UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — India rises from 82nd to 57th in global rankings, in structural and pro-competitive reforms: Report by Competere Foundation
Q1. India's improvement on the Competere Foundation's Market Distortions Performance Index, announced in 2026, amounted to a gain of how many places?
- A. 15 places
- B. 20 places
- C. 25 places
- D. 32 places
Q2. With reference to the Competere Foundation report on India's market distortions released in 2026, consider the following as pillars across which the assessment of distortions was organised:
1. Protection of property rights
2. Domestic competition
3. Exchange-rate stability
4. International competition
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- Protection of property rights
- Domestic competition
- Exchange-rate stability
- International competition
- A. 1, 2 and 3
- B. 1, 2 and 4
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 1 and 3 only
Q3. The Government of India's announcement of the Competere Foundation's findings on India's reform trajectory was attributed to which one of the following ministries?
- A. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which administers the competition law framework
- B. Ministry of Finance, through the Department of Economic Affairs
- C. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which compiles national indices
- D. Ministry of Commerce & Industry, which handles trade policy
Q4. The Competere Foundation report titled 'India's Next Growth Frontier' builds its assessment of India's reform progress on which one of the following periods?
- A. 2004 to 2014
- B. 2010 to 2023
- C. 2014 to 2024
- D. 2011 to 2021
Q5. As of 2026, the Centre for Trade and Investment Law that co-hosted the report's launch has completed how many years since its establishment under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry?
- A. Six years
- B. Eight years
- C. Ten years
- D. Fourteen years
Q6. The report identifies 'competition-policy drift' as a residual source of distortion in India. The statutory authority that enforces India's competition law functions under which one of the following ministries?
- A. Ministry of Commerce & Industry, which oversees trade and investment policy
- B. Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- C. Ministry of Finance, through the Department of Financial Services
- D. Ministry of Law and Justice, through the Department of Legal Affairs
Q7. Consider the following statements regarding the Competere Foundation's 2026 assessment of India:
1. The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax is among the structural reforms credited for India's improved standing.
2. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is among the structural reforms credited for India's improved standing.
3. Of the residual distortions quantified, foreign-investment restrictions account for a larger share of the estimated economic loss than competition-policy drift.
4. The residual distortions are estimated to impose a combined economic loss equivalent to about 4.2 per cent of GDP every year.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax is among the structural reforms credited for India's improved standing.
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is among the structural reforms credited for India's improved standing.
- Of the residual distortions quantified, foreign-investment restrictions account for a larger share of the estimated economic loss than competition-policy drift.
- The residual distortions are estimated to impose a combined economic loss equivalent to about 4.2 per cent of GDP every year.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 3 only
- C. 4 only
- D. 2 and 4 only
Q8. Consider the following statements comparing the Market Distortions Performance Index with other global business-environment assessments:
1. The Market Distortions Performance Index is published by the Competere Foundation, whereas the Global Competitiveness Index has been published by the World Economic Forum.
2. The Doing Business report ranked economies on the ease of doing business faced by an individual firm, whereas its successor assesses the business environment from the standpoint of private sector development as a whole.
3. The Global Competitiveness Index aggregates indicators across three pillars, which are in turn grouped into twelve broad sub-indices.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The Market Distortions Performance Index is published by the Competere Foundation, whereas the Global Competitiveness Index has been published by the World Economic Forum.
- The Doing Business report ranked economies on the ease of doing business faced by an individual firm, whereas its successor assesses the business environment from the standpoint of private sector development as a whole.
- The Global Competitiveness Index aggregates indicators across three pillars, which are in turn grouped into twelve broad sub-indices.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q9. Consider the following statements about the World Bank Group's business-environment reporting, against which the Market Distortions Performance Index is often placed:
1. The Doing Business report was launched by the World Bank Group in 2002.
2. In its later editions the Doing Business report covered 190 economies and selected cities.
3. Doing Business was succeeded by the flagship Business Ready (B-READY) report beginning in 2024.
4. Doing Business was discontinued in September 2019 following the surfacing of data irregularities.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- The Doing Business report was launched by the World Bank Group in 2002.
- In its later editions the Doing Business report covered 190 economies and selected cities.
- Doing Business was succeeded by the flagship Business Ready (B-READY) report beginning in 2024.
- Doing Business was discontinued in September 2019 following the surfacing of data irregularities.
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 4 only
Q10. In the analytical framework underlying the index on which India was assessed, the expression 'anti-competitive market distortion' is best understood as which one of the following?
- A. A collusive arrangement among private firms to fix prices or allocate territories, arrived at without any governmental involvement
- B. A sustained divergence of the market exchange rate from its purchasing-power-parity level that erodes the export earnings of domestic producers
- C. State action that enables particular private interests to secure or retain an artificial advantage over rivals, whether foreign or domestic
- D. The abuse of a dominant position by a single large firm to foreclose new entry, addressed through ex-post enforcement by the sectoral regulator
Q11. Who heads the Competere Foundation, the body that publishes the Market Distortions Performance Index, as its President?
- A. Shanker Singham
- B. Alden Abbott
- C. U. Srinivasa Rangan
- D. Robert Bradley