Q330. The bank rate conventionally denotes the rate at which which institution lends to banks?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Commercial banks lend to firms
B. NABARD lends to households
C. Reserve Bank lends to commercial banks
D. Foreign banks quote exchange transactions
Answer: (C) Reserve Bank lends to commercial banks
Explanation: Bank rate refers to a central-bank lending or discount-rate benchmark, not the retail rate charged on ordinary corporate loans. It is one of the conventional monetary-policy concepts used to influence the cost and availability of bank credit.
Q329. Which bank-rate change is conventionally used to restrain inflation?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. A bank-rate reduction
B. A bank-rate increase
C. A currency devaluation only
D. A permanent zero bank rate
Answer: (B) A bank-rate increase
Explanation: An increase in the bank rate signals tighter financing conditions and can raise the cost of credit. By discouraging borrowing and expenditure, it can help moderate excessive demand-driven inflation, though inflation also depends on supply and fiscal factors.
Q328. What does the abbreviation CRR expand to in Indian banking?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Central Revenue Reserve
B. Cash Reserve Ratio
C. Current Repurchase Rate
D. Credit Rating Requirement
Answer: (B) Cash Reserve Ratio
Explanation: The Cash Reserve Ratio is a prescribed fraction of banks’ net demand and time liabilities maintained as cash balances with RBI. Changes in this requirement alter deployable liquidity and influence the credit-creation capacity of banks.
Q327. Which action is outside the RBI’s responsibility for managing monetary policy?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Modifying bank rate
B. Performing open-market operations
C. Serving as lender of last resort
D. Choosing the government’s fiscal deficit to balance its budget
Answer: (D) Choosing the government’s fiscal deficit to balance its budget
Explanation: Monetary operations and emergency bank liquidity are central-bank functions. The size and financing of the fiscal deficit emerge from government budgeting and parliamentary authorisation, not an RBI decision to determine expenditure and revenue policy.
Q326. Which objective lies outside the direct remit of RBI monetary policy?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Stable prices
B. Financial stability
C. Regulation of credit growth
D. Ensuring that government revenue exactly matches its expenditure
Answer: (D) Ensuring that government revenue exactly matches its expenditure
Explanation: Monetary policy addresses liquidity, policy interest rates and inflation while taking growth into account. Balancing government receipts against expenditure is fiscal policy. RBI may manage government borrowing but does not set the budget balance.
Q325. In what year was the Reserve Bank of India nationalised?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. 1935
B. 1956
C. 1949
D. 1961
Answer: (C) 1949
Explanation: The Reserve Bank began operating on 1 April 1935 and was originally privately owned. Ownership passed to the Government of India on 1 January 1949 under the RBI Transfer to Public Ownership legislation.
Q324. Which authority administers RBI repo and reverse-repo operations in India?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Finance Ministry
B. Reserve Bank of India
C. Comptroller and Auditor General
D. State Bank of India
Answer: (B) Reserve Bank of India
Explanation: Repo and reverse-repo instruments belong to central-bank liquidity operations. RBI undertakes these transactions under its monetary operating framework, with monetary-policy benchmarks determined through the statutory Monetary Policy Committee arrangement.
Q323. In which Indian city was the country’s first organised stock exchange established?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. Kolkata
B. Bombay (Mumbai)
C. Ahmedabad
D. Chennai
Answer: (B) Bombay (Mumbai)
Explanation: The Bombay Stock Exchange traces its origins to organised trading by brokers in Bombay during the nineteenth century. The exchange became a foundational institution for formal securities trading, price discovery and capital mobilisation in India.
Q322. On which date was SEBI originally established as a non-statutory body?
[WBCS Mains 2023]
A. 12 July 1982
B. 12 April 1988
C. 9 July 1988
D. 5 April 1995
Answer: (B) 12 April 1988
Explanation: The Securities and Exchange Board of India was initially constituted on 12 April 1988. Statutory powers followed through the SEBI Act, 1992, enabling it to supervise securities-market intermediaries and protect investors.
Q321. Within a self-help group, who takes collective decisions on saving and obtaining loans?
[SSC CGL Tier I, 24 Jul, Shift 4 2023]
A. Outside NGO alone
B. Group members
C. The local commercial bank exclusively
D. Only government authorities
Answer: (B) Group members
Explanation: Self-help groups rely on their members for collective thrift, internal lending and borrowing choices. A bank or NGO may support the process, but the group’s governing decisions belong to its participating members.
