📘 Q.5 IAS Prelims 2022 — Economics (Real Sector vs Financial Sector)

🧷 Authentic Classroom Explanation by IAS Monk


📌 The Question:

Which of the following activities constitute the real sector in the economy?

  1. Farmers harvesting their crops
  2. Textile mills converting raw cotton into fabrics
  3. A commercial bank lending money to a trading company
  4. A corporate body issuing Rupee Denominated Bonds overseas

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4


Correct Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only


🧠 Classroom Explanation

  • The real sector of an economy consists of activities that directly produce goods and services, thereby contributing to real GDP.
  • Statement 1 is correct
    • Farming and harvesting crops involve direct production of goods.
    • Agriculture is a core component of the real sector.
  • Statement 2 is correct
    • Textile mills transform raw cotton into finished fabric, a manufacturing activity.
    • Manufacturing lies squarely within the real sector.
  • Statement 3 is NOT correct
    • Lending money is a financial intermediation activity, not production.
    • This belongs to the financial sector.
  • Statement 4 is NOT correct
    • Issuing rupee-denominated bonds overseas is a capital-raising financial activity.
    • It facilitates finance but does not create goods or services.

Hence, only activities 1 and 2 belong to the real sector.


🔍 Curiosity Raiser

Why can an economy grow financially without growing in real output—and why does that often precede economic crises?


🧘 IAS Monk Whisper

Money may move the world,
but only labour and land
create it.

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