Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner and Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (APFC and EO/AO) 2025 recruitment test. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, PENA-A-PTS); answer worked out by our faculty — UPSC has published no answer key for this sitting. This question is in Part B. Answer last reviewed 25 August 2026.

Consider the following statements regarding Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana : 1. The average ticket size of loan disbursed has more than doubled between FY 2016 and FY 2025. 2. Since its launch in 2015, Maharashtra has recorded the highest disbursal among States. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — A, (a) 1 only.

Statement 1 is correct. The Government's own account of the scheme's first decade records that the average ticket size of loans under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana rose from about Rs 38,000 in 2015-16 to about Rs 72,000 in 2022-23 and further to about Rs 1.02 lakh in 2024-25 - a figure it describes as having nearly tripled over the ten years. A rise from Rs 38,000 to Rs 1.02 lakh is a multiple of roughly two and two-thirds, so the loan has more than doubled in size, which is what the statement claims. The statement is in fact weaker than the record, and a claim that is comfortably inside the evidence is one to accept.

Statement 2 is not correct. Tamil Nadu, not Maharashtra, has recorded the highest disbursal among States since the scheme was launched in 2015. As at 28 February 2025 the figures ran: Tamil Nadu about Rs 3,23,648 crore, Uttar Pradesh about Rs 3,14,361 crore, Karnataka about Rs 3,02,146 crore, then West Bengal at about Rs 2,82,323 crore and Bihar at about Rs 2,81,943 crore. Maharashtra stands sixth, at about Rs 2,74,402 crore. Among the Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir leads with about Rs 45,816 crore.

The error in statement 2 is a plausible one, since Maharashtra leads on many economic indicators and is among the largest State economies. That is exactly why it is worth knowing that this particular league table has a different leader: MUDRA disbursal follows the density of small and micro enterprises and of bank branches lending to them, and on that measure the southern and eastern States have been more prominent than a ranking by State domestic product would suggest.

One statement correct and one incorrect gives option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)2 only — This option accepts the Maharashtra claim and rejects the growth in loan size. Both halves are wrong. Tamil Nadu is the leading State by disbursal since the scheme's launch, with Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka next and Maharashtra sixth; and the average ticket size has risen from about Rs 38,000 in 2015-16 to about Rs 1.02 lakh in 2024-25, which is well past a doubling. A candidate choosing this option has usually reasoned from the size of Maharashtra's economy rather than from the disbursal figures, and has been suspicious of the growth statistic because it sounds large.
(c)Both 1 and 2 — This option accepts both statements, and it is the natural choice for a candidate who knows that the loan size has grown sharply and assumes that the largest industrial State must lead the disbursal table. The first half of that reasoning is sound and the second is not. The State ranking on this scheme reflects where small and micro borrowers are and which banks are lending to them, and Tamil Nadu has led it, with Maharashtra in sixth place - behind Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Bihar as well.
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 — This option rejects both statements, and so rejects the ticket-size claim as well as the Maharashtra claim. The ticket-size claim is well founded and is stated conservatively: the official record describes the average as having nearly tripled between 2015-16 and 2024-25, and the statement asserts only that it more than doubled. Rejecting a statement that understates its own evidence is the commonest way of losing a two-statement item, and the remedy is to ask not whether a statement is impressive but whether the evidence covers it.

Concept

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana was launched in April 2015 to provide institutional credit to small and micro enterprises in the non-farm sector, and it works by refinancing and guaranteeing loans made by banks, non-banking financial companies and micro-finance institutions rather than by lending directly. MUDRA - the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency - was set up as a subsidiary of the Small Industries Development Bank of India, and the scheme is administered under the Ministry of Finance.

The loan categories are the part most often tested. Shishu covers loans up to Rs 50,000; Kishore from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh; Tarun from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. A further category, announced in the Budget for 2024-25 and given effect from October 2024, extends cover to Rs 20 lakh for borrowers who have repaid an earlier Tarun loan.

The pattern of lending over the decade is the substance of this item. Shishu loans dominated the early years, so the average loan was small; as borrowers returned for repeat finance the composition shifted towards Kishore and Tarun, and the average ticket size rose - from about Rs 38,000 in 2015-16 to about Rs 1.02 lakh in 2024-25. That shift is read officially as evidence that borrowers are graduating from micro to small enterprise rather than merely as inflation in loan sizes.

The State pattern is the other examinable dimension. Disbursal is concentrated where small enterprises are numerous and where the banking network reaches them, and the leaders since launch have been Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, with West Bengal and Bihar close behind and Maharashtra sixth.

Flagship credit and welfare schemes are set on these papers year after year, and the questions are drawn from the anniversary and review documents that the Government publishes about them - the ten-year account of this scheme being the obvious source here.

The two-statement format with the Both/Neither ladder is the paper's favourite for current affairs, and its statements are typically one quantitative claim and one ranking claim. Ranking claims are the easier ones to falsify if the ranking is known and the hardest to guess if it is not, because plausibility is a poor guide: the leading State on a credit scheme is not usually the State a candidate would name from general impressions.

The quantitative claim in this item is worth studying as an example of how such statements are built. The official phrasing is that the ticket size has nearly tripled; the statement asserts a doubling. An examiner who wanted to make it false would have said tripled, or quadrupled, or would have moved a year. When a statement claims less than the source does, the presumption is strongly that it is correct.

Key facts

The average ticket size of loans under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana rose from about Rs 38,000 in 2015-16 to about Rs 72,000 in 2022-23 and about Rs 1.02 lakh in 2024-25 - nearly a tripling over the decade.
As at 28 February 2025 the leading States by disbursal since launch were Tamil Nadu at about Rs 3,23,648 crore, Uttar Pradesh at about Rs 3,14,361 crore and Karnataka at about Rs 3,02,146 crore; Maharashtra stood sixth at about Rs 2,74,402 crore.
The scheme was launched in April 2015 and operates through banks, non-banking financial companies and micro-finance institutions, with MUDRA - a subsidiary of the Small Industries Development Bank of India - providing refinance and guarantee.
The loan categories are Shishu up to Rs 50,000, Kishore from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh and Tarun from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, with cover extended to Rs 20 lakh from October 2024 for borrowers who have repaid an earlier Tarun loan.
Among the Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir leads the disbursal table with about Rs 45,816 crore across some 21.3 lakh loan accounts.

Study next

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana: categories, ceilings, the role of MUDRA and SIDBI, and the administering ministry.The composition of MUDRA lending over time and what the shift from Shishu towards Kishore and Tarun is taken to show.Other credit schemes for small borrowers - the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises, StandUp India, PM SVANidhi - and the target group of each.Priority sector lending norms and how they direct credit towards micro and small enterprises.Reading a State-wise league table: what disbursal totals reflect, and why they do not track State domestic product.

Common traps

Naming Maharashtra as the leading State because it leads on many other economic indicators; on this scheme it is sixth, behind Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Bihar.
Rejecting a quantitative statement because it sounds large, when the statement in fact claims less than the official record does.
Confusing the Tarun ceiling of Rs 10 lakh with the enhanced cover of Rs 20 lakh, which is a separate provision for repeat borrowers from October 2024.
Treating MUDRA as a direct lender; it refinances and guarantees loans made by banks and other institutions.
Mixing the financial years - the ticket-size figures are for 2015-16, 2022-23 and 2024-25, and moving a year changes the multiple.

Scheme questions on these papers are set as two-statement items with the Both/Neither ladder, and the statements pair a quantity with a ranking or an attribution. The quantity is usually taken from an official review document and stated conservatively; the ranking is usually altered, because a State or a category can be swapped without the statement becoming implausible. The preparation that pays is to hold, for each flagship scheme, the launching year, the administering ministry, the categories and ceilings, and one or two headline numbers with their years - and to be sceptical of any statement that names the largest or most industrialised State as the leader of a league table.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2017_Q55

StandUp India Programme envisages each bank branch to give loan between ₹ 10 lakh to ₹ 100 lakh 1. to at least one SC/ST borrower 2. to at least one woman borrower 3. to at least one rural unemployed youth borrower Select the correct answer using the code given below.

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

Answer(d) 1 and 2

On the StandUp India requirement that each bank branch lend between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 100 lakh to at least one Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe borrower and one woman borrower - the same family of directed-credit schemes.

EPFO_EOAO_2017_Q51

A StandUp enterprise can be established in 1. farming sector 2. manufacturing sector 3. service sector 4. trading sector Select the correct answer using the code given below.

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

Answer(d) 2, 3 and 4

Asks in which sectors a StandUp enterprise may be established, testing the definitional boundaries of a credit scheme.

EPFO_APFC_2016_Q66

Consider the following programmes : 1. Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme 2. Micro Finance Programme 3. National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme 4. Cluster Development Programme What is common in the above programmes ?

(a) They are related to improving agriculture
(b) They are programmes related to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(c) They are programmes to improve large scale industries
(d) They are programmes to improve the traditional cottage industries

Answer(b) They are programmes related to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Identifies four programmes as belonging to the micro, small and medium enterprises sector - the policy environment in which MUDRA lending sits.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, the Kishore category covers loans of :
- (a)Up to Rs 50,000
- (b)Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh
- (c)Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh
- (d)Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh
Answer(b) Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh - Shishu covers loans up to Rs 50,000 and Tarun from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, with cover extended to Rs 20 lakh from October 2024 for borrowers who have repaid an earlier Tarun loan.
practice — not a real PYQ
The rise in the average ticket size of MUDRA loans over the scheme's first decade is officially read as evidence of :
- (a)A shift in the composition of lending from Shishu towards Kishore and Tarun as borrowers return for larger loans
- (b)A reduction in the number of borrowers
- (c)A change in the definition of a micro enterprise
- (d)The withdrawal of the Shishu category
Answer(a) A shift in the composition of lending from Shishu towards Kishore and Tarun as borrowers return for larger loans - the scheme's own review presents the rising average as a sign that borrowers are graduating from micro to small enterprise.

Why