Option A is correct.
• Statement 1 is correct. Statement 2 is incorrect.
• Statement 1 is correct. Escrow-based payments have been around for years and are not new. However, they have mostly been restricted to large transactions, like mergers and acquisitions, cross-border deals, etc. Industry experts say, with new technology and the rise of the internet-based economy, this instrument is used by stakeholders from several sectors to have safe and secure transactions. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
How it operates:
• This is done by removing the control over cash flows from the hands of the buyer to an independent agent.
• The independent agent, i.e, the holder of the escrow account would ensure that the appropriation of cash flows is as per the agreed terms and conditions between the transacting parties.
• In India, escrow account is widely used in public-private partnership projects in infrastructure.
• RBI has also permitted Banks (Authorised Dealer Category I) to open escrow accounts on behalf of Non-Resident corporates for acquisition/transfer of shares/ convertible shares of an Indian company.

Option C is correct.
• Options 1 and 2 are incorrect. Option 3 is correct.
• Personal Income is the part of National Income which is received by households. To calculate personal income we have to consider the following factors:
• Undistributed Profits: It is a part of the profit which is earned by the firms and government enterprises and is not distributed among the factors of production. We have to deduct UP from NI to arrive at PI, since UP does not accrue to the households. Increasing it will reduce personal income.
Hence, option 1 is incorrect.
• Corporate taxes: Similarly, Corporate Tax, which is imposed on the earnings made by the firms, will also have to be deducted from the NI, since it does not accrue to the households. Increasing it will reduce personal income.
Hence, option 2 is incorrect.
• Net interest payments by the households: The households do receive interest payments from private firms or the government on past loans advanced by them. And households may have to pay interest to the firms and the government as well, in case they had borrowed money from either. So, we have to deduct the net interests paid by the households to the firms and government. Increasing it will reduce personal income.
• Transfer payments: The households receive transfer payments from the government and firms (pensions, scholarships, prizes, for example) which have to be added to calculate the Personal Income of the households. Increasing it will increase personal income.
• Thus, Personal Income (PI) = National Income- Undistributed profits – Net interest payments made by households – Corporate tax + Transfer payments to the households from the government and firms.
Hence, option 3 is correct.

Option B is correct.
• Statement 1 is incorrect. Statement 2 is correct.
• Statement 1 is incorrect. Balance of Trade is referred to as the balance of exports and imports of goods only. Adding trade in services and net transfers to the balance of trade, we get the current account balance. All tourism activities come under the services sector which is not included in the ‘Balance of Trade’.
• Statement 2 is correct. Depreciation of the Rupee may lead to increase in exports and reduction in imports thus it may lead to a positive balance of trade.

Option C is correct.
• Statements 1 and 3 are correct. Statement 2 is incorrect.
• Statement 1 is correct. Operation Twist is an open market operation conducted by a nation’s central bank where Short-term securities are sold and long-term securities bought, simultaneously. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) undertook an operation for a simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under Open Market Operations. The amount was for 10,000 crores based on the prevailing current and evolving liquidity market conditions in April 2020.
• Statement 3 is correct and Statement 2 is incorrect. Open market operations were utilized to shorten the maturity period of public debt. By selling some of the short-term debt, it used the money received to buy longer term government debt.
• If long-term interest rates are lowered, then it will be possible for the common folk to obtain long-term loans at reasonable rates. With this boost in consumption and spending in the economy, it leads to economic growth and revival. Operation Twist normally leads to lower longer-term yields, which will help boost the economy by making loans less expensive for those looking to buy homes, cars and finance projects, while saving becomes less desirable because it doesn’t pay as much interest.
• The Federal Open Market Committee first initiated Operation Twist in 1961 in order to flatten the yield curve so that capital inflows could be promoted and the strength of the dollar improved.

• Statement C is correct.
• In economics, it is said that the level of savings equals the level of investment. Investment needs to be financed from saving. If people save more, it enables the banks to lend more to firms for investment. An economy where savings are very low means that the economy is choosing short-term consumption over long-term investment. To starve the economy of investment can lead to future bottlenecks and shortages. A rise in aggregate savings would yield larger investments associated with higher GDP growth. As a result, the high rates of savings increase the amount of capital and lead to higher economic growth in the country. Hence, option C is correct.
• Option A is incorrect. NPA has no correlation with the savings rate in the economy. The rise and fall in NPA may be due to various cyclic factors such as recession as well as due to frauds etc.
• Option B is incorrect. There is no direct correlation and causation in the rise of the stock market and rise in the Savings rate in the economy. Rise in stock market is dependent upon inflow of funds in the stock market. It is not necessary that people’s saving are diverted to the stock market in the country. People can choose to save and invest in any of the asset class they prefer.
• Option D is incorrect. Headline Inflation is the measure of total inflation within an economy. It includes price rise in food, fuel and all other commodities. Inflation impacts the savings rate and not vice versa. With the rise in inflation, the amount you save or invest from your income every month may not rise at the same rate. Therefore, the rise in price puts extra pressure on your savings, thereby impacting savings rate.

Option B is correct.
• Options 2, 3, 4 and 6 are correct. Options 1 and 5 are incorrect.
• Non tax revenue receipts include:
1. interest receipts on account of loans by the central government to state government,
2. Dividends from public sector enterprises and profits on investments made by the government,
3. fees, penalties and fines received by the government,
4. user charges for railways, transport, power etc.,
5. Cash grants in aid from foreign countries and international organizations.
• Disinvestment proceeds and fresh government borrowings from abroad are included in the Capital receipts.

Option D is correct.
• All the statements are incorrect.
• Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Income Tax Department, to any “person” who applies for it or to whom the department allots the number without an application.
• A typical PAN is AAZPK7190K. Hence, statements 1 and 2 are incorrect.
• Basically, any individual/non individual (including the foreign citizens/entities) earning taxable income in India must have a PAN Card. Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.

Option C is correct.
• Statements 2 and 3 are incorrect. Statement 1 is correct.
• SWIFT is formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). It was established in 1973 and is based in Belgium. Prior to SWIFT, the only reliable means of message confirmation for international funds transfer was Telex. It was discontinued due to a range of issues such as low speed, security concerns, and a free message format.
• There are about 11,000 member banks in 200 countries and territories that use SWIFT.
• Since it began in 1973, SWIFT has become an integral part of the flow of global trade.
• India’s financial system has access to the SWIFT.
• Statement 1 is correct. It is a trusted messaging system for banks and other financial institutions around the world. When a bank is a member of SWIFT, their instruction messages are cleared as secure immediately, so the transactions happen quickly.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. Although, SWIFT has become a crucial part of global financial infrastructure, it is not a financial institution itself: SWIFT does not hold or transfer assets.
• Rather, its utility lies in its power to facilitate secure, efficient communication between member institutions.
• Statement 3 is incorrect. It is controlled by the central banks of the G10 countries, the European Central Bank, and the National Bank of Belgium.
• The Group of Ten is made up of eleven industrial countries (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) which consult and co-operate on economic, monetary and financial matters.

Option A is correct.
• Statement 1 is correct. Statements 2 and 3 are incorrect.
• Statement 1 is correct. Nidhi Company is a class of Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has powers to issue directives for them related to their deposit acceptance activities. Chit funds in India are managed, conducted, and regulated according to Chit Funds Act of 1982. Chit funds are included in the definition of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) by RBI under the sub-head Miscellaneous Non-Banking Company (MNBC). Thus, both of them are a type of NBFCs.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. A Nidhi company can advance loans as per the Nidhi rules 2014.
• Chit fund is also a committee as Nidhi Company but they only accept instalments over a fixed period of time which is paid by its members, they neither do lend nor accept the amount as a whole unlike the Nidhi Company, they just do accept amounts in small instalments.
• Statement 3 is incorrect. Under the Chit Funds (Amendment) Act, 2019, chits may be conducted by firms, associations or individuals. The Act specifies the maximum amount of chit funds which may be collected. These limits are: (i) one lakh rupees for chits conducted by individuals, and for every individual in a firm or association with less than four partners, and (ii) six lakh rupees for firms with four or more partners. Thus, there is an upper limit for deposits collected by Chit Fund Companies.

Option A is correct.
• Statement 1 is correct Statement 2 is incorrect.
• Statement 1 is correct. The central banks of all the countries are empowered to issue the currency. The currency issued by the central bank is called ‘high power money’ because it is generally backed by supporting reserves and its value is guaranteed by the government and it is the source of all other forms of money. The total liability of the monetary authority of the country, RBI, is called the monetary base or high powered money. It consists of currency (notes and coins in circulation with the public and vault cash of commercial banks) and deposits held by the Government of India and commercial banks with RBI.
• Statement 2 is incorrect. Hard Currency is the international currency in which the highest faith is shown and is needed by every economy. The strongest currency of the world is one which has a high level of liquidity.