General Awareness Questions for Bank Exams - 3

GENERAL AWARENESS QUESTIONS - 3

1. As we all know rise of the 'BRICS' has left a vast impact on almost all aspects of the global economy. However, which of the following cannot be called as the direct effect(s) of ‘Rise of the BRICS’ on global/other powerful economy/economies?

(A) Countries like China wish to learn more about outsourcing from India.

(B) It has made countries to suffer from Sub-prime Crisis.

(C) EURO has become a powerful currency and many non- Euro countries are in 'Swap Agreement' with various nations.

(a) Only A            (b) Only B            (c) Only C             (d) All A, B & C                   (e) None of these

Ans: (d)

2. The Government of India has launched a new scheme for the 'Girl Child'. What is the name of the scheme?

(a) Raj Lakshmi                  (b) Rani Bitia       (c) Dhanlaxmi    (d) Aanandita    (e) None of these

Ans: (c)

3. As per the new policy the number of Judges in the Supreme Court would now be:

(a) 21                     (b) 25                    (c) 26                     (d) 30                    (e) 31

Ans: (e)

4. As, per the reports published in - the newspapers the banks, particularly public sector banks are tying up with various rating agencies for providing a qualitative assessment of the credit needs of the borrowers. Which amongst the following is/are such credit rating agencies in India?

(A) CARE              (B) CRISIL             (C) ULIP

(a) Only A            (b) Only B            (c) A & B only     (d) Only C            (5) All A, B & C

Ans: (c)

5. As per the newspaper reports the RBI is planning to introduce "Plastic Currency Notes". What is/are the benefits of "Plastic Notes"?

(A) Their Shelf life will be longer.              (B) It will replace plastic money or Credit, debit cards which are giving birth to many fraudulent practices.      (C) Printing will be cheaper.

(a) Only C            (b) Only B            (c) Only A            (d) All A, B & C   (e) None of these

Ans: (c)

6. 'Sub Prime Lending' is a term applied to the loans made to

(a) those borrowers who do not have a good credit history.

(b) those who wish to take loan against the mortgage of tangible assets.

(c) those who have a good credit history and are known to bank since 10'years.

(d) those borrowers who are most preferred customers of the Bank.

(e) None of these

Ans: (d)

7. As per the reports published in various journals and newspapers the "small borrowers" in rural areas still prefer to take informal route for their credit needs. Which of the following is the "informal route" of credit in financial sector?

(a) Credit cards                                 (b) Loan against gold from financial institutions (c) Debit cards

(d) Moneylender             (e) None of these

Ans: (d)

8. Basel-II norms are associated with which of the following aspects of the banking industry?

(a) Risk management     (b) Manpower planning                                (c) Retirement benefits for the employees (d) Corporate Governance       (e) None of these

Ans: (a)

9. What is meant by "Underwriting" the term frequently used in financial sector?

(a) Undervaluation of the assets              

(b) The Act of taking on a risk for a fee  

(c) Giving a Guarantee that a loan will not become a bad loan    

(d) The act of permission to float an IPO               

(e) None of these

Ans: (c)

10. Indra K. Nooyi who was elected as the Chairperson of the US-India Business Council is the CEO of which of the following Companies?

(a) Pepsi Co.       (b) Infosys          (c) Tata Consultancy Services      (d) NUT                (e) None of these

Ans: (a)

11. As per the news published in some newspapers magazines two PSUs National Thermal Power Corporation and Coal India Ltd. are going to float a joint venture 'SPV. What is the full form of "SPV" ?

(a) Small Power Venture

(b) Special Purpose Vehicle

(c) Special Power Venture

(d) Small Purpose Vehicle

(e) None of these

Ans: (b)

12. Which of the following is the name of very violent and serious types of winds which bring lot of disaster?

(a) Trade winds                                 (b) Hurricane     (c) Cirrus              (d) Stratus           (e) None of these

Ans: (b)

13. As we have noticed many banks of Indian origin are opening offices/branches in foreign countries. Why is this trend emerging at a very fast pace?

(A) These Banks wish to provide banking facilities to foreigners as banking facilities are not plenty in many foreign countries. India wants to take an advantage of the situation.

(B) These banks wish to help Indian firms, to acquire funds at internationally competitive rates.

(C) These banks wish to promote trade and investment between India and other countries.

(a) Only A            (b) Only B            (c) Only C             (d) All A, B & C   (e) Only B & C

Ans: (e)

14. Which of the following is NOT a banking/finance related term?

(a) Credit wrap    (b) EMI              (c) Held to Maturity        (d) Exposure limit     (e) Diffusion

Ans: (e)

15. Very often we read about the Doha Ministerial Conference 2001 in reference to WTO negotiations. What were the major issues over which nations were of different opinions?

(A) Providing Subsidy to agriculture.

(B) Export of patented drugs/ medicines by developed nations.

(C) Restriction on natural movement of people from one nation to other.

(a) Only A            (b) Only B            (c) Only C             (d) Both A & C   (e) None of these

Ans: (a)

English Verbal - 9

English – Verbal for Bank Exams

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

Financial Inclusion (FI) is an emerging priority for banks that have nowhere else to go to achieve business growth. The viability of FI business is under question, because while banks and their delivery partners continue to make investments, they haven’t seen commensurate returns. In markets like India, most programs are focused on customer on-boarding, an expensive process which people often find difficult to afford, involving issuance of smart cards to the customers. However, large scale customer acquisition hasn’t translated into large scale customer acquisition hasn’t translated into large scale business, with many accounts lying dormant and therefore yielding no return on the bank’s investment. For the same reason, Business Correspondent Agents who constitute the primary channel for financial inclusion are unable to pursue their activity as a full-time job. One major reason for this state of events is that the customer on-boarding process is often delayed after the submission of documents (required to validate the details of the concerned applicant) by the applicant and might take as long as two weeks. By this time the initial enthusiasm of applicants fade away. Moreover, the delivery partners don’t have the knowledge and skill to propose anything other than the most basic financial products to the customer and hence do not serve their banks’ goal of expanding the offering in unbanked markets.

Contrary to popular perception, the inclusion segment is not a singular impoverished, undifferentiated mass and it is important to navigate its diversity to identify the right target customers for various programs. Rural markets do have their share of rich people who do not use banking services simply because they are inconvenient to access or have low perceived value. At the same time, urban markets, despite a high branch density, have multitude of low wage earners outside the financial net. Moreover, the branch timing of banks rarely coincides with the off-work hours of the labour class.

Creating affordability is crucial in tapping the unbanked market. No doubt pricing is a tool, but banks also need to convince customers that they can derive big value even from small amounts. One way of doing this is to show the target audience that a bank account is actually a lifestyle enabler, a convenient and safe means to send money to family or make a variety of purchases. Once banks succeed in hooking customers with this value proposition they must sustain their interest by introducing a simple and intuitive use application, ubiquitous access over mobile and other touch points, and adopting a banking mechanism which is not only secure but also reassuring to the customer. Technology is the most important element of financial inclusion strategy and an enabler of all others. The choice of technology is therefore a crucial decision, which could make or mar the agenda. Of the various selection criteria, cost is perhaps the most important. This certainly does not mean buying the cheapest package, but rather choosing that solution which by scaling transactions to huge volumes reduces per unit operating cost. An optimal mix of these strategies cost would no doubt offer an innovative means of expansion in the unbanked market.

1. Which of the following facts is true as per the passage?

(1) People from rural areas have high perceived value of banking services
(2) Cost is not a valid criterion for technological package selection for financial inclusion initiatives
(3) The inclusion segment is a singular impoverished, undifferentiated mass
(4) The branch timings of banks generally do not coincide with the off-work hours of the labour class in urban markets
(5) All the given statements are true

Ans: (4)

2. According to the passage, for which of the following reasons do the delivery partners fail to serve their bank’s goal to expand in the unbanked markets?

(a) They do not have adequate client base to sell their financial products
(b) They do not have adequate knowledge and skills to explain anything beyond basic financial products to the customers
(c) They do not have the skills to operate advanced technological aids that are a prerequisite to tap the unbanked market

(1) Only (b)

(2) Only (c)
(3) All (a), (b) and (c)
(4) Only (a)
(5) Both (b) and (c)

Ans: (1)

3. According to the passage, for which of the following reasons is the viability of financial inclusion under question?

(1) The banks always prefer the cheapest package (to cut cost) while making a choice of technology to be used
(2) The Business Correspondent Agents are highly demotivated to pursue their activity as a full-time job
(3) The investments made by banks and its delivery partners are not yielding equal amount of returns
(4) The banks do not have adequate number of delivery partners required to tap the unbanked market
(5) The banks do not have adequate manpower to explore the diversity of the unbanked market and thereby identify the right target customers for various programs

Ans: (3)

4. In the passage, which has specified the following characteristics of the customer on-boarding process?

(1) In involves collection of documents from the applicants in order to validate their details
(2) In involved issuance of smart cards to the customers
(3) If suffers from latency as it takes a long time after submission of documents by the customer
(4) It is an expensive process which people find difficult to afford
(5) All of the above given characteristics have been specified

Ans: (5)

5. What did the author try to highlight in the passage?

(a) The ailing condition of financial inclusion business at present
(b) Strategies that may help bank to expand in the unbanked market
(c) Role of government in modifying the existing financial inclusion policies

(1) Both (a) and (b)
(2) All (a), (b) and (c)
(3) Only (c)

(4) Only (a)
(5) Only (b)

Ans: (1)

6. According to the passage, which of the following ways may help banks to sustain the interest of their customers after hooking them?

(a) Adoption of a banking machinist which is not only secure but reassuring to the customers
(b) Increasing the number of delivery partners in rural market
(c) Introduction of a simple and intuitive user application

(1) Only (a)

(2) Only (c)
(3) Only (b)

(4) All (a), (b) and (c)
(5) Both (a) and (c)

Ans: (5)

Directions: Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

7. Multitude

(1) Impoverished            

(2) Handful        

(3) Acknowledged          

(4) Plenty
(5) Solitude

Ans: (4)

8. Ubiquitous

(1) Quintessential
(2) Popular
(3) Omnipresent
(4) Simplified
(5) Abnormal

Ans: (3)

Directions: Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

9. Dormant

(1) Emaciated

(2) Pertinent
(3) Cornered

(4) Rejected
(5) Active

Ans: (5)

10. Delayed

(1) Perturbed

(2) Popularized
(3) Expedited

(4) Stablised
(5) Repressed

Ans: (3)

Directions: Rearrange the following six sentences (A), (B), (C), (D), (E) and (F) in the proper sequence to form a meaningful paragraph; then answer the questions given below them.

(A) The group desired to enhance the learning experience in schools with an interactive digital medium that could be used within and outside the class-room.

(B) Then the teacher can act on the downloaded data rather than collect it from each and every student and thereby save his time and effort.

(C) Edutor decided the group of engineers, all alumni of the Indian Institute of technology, when they founded Edutor Technologies in August 2009.

(D) They can even take tests and submit them digitally using the same tablets and the teachers in turn can download the tests using the company’s cloud services.

(E) With this desire created a solution that digitizes school textbooks and other learning material so that students no longer has to carry as many books to school and back as before, but can access their study material on their touch-screen tablets.

(F) A mechanic works on motors and an accountant has his computer. Likewise, if a student has to work on a machine or device, what should it be called?

11. Which of the following sentences should be the FIRST after arrangement?

(1) F       (2) D      (3) A      (4) C       (5) E

Ans: (1)

12. Which of the following sentences should be the THIRD after arrangement?

(1) A      (2) B       (3) D      (4) D      (5) F

Ans: (1)

13. Which of the following sentences should be the SIXTH (LAST) after arrangement?

(1) A      (2) F       ( 3) E      (4) B       (5) D

Ans: (4)

14. Which of the following sentences should be the FOURTH after arrangement?

(1) A      (2) F       (3) E       (4) B       (5) C

Ans: (3)

15. Which of the following sentences should be the FIFTH after arrangement?

(1) A      (2) D      (3) C       (4) E       (5) F

Ans: (2)

English - Verbal

English - Verbal

The meaning of some selected words in English.

1.       Affliction - distress, suffering

2.       Docile - easily trained or controlled

3.       Efface - rub or wipe out, obliterate

4.       Elucidate - to make understandable

5.       Enthral - take the whole attention, enslave

6.       Petulant - unreasonably impatient or irritable

7.       Quenching - satisfy, put an end to, put out

8.       Reticent - in the habit of saying little

9.       Tantalize - raise hopes that cannot be realized

10.   Taciturn - unspoken, silent

Passage

Nearly forty years ago, former President Kennedy signed the National Reproductive Policy Act, this nation's first major federal law addressing federal reproductive freedom. Although the nation has now witnessed almost forty years of continuing debate (5) about abortion freedom law, a relatively new element has recently entered the controversy: the use of partial birth procedures and their high risks in facilitating voluntary third trimester pregnancy terminations.

(10) Before the development of techniques to facilitate partial birth abortions, when an unwanted pregnancy occurred, a government agency often simply told a patient she could only abort during the first trimester. Doctors performing the procedures often relied on visual observations to determine compliance with the legal time limits. (15) Most reproductive freedom professionals consider flexible legal guidelines an improvement over pre-1960 restrictions because it provides a factual and scientific basis for the abortion methodology rather than an intuitive or emotional basis. Accordingly, many reproductive freedom professionals regard formal abortion laws (20) to be neutral policy tools that can be employed by the government to make sound policy judgments that assure efficient and appropriate procedures.

But are abortion laws and their proponents really neutral political (25) issues? Analysis of the choices that must be made in reproductive issues makes the answer clear. Because pregnancy termination depends on choices for which there is no a priori legal method of deciding from among available assumptions, decisions ultimately depends largely, if not predominantly, on values (30) positions rather than on legal precedent . Laws must now govern partial birth abortion methodology for women's health, including a determination of whether the procedure will cause an adverse health effect; dose-response assessment of drugs, an analysis of the relationship between an administered dose and the incidence of (35) the adverse health effect; exposure assessment, an analysis of the processes and pathways by which contact with a labour-inducement drug creates opportunity for exposure; and risk characterization, the process of identifying the incidence of adverse health effects under various clinical conditions-requires the application (40) of some judgment that must ultimately rely on some- thing less than legally-proven principles. Indeed, many of the choices that must be made in completing a risk assessment must be viewed as pure values judgments. For example, in the hazard identification portion of an assessment, the decision (45) on picking a confidence level to determine statistically whether there has been a positive determination of whether a labour-inducement drug is a hazard is a pure values judgment.

Decisions on reproductive freedom based on current risk assessment (50) procedures should therefore be viewed primarily as ethical choices rather than as technically dictated conclusions. It is important in an age of increasing scientific complexity that interested parties attempt to understand the values positions and ethical issues that underlie legally derived policy (55) choices. Government must bring greater clarity to the debate about reproductive freedom through identification of the embedded values positions and issues in therapeutic abortion procedures.

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) Therapeutic abortion is an improvement over past methods because it is based more on factual evidence than on intuition.
(B) Former President Kennedy did more than his predecessors to protect the reproductive freedom of women by approving the use of first trimester abortion.
(C) Though perhaps more radical than previous birth control measures, partial birth abortion is a value-free process.
(D) While the concept of partial birth abortion is enticing from a scientific viewpoint, this method is so expensive that its use is impractical on a large scale.
(E) Since past abortion procedures were effective in the first trimester, the government should not have approved further restrictions on its use or implementation.

Ans: Choice C correctly and elegantly sums up the author's scepticism. Choice A contradicts the author's view, while B violates the actual timeline of events. Choice D totally misses the ethical question, while E goes too far.

2. All of the following are explicitly mentioned in the passage as part of the adverse health effects EXCEPT

(A) visual observation
(B) exposure assessment
(C) analysis of labour-inducement drugs
(D) risk characterization

(E) dose-response assessment

 Ans: Choice A is correct. All other components appear explicitly in the four wrong choices.

3. The author most probably mentions "confidence level" (line 45) in order to

(A) demonstrate that partial birth procedures are safer than past abortion methods
(B) question the accuracy of physician's clinical observations
(C) suggest that government should eliminate ambiguities in its reproductive freedom agenda
(D) show that non legal principles can affect subsequent legal decisions
(E) strengthen the notion that the National Reproductive Policy Act needs to be modified

Ans: Choice D is correct. Choices A and B refer to earlier efforts, while C comes at the very end of the passage. E has no connection with either risk assessment or the line in question.

4. The author suggests which one of the following about abortion methods that predated the development of the partial birth procedure?

(A) They are considered to be completely ineffective in protecting women's health.
(B) President Kennedy's National Reproductive Policy Act was based on their success.
(C) Many reproductive freedom professionals are not satisfied with the results produced by these methods.
(D) They are often difficult to apply because they depend on precise time limitations.
(E) The best features of these methods should be integrated into the partial birth process.

Ans: Choice C is easily inferable from the passage. Choice A goes too far, while B and E aren't supported by the passage. Choice D is simply incorrect.

5. Which of the following words, as it appears in the passage, best supports the author's view of the role of non-legal components in the risk assessment process?

(A) improvement (line 16)
(B) neutral (line 20)
(C) adverse (line 35)
(D) opportunity (line 38)
(E)  underlie (line 54)

Ans: Choice E best captures the main idea. Choices A and B are not improvements, while D is too positive. Choice C is tempting, but does not capture the idea as well as

6. The passage's reference to the "factual and scientific basis" of abortion rights process in line 17 serves which of the following functions?

(A) It explains the government's unwillingness to choose between older methods and the assessment of newer ones.
(B) It outlines the differences among reproductive freedomists over the practicality of visual observation techniques.
(C) It underscores the belief of reproductive freedomists that risk assessment is a useful method for evaluating new procedures.
(D) It introduces birth control policy choices for which there is no a priori assessment method.
(E) It highlights the attitude of reproductive freedomists toward the National Reproductive Policy Act.

Ans: Choice C is correct. Choice A is not mentioned in the passage, while B refers to a topic on which the passage's reproductive freedomists are undivided. Choices D and E come at incorrect points in the passage to make sense.

7. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) comparing risk assessment of new procedures with earlier abortion methods
(B) explaining why government should make explicit the ethical choices involved in reproductive freedom choices
(C) highlighting government's inability to deal effectively with reproductive freedom issues
(D) reviewing the evolution of abortion methods over the past two decades
(E) proposing a new method for reproductive freedom that incorporates the best features of risk assessment

Ans: Choice B well captures the overall concept of the passage. Choice A pushes too far, while C, D and E all miss the heart of the passage.

Dell International - Verbal

Dell International – Verbal

In the following questions fill in the blanks with appropriate choice answers to make it grammatically correct.

1.       There can be no arguing against a ___________ of mass public _________ and distribution of medicines, as in the UK.
a) trend,  awareness

b) notion,  welfare
c) phenomenon,  acceptance 
d) system,  procurement
e) backdrop,  campaign

Ans: (d)

2.       The government should ________ with the industry about what would be a _________ price for certain essential drugs.
a) negotiate, reasonable 
b) deal, transparent
c) appeal, negotiable 
d) raise, genuine
e) refrain, uniform

Ans: (a)

3.       Malnourishment of Indian children is mostly due to traditional taboos __________ with certain vital foods, and not due to their _____________.
a) containing, unavailability 
b) embraced, locality
c) associated, scarcity 
d) raised, nutrition
e) inserted, quality

Ans: (c)

4.       During his mandate, the secretary-general will face the _________ challenge of ________ a global agreement on climate change.
a) grave, drawing 
b) pressing, forging
c) massive, framing 
d) umpteen, sentencing
e) detrimental, inking

Ans: (b)

5.       The key for today's UN is not to _______ more goals, but to ________ those that have been set before.
a) bargain, offload 
b) address, justify
c) superseded, avail 
d) amen, respond
e) create, implement

Ans: (e)

In the following questions please choose the right option from among the choices.

6.       What was the role of the farmers who gave their lands for field testing of Genetically Engineered (GE) rice in Karnal?
a) They gave their lands for the testing against heavy rental.
b) They were in support of such a high-yield variety of the crop.
c) They were ignorant the consequence of such a trial.
d) They were in search of some experimentation in rice production.
e) None of these

Ans: (b)

7.       What keeps India in a commanding position in rice export to various foreign countries?

a) Indian varieties of rice are considered to be in natural and pure form.
b) India has cheaper varieties of rice compared to other countries.
c) India has surplus rice production every year.
d) India has gained numero-uno,  position in terms of quality and variety of rice.
e) None of these

Ans: (c)

8.       What could be a major consequence if cultivation of GE rice is allowed in India?
a) It will give the foreign countries an easy entry into our agriculture sector.
b) It will open the path for research and experimentation in the field of agriculture.
c) It will increase the profit margins of our farmers.
d) It will make our country depending on foreign technology.
e) None of these

Ans: (a)

9.       What should we do to maintain the natural gene pool of rice in our country?
a) We should not open our agriculture sector to the forces of globalization.
b) We should protect it from being mixed with other breeds and genes.
c) We should revise our policy of export of food grains.
d) We should complete with the genetically-engineered rice produced in foreign countries.
e) None of these

Ans: (b)

10.   Which of the following seems to be 'true' in the context?
a) Mexico has banned the cultivation of GE rice.
b) India has maintained its natural gene pool of corn so far.
c) GE rice has made its firm ground in our country.
d) GE crops can pose health hazards to mankind.
e) None of these

Ans: (e)

11.   Which of the following seems to be 'false' in the context?
a) Cross-pollination is not possible in the case of rice.
b) Mexico has taken measures against GE corn.
c) Introduction of GE rice is facing resistance in our country.
d) GE crops are unsafe for human consumption.
e) None of these

Ans: (d)

12.   What do you mean by gene-silencing in a crop?
a) Gene silencing in a crop is a technique in which different varieties of a crop grown together.
b) Gene silencing is a scientific term which is applied to boost the yield of a crop.
c) In gene silencing method the application of foreign gene to any variety of crop increase its yield.
d) The introduction of alien gene to a crop makes its natural gene dysfunction.
e) None of these

Ans: (d)

13.   What message is derived from all the above?
a) Save agriculture from the onslaught of globalization
b) Protect the original variety of rice
c) Ban the import of foreign food grains
d) Say no to scientific experiment in agriculture
e) None of these

Ans: (a)