MCQs - 2026-04

Indonesia held the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2023, and thus hosted the 20th India-ASEAN Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit in Jakarta.

The recent India-ASEAN Summit highlighted cooperation in joint naval exercises, capacity building for maritime domain awareness, and protection of maritime trade routes from piracy and other threats as key areas for enhancing maritime security.

Robust growth in manufacturing directly supports the 'Make in India' initiative by boosting domestic production, creating jobs, and potentially increasing exports, thereby making the initiative more successful.

The Manufacturing PMI is a survey-based economic indicator that provides timely information about the health of the manufacturing sector, reflecting trends in output, new orders, employment, and prices.

Robust growth in manufacturing signifies a healthy expansion, characterized by rising new orders, increased production volumes, and often, higher employment levels as companies scale up operations.

The RBI's primary objective, as per its mandate, is to maintain price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth. This involves managing inflation within a target range.

Maintaining the repo rate, rather than increasing it, can be a strategy to support economic growth by keeping borrowing costs stable for businesses and consumers, even while monitoring inflation.

The Repo Rate is the interest rate at which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends money to commercial banks, typically against government securities.

A record high Services PMI is usually driven by strong growth in new orders, increased business activity, and a corresponding rise in employment within the services sector.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates that the sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 suggests contraction. A reading of exactly 50 indicates no change.