English Test for SBI Clerk Prelims 2021 Exam set – 11

DIRECTIONS(1-5): Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. Some words have been highlighted for your attention.

1. India needs to encourage e-commerce and reduce red tape to help small businesses sell online and export goods to help revive sagging domestic economic growth, a
   senior Amazon.com executive said on Wednesday.
   “There is so much opportunity to just let eCommerce thrive versus trying to define every single guard rail under which it should operate,” Amazon’s India head Amit
   Agarwal told Reuters, ahead of the launch of Amazon’s biggest campus in the world in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
   India revised its e-commerce rules in early 2019, creating hurdles for Amazon and rival Walmart Inc’s e-commerce subsidiary, Flipkart.
   “I feel e-commerce can actually accelerate India’s economy in a big way if it’s just allowed to thrive,” said Agarwal, whose comments come at a time when India’s economic
   growth has slumped to near five-year lows.
   Agarwal said Amazon works with some 500,000 sellers and has created over 200,000 jobs in India since launching its e-commerce operations in 2013.
   He said Amazon’s push to get small and medium businesses in India to export has resulted in more than $1 billion in exports and it expects this to exceed $5 billion in the
   next three years, but red tape is holding some businesses back.
   “Even a seller, who wants to sell out of their state, has to get a tax registration in the new state. How many small business owners would go through the onerous job of
   doing that?” he said.
   “The number of basic paper cut opportunities out there are so many,” he said. “I feel we’re getting lost in the high-level debate around e-commerce and data localization.”
   India’s revised e-commerce regulations, along with its push to compel multinationals to store data locally, have irked the U.S. government and heightened trade tensions
   between the two countries. India has argued the rules are aimed at protecting interests of its small traders and also its citizens’ privacy.
   Amazon’s launch of a new campus in India comes just months after the Seattle-based company scrapped its plans to build a major outpost in New York, blaming
   opposition from local leaders. It has since picked Arlington, Virginia as the site of its upcoming second headquarters.
   India is considered the last major growth market for the e-commerce giant and founder Jeff Bezos has committed investments of more than $5 billion toward Amazon’s
   expansion in India.
   Amazon said the new campus in India, spread over 9.5 acres, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could house more than 15,000 employees. Amazon has 62,000
   employees in India, roughly a third of whom are based in Hyderabad.
   Despite weaker economic conditions, Amazon has no plans to slow down its expansion in India, said Agarwal, adding that in tougher times “customers want even more
   value, convenience, and selection.”
   While declining to give any specific numbers, Agarwal said membership in Amazon’s Prime loyalty program has doubled in the last 18 months in India and the market
   remains Amazon’s fastest-growing for Prime worldwide.

   1. What is the main idea of the passage?

   India needs to revive e-commerce to revive economy
   India needs financial support from other countries
   Small businesses facing problems due to e-commerce
   Can be A or B
   None of the above
   Option A
   It is clearly mentioned in the passage of how encouraging e-commerce can revive the economy of India. Also, revision in e-commerce rules has posed hurdles
   for e-commerce websites like Amazon. So, option A is the most appropriate answer. Options B and C are nowhere highlighted in the passage.

    

2. Which of these statements is true?
   Amazon has created work opportunities in India.
   Amazon has benefited small and medium businesses.
   The revised rules have increased trade between India and other countries.
   All of the above
   Both A and B
   Option E
   It is clearly mentioned that Amazon works with some 500,000 sellers, and has created over 200,000 jobs in India since launching its e-commerce operations in
   2013. He said Amazon’s push to get small and medium businesses in India to export has resulted in more than $1 billion in exports and it expects this to exceed $5 billion in
   the next three years. So, options A and B are correct. But, India’s revised e-commerce regulations, along with its push to compel multinationals to store data locally, have
   irked the U.S. government and heightened trade tensions between the two countries. So, option C is incorrect as revised rules have created tension. Therefore, option E is
   correct.

    

3. ”adding that in tougher times customers want even more value, convenience, and selection.”Which tough times have been talked about in this statement?
   Decline in employment
   India’s sagging economic growth
   Tension between India and US
   All of the above
   Both A and B
   Option B
   It can be clearly concluded from the passage that India is currently having a sagging economic growth. In view of this, Agarwal said that despite weak economic
   conditions, Amazon has no plans to slow down its expansion in India, further stating that in tougher times “customers want even more value, convenience, and
   selection.”So, it is clear that option B i.e India’s sagging economic growth is being talked about in the given statement.

    

4. Which of these is similar in meaning to the word ”thrive”?
   Flourish
   Cease
   Shrivel
   Both B and C
   None of the above
   Option A
   Thrive means prosper; flourish.
   Flourish means to develop rapidly and successfully.
   Cease means come or bring to an end.
   Shrivel means cause to feel worthless or insignificant.

    

5. Which of these is opposite in meaning to the word ”scrapped”?
   Jettison
   Accept
   Chuck
   Both A and B
   None of the above
   Option B
   Scrapped means abolish or cancel (a plan, policy, or law).
   Jettison means throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship.
   Accept means consent to receive or undertake (something offered).
   Chuck means throw (something) carelessly or casually.

    

DIRECTIONS(6-10): Read the passage given below and then answer the questions given below the passage. Some words may be highlighted for your attention. Pay careful
attention.

6. 
   A soft loan is a loan with a below-market rate of interest. Sometimes soft loans provide other concessions to borrowers, such as long repayment periods or interest
   holidays. Soft loans are usually provided by governments to projects they think are efficacious, mostly in aiding the society in some way or the other. The World Bank and
   other development institutions provide soft loans to developing countries.
   The repayment of these soft loan includes some interest holidays, which is a characteristic feature. This process of extending soft loans is also known as soft financing. As
   the loans extended are at much easier terms, these are generally not provided by private financial institutions. They are primarily provided by government agencies.
   This contrasts with a hard loan, which has to be paid back in an agreed hard currency, usually of a stable robust economy.
   An example of a soft loan is China’s Export-Import Bank, who gave a $2 billion soft loan to Angola in October 2004 to help build infrastructure. In return, the Angolan
   government gave China a stake in oil exploration off the coast. Another example is the interest free soft loan of Rs. 20 billion given by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
   to the government of West Bengal (India) on the condition that it be used for health, education and developing infrastructure and that the government would implement 16
   economic reforms.
   The field of Natural Finance uses the term Soft Loan as an enforced ability-based repayment loan where the softness is not based on below market interest, but rather on
   terms that don’t include fixed dates for repayment, but do mandate repayment when borrower is able to.

   6. What is meant by the fact that the hard loans have to be paid in hard currency?

   In a timely manner
   In a pre agreed currency
   In cashed currency
   In a developed country’s currency
   With high interest rates
   Option D
   The sentence states that it is to be of a stable robust economy. Robust = strong, tough. And it is the developed countries which are most likely to have a stable economy.
   Hence, Option D) In a developed country’s currency is the correct answer.

    

7. Why would any institution give out soft loans, knowing the fact that they could have earned more interest?
   For good publicity
   For probable social benefit
   For future stake in the company which receives the loan
   For the environment
   None of the above
   Option B
   The second line of para 1 leads us straight to Option B) For probable social benefit being the correct answer.
   Note: Even though D) Environmental causes benefit the society, Option B) is a much broader term which includes all forms of social aids, and therefore, the latter is the
   more appropriate choice.

    

8. What is the main feature of soft financing?
   Reprieve from taxes
   Not provided by financial institutions
   Government holidays
   International transactions with bodies such as the World Bank
   Interest concessions
   Option E
   A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. Since tax holidays are a characteristic feature => Option E) Interest concessions is the most appropriate
   choice.

    

9. What was China’s side motive in handing a $2 Billion loan to Angola?
   Oil extraction
   Infrastructure development
   Instructed by the World Bank
   Geological search for energy sources
   Both A and B
   Option D
   The side motive is asked => secondary intention. Angola gave China the right to oil exploration on its coast. Note the word exploration. Option A) is not the correct answer.
   Oil exploration refers to geographically searching areas for any deposits. Extraction implies digging up and using the oil found, which was not stated. Option D)
   Geographical search for energy resources is the most appropriate choice.

    

10. Which of the following is the most opposite in meaning to the word efficacious as given in the passage?
    Worthwhile
    Puissant
    Unsubstantial
    Profitable
    Employable
    Option C
    The word efficacious = effective, and therefore, A) Worthwhile and B) Puissant (influential) are synonyms. Option C) Unsubstantial (not very solid or firm, ineffective) is the
    correct answer.