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Question

Which set of keywords given below most closely captures the arguments of the passage?

The Indian financial sector has undergone tremendous changes in the last two decades. A lot of reforms have been undertaken in the sector that have led to proliferation of financial products, activities and organizational forms that have improved and increased the efficiency of the financial system. Mutual fund is a mechanism for pooling the resources by issuing units to the investors and investing funds in securities in accordance with objectives as disclosed in the offer document. Investments in securities are spread across a wide cross-section of industries and sectors and thus the risk is reduced. Diversification reduces the risk because not all stocks may move in the same direction in the same proportion at the same time. Mutual fund issues units to the investors in accordance with quantum of money invested by them. Investors of mutual funds are known as unit holders. The profits or losses are shared by the investors in proportion to their investments. The mutual funds normally come out with a number of schemes with different investment objectives, which are launched from time to time.

India as an emerging nation is seeing a spate of innovations in the area of financial engineering. These financial innovations are a result of a number of Government regulations, tax policies, globalization, liberalization, privatization, integration with the international financial market and increasing risk in the domestic financial market. Alternative financial institutions including nationalized banks, commercial paper houses, insurance companies and investment banks play a significant role in creation, development and dissemination of new financially engineered products in the society. The following section discusses the recent innovations made on mutual funds.

Even with crashing equity markets, Arbitrage Funds have been able to generate positive returns. They are equity and derivative funds providing an ideal way of realizing reasonable returns from equities with risk hedged by derivatives. The Arbitrage Fund tries to capitalize on the stock price differences between the spot market (cash segment) and the derivative market (F & O segment). The fund tries to generate returns by availing the arbitrage opportunities that arise in case there is mispricing between the spot and derivative market. The returns can be generated irrespective of the overall market movement. The stock prices in the spot and the derivative market tend to coincide on the settlement day of the derivative segment. Hence, the fund manager can reverse his position by buying a contract in the future market and selling off his equity holding in the spot market. The main concern is how efficiently the assets are balanced between the spot and the derivative market. Empirically they have shown better results than debt or income funds. They provide good returns during volatile periods.

Various art funds can now be floated in the market after obtaining approval from SEBI. In this people can pool-in funds to fund the purchase of the art and sell it later at a premium. The return would then be divided amongst the investors. This product may be suitable for High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors but not for the retail investors. This product raises art as a credible asset class. Art has a very low correlation with equity markets making it ideal for a large portfolio.

A
Mutual funds, Government regulations, Arbitrage funds, High net worth individuals
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B
Indian financial sector, Financial innovations, Arbitrage funds, High net worth individuals
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C
Indian financial sector, Tax policies, Arbitrage funds, Art funds
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D
Mutual funds, Financial innovations, Arbitrage funds, Art funds
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Solution

The correct option is D Mutual funds, Financial innovations, Arbitrage funds, Art funds
The first paragraph is not about the Indian financial sector but about mutual funds. The bulk of the paragraph is about mutual funds. Eliminate options B and C.

The second paragraph is about financial innovation.

Eliminate option A.

The third paragraph is about arbitrage funds.

The fourth paragraph is about art funds.

Hence, the correct answer is option D.

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Q. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
A Reserve Bank of India panel has submitted a report on financial inclusion. It proposes that priority sector lending by banks be raised and that banks be mandated to open accounts for every adult Indian by January 2016. The recommendations do not challenge the RBI’s basic approach to financial inclusion. This approach, which has been to mandate banks to undertake financial inclusion, might have spread public sector bank branches in rural areas for some years, helped open bank accounts and directed credit, but it has stopped yielding results. What India needs is a new approach, which encourages competition and innovation, rather than more mandates.
India’s approach to financial inclusion has been bank-centric. So far, it has focused on bank nationalization, continued with government ownership of banks and their recapitalization. The way to ensure inclusion has been priority sector lending, which mandates that 40 per cent of each bank’s lending be to weaker sectors – small-scale industries, agriculture and exports – to which the bank might not have lent otherwise. The RBI panel now recommends raising this share to 50 per cent.
The panel’s recommendations are in sync with the RBI’s recent guidelines for the grant of licenses to new banks. These require that the bank have a plan for financial inclusion and that it open 25 per cent of its branches in unbanked rural areas. This approach is similar to the one that required PSU banks to open rural branches. By once again mandating financial inclusion, this time for private sector licence application, instead of focusing on competition and innovation, the RBI is essentially doing more of the same.
Financial inclusion may be defined as access to a range of financial services in a convenient, flexible, reliable and continuous manner from formal, regulated financial institutions. Even though access can be ensured by mandates, the quality parameters of access may be compromised in the process. This is seen in the low usage of accounts and the poor asset quality of priority sector portfolios. Such inclusion confuses ends with means. A bank account is meant to fulfill certain functions – simply opening an account is not enough. The panel proposes to make it mandatory for every Indian over the age of 18 to have a bank account.
An often overlooked consequence of the mandate-driven approach to inclusion, as pursued by the RBI, is that the costs of this inclusion are levied on the investors and consumers of banks. The losses from unused bank accounts and poorly performing priority sector assets are eventually borne by the investors and consumers. If the political objective of opening bank accounts is to be met, or lending to certain sectors ensured, it should be transparent as line item on the government’s budget. Instead, it is done through a cross-subsidy that effectively makes other customers pay for the political goals of a government pushing its agenda through banks.
This approach has been accompanied by a neglect of the other drivers of inclusion – competition and innovation. In the last 11 years, the Indian economy has grown rapidly, but no banking licenses have been given in this time. The trend has been that once a decade, the RBI decides to give a few licenses, but there is no window to get licenses during this period. The incumbent banks feel little or no pressure to reach out to unbanked area and people with their services. This, in turn, necessitates a mandate-driven approach to financial inclusion. Despite decades of RBI mandates, rural customers turn to informal channels and unregulated financial firms.

Chose the word/group of words which is MOST OPPOSITE meaning of the word/group of words as used in the passage:
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