External sector & international economic bodies

Answer: (a) Developing solar power production in our country

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, some solar projects had to use Indian-made solar cells and modules. These Domestic Content Requirements (DCR) were challenged by the United States at the WTO, which is why the term was in the news before 2017.

• ✓ (a) In 2013 the US sought WTO consultations on India's domestic content requirements for solar cells and modules under the National Solar Mission; the panel found the DCR measures gave imported cells and modules less favourable treatment.
• ✗ (b) Licensing of foreign TV channels is governed by uplinking and downlinking guidelines, not by a 'domestic content requirement'.
• ✗ (d) Campuses of foreign universities are a question of education regulation; the DCR debate concerned locally made solar equipment.

Remember · Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) = mandatory use of Indian-made solar cells and modules under the National Solar Mission; the US won the WTO case (DS456) against it.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

The National IPR Policy approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2016 explicitly reiterates India's commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the TRIPS agreement, and makes the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the nodal department for IPRs in India. Both statements are correct.

• ✓ 1. The policy notes India's TRIPS-compliant legal framework and reiterates its commitment to the Doha Development Agenda and the TRIPS agreement while using the flexibilities they allow.
• ✓ 2. DIPP was named the nodal department to coordinate, guide and oversee the implementation and future development of IPRs, monitoring action by other ministries.
• • Since then Since January 2019, DIPP has been renamed the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which continues as the nodal department for IPR.

Remember · National IPR Policy (May 2016): slogan 'Creative India; Innovative India'; TRIPS and Doha commitment reiterated; DIPP (now DPIIT) nodal department.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) World Bank collaboration that facilitates the preparation and structuring of complex infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to enable mobilization of private sector and institutional investor capital.

The Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) is a G20 initiative, backed by the World Bank, that helps governments prepare and structure infrastructure projects so that private and institutional money can be attracted. It is not an ASEAN, OECD or UNCTAD body.

• ✓ (b) The GIF is a collaboration platform that gives funding and advisory support to governments and multilateral development banks to structure bankable infrastructure projects, including PPPs, in emerging markets, in order to mobilise private capital.
• ✗ (a) It is a global G20 initiative, not an ASEAN scheme. Its funding comes from governments (Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the United States) and the World Bank, not from Asian Development Bank credit.
• ✗ (c) Its platform brings together governments, multilateral development banks and the private sector; it is not a group of the world's major banks working with the OECD.
• ✗ (d) UNCTAD is not among its funders, which are the governments named above and the World Bank.

Remember · GIF: a World Bank-backed G20 initiative that prepares bankable, complex infrastructure and PPP projects to mobilise private capital.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 2, 3 and 4 only

After 1991 India's exports, FDI inflows and foreign exchange reserves all rose sharply, while agriculture's share in GDP kept falling as industry and services grew faster. So statements 2, 3 and 4 are true and 1 is false.

• ✗ 1. The share of agriculture in GDP was on a decline, even though the workforce dependent on farming did not fall much. It did not increase.
• ✓ 2. India's share in world merchandise exports rose from 0.5 per cent in 1990 to 0.8 per cent in 2003, according to the Economic Survey 2005-06.
• ✓ 3. Opening the economy led to a rapid increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign institutional investment.
• ✓ 4. Foreign exchange reserves rose from about US $ 6 billion in 1990-91 to about US $ 646 billion in 2023-24, a very large increase.

Remember · Post-1991 India: agriculture's share in GDP fell, while exports, FDI and forex reserves rose sharply.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 3 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Economic Development, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) European Union

BTIA is the India–European Union Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement, a free trade deal whose negotiations the two sides launched in 2007. The other three bodies named have no negotiation called BTIA with India.

• ✓ (a) The EU and India launched the BTIA negotiations in 2007 to widen trade in goods and services, investment and access to public procurement.
• ✗ (b) The Gulf Cooperation Council is a different trading partner. The name BTIA belongs to the India–EU negotiation, not to any GCC talks.
• ✗ (c) The OECD is a forum for policy coordination among its member countries; India is not a member and does not negotiate a BTIA with it.
• ✗ (d) The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a political, security and economic grouping. It is not a partner in a trade and investment agreement of this kind.
• • Since then The EU trade website now shows separate tracks: a Free Trade Agreement, which the EU and India concluded on 27 January 2026, and an Investment Protection Agreement and a Geographical Indications Agreement, both still being negotiated.

Remember · BTIA = Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement between India and the European Union, negotiations begun in 2007.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Statements 1 and 2 are correct: India ratified the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement in April 2016, and the TFA was concluded at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference. Statement 3 is wrong, because the TFA entered into force on 22 February 2017.

• ✓ 1. India handed its instrument of ratification to the WTO Director-General in April 2016 and was the 76th WTO member to accept the TFA.
• ✓ 2. WTO members concluded the TFA at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, so it belongs to the Bali package.
• ✗ 3. The TFA came into force only when two-thirds of WTO members had ratified it, on 22 February 2017, not in January 2016.

Remember · WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement: concluded at Bali (Dec 2013), India ratified April 2016, in force 22 February 2017.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2017, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error