UPHESC Assistant Professor Commerce 2025, 2026 PYQs

Concept: India's short-term co-operative credit structure is three-tier.

1. State level – State Co-operative Bank (apex bank).
2. District level – Central (District) Co-operative Bank.
3. Village level – Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

Short trick: State → Central (District) → Primary (Village).

Concept: Under Section 9(1) of the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 the Board of Directors of an RRB has 9 members.

1. Chairman (appointed by the sponsor bank under Section 11) – 1.
2. Directors: 2 nominated by the Central Government, 1 officer of the RBI, 1 officer of NABARD, 2 officers of the sponsor bank, 2 officers of the State Government – 8.
3. Total 1 + 8 = 9. Section 9(2) only lets the Central Government raise the strength, subject to a ceiling of 15 – so 15 is the upper limit, not the composition.

Short trick: RRB board = Chairman + 2 Centre + 1 RBI + 1 NABARD + 2 Sponsor + 2 State = 9 (max 15).

Concept: Arrange by year of establishment.

1. UTI – 1963 (first mutual fund, UTI Act 1963).
2. SBI Mutual Fund – 1987 (first non-UTI, public-sector bank fund).
3. Franklin Templeton India – 1996 (private/foreign entry after 1993).
4. UTI Mutual Fund – 2003, after UTI was bifurcated (UTI Repeal Act, 2002).

Short trick: UTI (1963) → SBI MF (1987) → Franklin (1996) → UTI MF (2003) = II, III, IV, I.

Concept: Commercial banks accept deposits, lend/invest funds and create credit.

1. (A) True – loans, cash credit, overdrafts and bills discounted are the largest and most profitable use of bank funds.
2. (R) True – every loan creates a derivative deposit, so credit creation also enlarges bank funds (deposits).
3. (A) is about where banks employ funds; (R) is about how banks expand funds – two separate functions, so (R) does not explain (A).

Short trick: Employment of funds (A) ≠ creation of funds (R) → option (B).

Concept: RBI was set up on 1 April 1935 (RBI Act 1934) with its central office first in Calcutta; it moved permanently to Mumbai in 1937.

1. (A) is wrong – the Central Office is in Mumbai, not New Delhi (New Delhi has a regional office).
2. (R) is right – credit control (bank rate, CRR, OMO, repo etc.) is a core central-banking function.

Short trick: RBI HQ: Kolkata (1935) → Mumbai (1937 onwards).

Concept: Penetration pricing sets a low introductory price to enter the market quickly and win a large market share.

1. Suitable when demand is price-elastic and economies of scale exist; it also discourages competitors.
2. Initial high price = skimming; same product at two prices = price discrimination.

Short trick: Penetrate = enter deep with a LOW price.

Concept: Kotler's five-stage model: Problem (need) recognition → Information search → Evaluation of alternatives → Purchase decision → Post-purchase behaviour.

1. Social factors (family, reference groups, roles and status) INFLUENCE buying behaviour but are not a stage of the process.

Short trick: Stages = N-I-E-P-P; cultural/social/personal/psychological = factors, not stages.

Concept: Peppers and Rogers' IDIC model of one-to-one relationship marketing has four steps.

1. I – Identify customers.
2. D – Differentiate customers (by value and needs).
3. I – Interact with customers.
4. C – Customise the offering for each customer.

Short trick: I-D-I-C = Identify, Differentiate, Interact, Customise.

Concept: The ABC/tri-component model views attitude as Cognitive → Affective → Conative.

1. Cognitive (first) – knowledge and beliefs about the object.
2. Affective – feelings/emotions (like or dislike).
3. Conative – intention to behave/buy.
4. 'Creative' is not a component.

Short trick: Think → Feel → Do (learn-feel-do hierarchy).

Concept: Agricultural inputs are all resources used in farm production.

1. Seed – biological input; pesticide – agro-chemical input; tractor – farm machinery (capital input).
2. All three are agricultural inputs, so 'None of the above' is the answer.

Short trick: Inputs = seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, water, power, machinery, credit.

Concept: Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry's SERVQUAL has five determinants: Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness.

1. Tangibles, empathy and responsiveness are all in the list.
2. Conformance quality (meeting design specifications) is a dimension of PRODUCT quality (Garvin), not of the service-quality model.

Short trick: RATER – Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy, Responsiveness.

Concept: Decisions on width, length and depth of the product mix depend on the firm's resources and market conditions.

1. Marketing factors – demand, competition, channels, promotion.
2. Production factors – capacity, technology, by-products.
3. Financial factors – funds available, cost and profitability.
4. Shareholders as such do not directly determine the product mix.

Short trick: Product mix is shaped by market, plant and money – not by the owners' register.

Concept: Advertising objectives are classified as to inform, persuade and remind (Kotler); DAGMAR measures awareness, comprehension, conviction, action.

1. Informing, creating awareness and changing attitudes (persuasion) are genuine objectives.
2. Entertainment may be a creative tool, but it is not an objective of advertising.

Short trick: Advertising aims: Inform – Persuade – Remind.

Concept: Channel members (wholesalers, retailers, agents) bridge the gap between producer and consumer.

1. Their functions: information, promotion, negotiation/pricing, ordering, financing, risk-taking, physical distribution (storage, transport), payment, title.
2. Production is done by the manufacturer – managing production is not a channel function.

Short trick: Channels move and sell goods; they do not make them.

Concept: A surety's rights (Indian Contract Act, 1872) are grouped as rights against the creditor, the principal debtor and co-sureties.

1. Against principal debtor: right of subrogation (Sec. 140) and right to indemnity (Sec. 145).
2. Against creditor: right to securities (Sec. 141) and right of set-off – the surety may plead any set-off the debtor had against the creditor.
3. Against co-sureties: contribution.
4. Revocation is not one of these rights; it is a mode of discharge, and only a continuing guarantee can be revoked, and only for future transactions (Sec. 130).

Short trick: Surety's rights = Subrogation, Indemnity, Set-off, Securities, Contribution; revocation is a mode of discharge.

Concept: Sec. 9, Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – a holder in due course is a person who:

1. is a holder (entitled in his own name to possess and recover the amount);
2. obtained the instrument FOR valuable consideration;
3. obtained it before maturity, in good faith, without sufficient cause to believe any defect in the title of the transferor.
4. Hence 'holder without consideration' is not a qualification – a holder without consideration cannot be a holder in due course.

Short trick: HDC = Holder + Consideration + Before maturity + Good faith.

Concept: A secretary's liabilities are classified as statutory (under the Companies Act and other laws), contractual (under his contract of service), criminal and as an agent.

1. As an employee, the secretary owes duties arising from his contract of service – fidelity, obedience, reasonable care and not disclosing confidential information.
2. Keeping trade secrets is one of these duties, so breaching it creates a contractual liability, not a statutory one.

Short trick: Duties from the employment contract (secrecy, loyalty, care) = contractual liabilities.

Concept: Finance Act 2023 inserted Section 80CCH (from AY 2023-24) for Agniveers enrolled under the Agnipath Scheme.

1. 80CCH(1): deduction for the Agniveer's own contribution to the Agniveer Corpus Fund.
2. 80CCH(2): deduction for the Central Government's contribution, which is first included in salary.
3. 80CCA – old National Savings Scheme deposits; 80CCG – Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (withdrawn).

Short trick: Agnipath → 80CC'H' (inserted 2023); allowed in both old and new regimes.

Concept: Entertainment allowance is first included in gross salary for every employee.

1. Deduction u/s 16(ii) is available ONLY to Government employees – least of Rs. 5,000, 20% of basic salary or the actual allowance.
2. Non-government employees get no deduction, so the allowance is fully taxable.

Short trick: Entertainment allowance relief = Government employees only.

Concept: Section 211: advance tax is paid in four instalments during the previous year (non-presumptive assessees).

1. On or before 15 June – at least 15%.
2. 15 September – 45%; 15 December – 75%; 15 March – 100% (cumulative).
3. Presumptive income (Sec. 44AD/44ADA) – entire amount by 15 March.

Short trick: All instalments fall on the 15th: June–Sept–Dec–March = 15–45–75–100.