industries manufacturing & service sectors section 6 MCQ Questions & Answers Detailed Explanation

Answer: (d)

The government established NIIF in 2015 with the aim to attract investment from both domestic and international sources for funding commercially viable Greenfield, Brownfield and stalled projects in the infrastructure sector. NIIF has been formed as a trust and is registered with SEBI under Category II of Alternative Investment Fund (for tax benefit). It is basically a quasi-sovereign wealth fund as the government holds only 49% ownership.

NIIF will get funds from:

Overseas sovereign/quasi-sovereign/ multilateral/bilateral investors through equity. Cash-rich central PSU, provident funds, insurance funds can also invest in NIIF over and above Govt. of India share. Market borrowings (debt).

NIIF will invest in:

Infrastructure projects through equity and debt both; and

Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Financial Institutions (FIs) are involved in infrastructure financing through equity. Structure of NIIF equity (49%) (equity 51%) (debt) equity/debt equity

Answer: (a)

Answer: (d)

In Maharashtra, the arrival of foreign tourists was maximum according to the data of the Tourism Ministry in 2012.

Maharashtra received the highest number of foreign tourists in the country with nearly 4.8 million tourist arrivals in 2011.

Maharashtra was followed by Tamil Nadu and New Delhi, which welcomed 3.4 million and 2.2 million foreigners respectively in the same period.

Answer: (d)

The Reserve Bank of India is the main monetary authority of the country and besides that, in its capacity as the central bank, acts as the bank of the national and state governments.

Sometimes it happens that some of the banks close down due to non-recovery of loans or such other issues. In such conditions, people have to suffer as their money is with the bank then.

For this reason, there is a provision for winding up of the banking company under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The power of winding up of Bank lies in the hand of the Reserve Bank of India.

Answer: (b)

With an aim to attract more visitors to the country by improving cleanliness and hygiene at tourist destinations, Tourism Ministry launched the “Clean India” campaign at the world heritage site Taj Mahal, which has been adopted by ONGC.

It is the second site to be covered under this project. The first one was Qutub Minar.

Answer: (b)

The government of India in 2016 launched the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) for the exploration and production (E&P) of oil and gas which will replace the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). The following are some of the important features of the policy:

A uniform/single license to enable the EØ&P operators to explore and extract conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources including Coal Bed Methane, Shale Gas/Oil, Tight gas, Gas hydrates and any other resource which falls within the definition of "Petroleum" and "Natural Gas"

Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP): Earlier E&P operators were forced to bid for only those blocks which were chosen by the government. Now they can apply for particular areas/blocks they deem to be attractive to invest in, and the Centre will put those areas up for bids.

This is more attractive for prospective operators because, in the past, the blocks are chosen by the government often were large swathes of land or sea in which only a small fraction had hydrocarbon reserves. By offering companies the freedom to choose exactly the areas they want to explore, and their size, the government has a better chance to woo serious energy investors in an effort to help achieve a more cohesive framework of the country’s energy security.

The E&P operators will have to bid for the blocks based on a revenue-sharing model rather than profit sharing. Bidders will be required to quote % of revenue share to the Govt. in their bids which will be a key parameter for selecting the winning bid. In this model the operator will have to share the revenue with the government from the first year of production notwithstanding the operator is making a profit or loss.

This model does not require auditing of costs incurred by the operator but is riskier for investors as it requires sharing of the revenues with the government from the first year itself before the operators have recovered their costs and even if they are making losses.

National Data Repository, which is envisaged as a centralized database of geological and hydrocarbon information, in line with the Digital India initiative, will be available to all. Besides allowing potential investors to make informed decisions, this will open up a new sector in India.

There are a number of companies around the world that make it their business to simply explore hydrocarbon basins and sell the information they gather. The new initiative seeks to incentivise such prospectors.