SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 19 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 2 of 99

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

What is the disinvestment target of the Finance Ministry for the year 2023-24?

(a)₹54,000 crore
(b)₹50,000 crore
(c)₹51,000 crore
(d)₹53,000 crore

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The Union Budget for 2023-24 put receipts from disinvestment at ₹51,000 crore, and option (c) reproduces that figure exactly.

There is nothing to derive here. All four options are built within a few thousand crore of each other, so the item is pure recall of one budget line and the deciding digit is the 51.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
₹54,000 crore — ₹54,000 crore is the largest of the four and matches no disinvestment line for 2023-24. The budgeted figure is fifty-one thousand crore.
(b)
₹50,000 crore — ₹50,000 crore is the rounded version a candidate carries away from revision notes. SSC builds this option precisely for that habit.
(d)
₹53,000 crore — ₹53,000 crore sits close enough to look right on a fast read. Only the exact ₹51,000 crore line matches the 2023-24 budget estimate.

Concept

Disinvestment is the sale by government of part or all of its equity in a public sector enterprise. The proceeds are booked as capital receipts in the Union Budget.

The work is handled by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) under the Ministry of Finance, which runs both minority stake sales and strategic sales.

Because the target is announced as a budget estimate, it can be revised during the year and the amount finally realised may differ from it.

The stem asks for the target, which is the budget estimate, not the amount actually raised during the year.

Key facts

Disinvestment means the government selling part or all of its equity in a public sector enterprise.
DIPAM, under the Ministry of Finance, is the department that manages disinvestment.
The Union Budget for 2023-24 set the disinvestment target at ₹51,000 crore.

Study next

Capital receipts in the Union Budget and where disinvestment sits among themDIPAM and the difference between minority stake sale and strategic disinvestmentBudget estimate, revised estimate and actuals

Common traps

Rounding ₹51,000 crore down to ₹50,000 crore while revising.
Quoting the amount realised in the year when the question asks for the target.

SSC gives budget lines as a single number with three near-miss options around it, so the figure has to be memorised as stated.

Public-finance vocabulary is tested in the same style on 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.6, which asks when a budget is a deficit budget.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.