Prelims 2011 · archive
EasyIn terms of economy, the visit by foreign nationals to witness the XIX common Wealth Games in India amounted to:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Export
The answer is (a) Export. Foreign visitors paid for hotels, food, local transport and tickets inside India. Money came into India from abroad in return for services supplied to non-residents. In balance-of-payments accounting this is a services export, recorded under 'travel' receipts.
- ✓ (a) Spending by foreign tourists in India is a 'travel' receipt on the credit side of the current account. It counts as an export of services, even though nothing physical leaves the country.
- ✗ (b) An import would be India buying goods or services from abroad. Here foreigners were buying from India. Spending by Indians travelling abroad is the item that counts as an import.
- ✗ (c) Production is the creation of goods and services by Indian firms. The visitors' spending paid for that output but was not production itself.
- ✗ (d) The buyers here are non-residents. Purchases by non-residents within India are counted as exports of services, not as domestic consumption.
Remember · Tourism earnings are invisible exports: foreign tourists' spending in India is a services export (travel receipt), while Indians' spending abroad is a services import.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India – Annual Report (BoP compilation: services, travel) ↗ “Travel’ represents all expenditure by foreign tourists in India on the receipts side and all expenditure by Indian tourists abroad on payments side.”
- World Bank DataBank – Travel services (% of service exports, BoP) ↗ “Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2011, General Studies paper. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·