Direction for 1-10.
Read
the following passage carefully and answers 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 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 fulltime 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 fades 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 timings of banks rarely coincide 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 be innovative in right-
sizing their proposition 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 user 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 would no doubt offer an innovative means of expansion
in the unbanked market.
Q-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 technologicalpackage 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
Q- 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) & (C)
(4) Only (A) (5) Both (B) & (C)
Q- 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
Q- 4. In the passage, the author
has specified which of the following characteristics of the customer
on-boarding process ?
(1) It involves collection of
documents from the applicants in order to validate their details
(2) It involves issuance of smart
cards to the customers
(3) It 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 given
characteristics have been specified
Q- 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) & (B) (2) All (A), (B)
& (C)
(3) Only (C) (4) Only (A)
(5) Only (B)
Q- 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
mechanism 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) & (C)
(5) Both (A) & (C)
Direction for 7-8.
Choose
the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as
used in the passage.
Q- 7. Multitude
(1) Impoverished (2) Handful (3)
Acknowledged (4) Plenty (5) Solitude
Q- 8. Ubiquitous
(1) Quintessential (2) Popular (3)
Omnipresent (4) Simplified (5) Abnormal
Direction for 9-10.
Choose
the word which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold
as used in the passage.
Q- 9. Dormant
(1) Emaciated (2) Pertinent (3)
Cornered (4) Rejected (5) Active
Q- 10. Delayed
(1) Perturbed (2) Popularised (3)
Expedited (4) Stabilised (5) Repressed
Answers - 1-2,2-3,3-3,4-5,5-1,6-5,7-2,8-1,9-5,10-3
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