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Topic

Trade balance

Asked 2 times across 2 UPSC exams over 3 years (2021–2024), peaking in 2021.
2
PYQs
2
Exams
2
Years active
2021–2024
Span
2021
Peak
2/2
Answers
📅 Full chronological timeline →

Key insights

  • Most tested in CSE — 1 of 2 PYQs
  • Most asked in 2021
  • Recurs across 2 years (2021–2024)

How it travelled across exams

First appearance in each exam — the same idea, reframed.
CSE 2021 NDA 2024

How the concept evolved

121
124
Rising — more than half its appearances (2 of 2) are since 2016.

Related concepts

Ideas UPSC tests alongside this one — keep exploring.

Sample questions

You've seen the pattern — here are a few of the actual PYQs.
NDA2024

Which of the following statements are correct?

  1. British 'trade surplus' with India in the nineteenth century meant that the value of British exports to India was much higher than the value of British imports from India
  2. India played a crucial role in the late-nineteenth-century world economy by helping Britain balance its deficits
  3. Britain grew opium in India and exported it to China and, therefore, for a while after the 1820s, opium became India's single largest export
  4. The nineteenth century saw export of Indian raw materials decline, and that of manufactured goods increase. Select the answer

using the code given below:

  1. A 1 and 2 only
  2. B 3 and 4 only
  3. C 1, 2, 3 and 4
  4. D 1, 2 and 3 only ✓
✓ Correct answer: (D)
History › Modern India (1757–1857)
CSE2021

Consider the following statements : The effect of devaluation of a currency is that it necessarily

  1. improves the competitiveness of the domestic exports in the foreign markets
  2. increases the foreign value of domestic currency
  3. improves the trade balance

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

  1. A 1 only ✓
  2. B 1 and 2
  3. C 3 only
  4. D 2 and 3
✓ Correct answer: (A)
Economy › External Sector & Trade

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