Which one of the following is the message that is essentially implied in the above passage?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) Need to promote financial inclusion
Banking has been restructured to serve mainly the middle and upper-middle classes, and the passage calls for an agenda that 'does not exclude the common man'. Bringing excluded people into banking and finance is financial inclusion.
- ✗ (a) More automation and products is what has already happened — for the better-off.
- ✗ (b) The passage is about banking and non-banking financial services, not the whole public finance system.
- ✗ (c) Merging the two kinds of institutions is not suggested.
- ✓ (d) A new agenda 'that does not exclude the common man' is financial inclusion.
Remember · Name the idea the author describes without naming it — 'does not exclude the common man' means financial inclusion.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·