets
C. Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act
D. SARFAESI legislation
Answer: (C) Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act
Explanation: Capital adequacy, prudential treatment of non-performing assets and SARFAESI provisions concern banking and credit-market reform. The FRBM Act primarily disciplines public borrowing and budget deficits, making it a measure of fiscal governance rather than a banking-sector reform.
Q386. Which authority received recognition in March 2025 for the digital initiatives PRAVAAH and SAARTHI?
[RRB Group D, 15 Dec, Shift 3 2025]
A. Reserve Bank of India
B. NPCI
C. NABARD
D. SEBI
Answer: (A) Reserve Bank of India
Explanation: The Reserve Bank of India’s initiatives included PRAVAAH, a platform supporting regulatory applications, and SAARTHI, an internal workflow system. This railway examination tested the associated institution rather than a generic digital-payment brand.
Q385. Who assumed office as SEBI Chairperson in March 2025?
[RRB Group D, 1 Dec, Shift 3 2025]
A. Madhabi Puri Buch
B. Shaktikanta Das
C. Tuhin Kanta Pandey
D. Arvind Panagariya
Answer: (C) Tuhin Kanta Pandey
Explanation: Tuhin Kanta Pandey became Chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in March 2025. He succeeded Madhabi Puri Buch. The answer is tied to the historical appointment asked in this paper.
Q384. Which individual took over the chairmanship of SEBI on 1 March 2025?
[RRB Group D, 23 Dec, Shift 3 2025]
A. Ananth Narayan G
B. Tuhin Kanta Pandey
C. Madhabi Puri Buch
D. Ashwani Bhatia
Answer: (B) Tuhin Kanta Pandey
Explanation: The regulatory leadership changed when Tuhin Kanta Pandey took charge of SEBI on 1 March 2025. The date and individual are the subject of this second, separately held railway paper.
Q383. In what year did the National Stock Exchange commence actual trading operations?
[SSC CHSL Tier I, 29 Nov, Shift 1 2025]
A. 1994
B. 1998
C. 2002
D. 1996
Answer: (A) 1994
Explanation: NSE began wholesale-debt trading in June 1994 and equity trading in November of that year. Its incorporation occurred earlier, in 1992, making these two separate financial-market chronology facts.
Q382. When did NSE launch trading in Nifty-based index options?
[SSC CHSL Tier I, 21 Nov, Shift 3 2025]
A. 2006
B. 2001
C. 2003
D. 2005
Answer: (B) 2001
Explanation: Index options trading on Nifty commenced on 4 June 2001 at the National Stock Exchange. Index options are derivatives that give holders contractual rights linked to the level of a specified market index.
Q381. Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligations (CBLO) belong to which segment?
[UPSC CSE Prelims 2024]
A. Bond market
B. Foreign-exchange market
C. Money market
D. Equity market
Answer: (C) Money market
Explanation: CBLO was a collateral-backed short-term borrowing and lending instrument. Such instruments address temporary funding and liquidity needs among eligible financial institutions, which is characteristic of the money market rather than long-term securities or foreign-exchange trading.
