IBPS PO 2024 · Question 43 of 260

Directions (36-43): Read the following passage and answer the given questions. Certain words are highlighted to answer some of the questions. Passage: Over the past decade, India's payment landscape has undergone a transformation few anticipated even a generation ago. The Unified Payments Interface, launched in 2016 as a modest experiment in interoperable digital transfers, has since grown into the backbone of the country's retail economy, processing billions of transactions every month. This proliferation of real-time payments has been driven less by any single innovation than by a confluence of factors: affordable smartphones, cheap mobile data, and a regulatory framework willing to experiment with open, shared infrastructure rather than leaving the market to a handful of proprietary players. The consequences for financial inclusion have been substantial. Millions of households that once operated entirely in cash now hold bank accounts linked to mobile numbers, allowing them to receive government subsidies, insurance payouts, and wages without the delays and leakages that plagued earlier disbursement systems. Small vendors, from tea stalls to vegetable carts, increasingly display QR codes rather than cash boxes, a shift that has also created a digital trail of income that some are now using to qualify for formal credit for the first time. Even so, this expansion has not been uniform; access remains markedly weaker in remote and hilly regions where network connectivity is unreliable and digital literacy is low. The rapid pace of adoption has, however, outstripped the safeguards meant to accompany it. Fraud complaints involving phishing links and impersonation calls have risen sharply, and many first-time users, unfamiliar with the mechanics of one-time passwords and app permissions, remain vulnerable to social-engineering scams. Regulators have responded with tighter transaction limits for new payees, mandatory cooling-off periods for large transfers, and public awareness campaigns, but enforcement varies widely across states and remains an unfinished project. Looking ahead, the central bank has signalled its intent to extend this impetus beyond payments into lending and insurance, hoping that the same shared infrastructure that made transfers instantaneous can eventually make credit assessment faster and fairer for borrowers who currently lack any formal financial history. Ques. 38. According to the passage, which of the following statement(s) is/are true? (I) First-time digital payment users are sometimes vulnerable to social-engineering scams due to unfamiliarity with security mechanics. (II) Regulators have introduced measures such as transaction limits and cooling-off periods for large transfers. (III) Digital literacy and network connectivity are consistently strong in remote and hilly regions.

Reading comprehension

1. AOnly I is true
2. BOnly II is true
3. CBoth I and II are trueCorrect
4. DOnly III is true
5. EAll statements are true