UPSC CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 28

2018General Studies Paper-IEconomyMoney & BankingDigital Paymentsmoderate
Q28

Question

With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements: 1. BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account. 2. While a chip-pin debit card has four factors of authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Options

A
1 only✓ Correct Answer
B
2 only
C
Both 1 and 2
D
Neither 1 nor 2
AnswerOption A

Explanation

**Concept and analysis:** BHIM is a mobile application built around the Unified Payments Interface and allows interoperable bank-to-bank transfers using UPI. The authentication comparison in the second statement is incorrect because the number and nature of authentication factors for card transactions and UPI applications depend on the specific transaction and authentication architecture; the simple 'four versus two' formulation is not valid. Hence only the first statement is correct. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Correct. It selects statements 1; these are the statements supported by the relevant constitutional, economic, historical, scientific or geographical facts. **Option B:** Incorrect. It selects 2 only, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **Option C:** Incorrect. It selects Both 1 and 2, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **Option D:** Incorrect. It selects Neither 1 nor 2, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.

Question Classification

SubjectEconomy
TopicMoney & Banking
SubtopicDigital Payments
Question TypeStatement-based MCQ
Difficultymoderate
VerificationVerified