Which of the following is an example of joint sector industry?
- (a)Steel Authority of India Limited
- (b)Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
- (c)Oil India Limited
- (d)Tata Iron and Steel Company
Answer
Why
Correct — C. A joint sector industry is owned and run jointly by the state and private individuals or firms, and Oil India Limited is the textbook example of exactly that arrangement — option (c).
The classification being tested is by ownership, not by product. All four options are heavy industry, so what separates them is who holds the equity: the state alone, private hands alone, or the two together.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)Steel Authority of India Limited — Steel Authority of India Limited is a public sector undertaking, owned by the Government of India, which puts it on the wrong side of the joint-sector test.
- (b)Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited — Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited is also public sector — the example textbooks use for that category, which is why it is offered here.
- (d)Tata Iron and Steel Company — Tata Iron and Steel Company is the standard private sector example, run by a private firm with no state ownership stake.
Concept
Industries are classified several ways, and by ownership the school syllabus gives four buckets.
Public sector units are owned and operated by government. Private sector units are owned by individuals or firms. Joint sector units are run by the state and private capital together. Cooperative sector units are owned by the producers or suppliers of the raw material.
The same four industries can also be sorted by raw material, by size or by weight, which is how SSC varies the question.
The option list mixes three of the four ownership categories, so identifying the odd one out is the whole task.
Key facts
- By ownership, industries are classified as public sector, private sector, joint sector and cooperative sector.
- Oil India Limited is the textbook example of a joint sector industry, owned by government and private investors together.
- Sugar mills in Maharashtra and the coir industry in Kerala are the usual cooperative sector examples.
Study next
Common traps
- Sorting the options by what they manufacture instead of by who owns them.
- Assuming any company with India or Bharat in its name must be purely public sector.
SSC works this single classification across shifts by changing which bucket it asks for.
The public sector version is asked on 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.11 and on 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.4, and the private sector version on 17 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.6.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.