SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 25 September 2024, Shift 3 · Quantitative Aptitude · Question 7 of 100

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 10 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.

The monthly income of Ramesh in year 2021 was ₹18,600 and his monthly expenditure was ₹12,400. In year 2022 his income increased by 15% and his expenditure increased by 8%. Find the percentage increase in his savings.

(a)25%
(b)32%
(c)27%
(d)29%

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Savings is income minus expenditure, so compute the rupee amounts for both years before taking any percentage.

2021 savings = 18,600 − 12,400 = ₹6,200
2022 income = 18,600 × 1.15 = ₹21,390
2022 expenditure = 12,400 × 1.08 = ₹13,392
2022 savings = 21,390 − 13,392 = ₹7,998

Rise = 7,998 − 6,200 = ₹1,798
Increase = 1,798 ⁄ 6,200 × 100 = 29% → option (d)

A one-line route to the same rise: 15% of the income minus 8% of the expenditure = 2,790 − 992 = ₹1,798.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
25% — 25% of the old savings is 0.25 × 6,200 = ₹1,550, but the savings actually rose by ₹1,798. The gap is ₹248, so this is not a rounding difference.
(b)
32% — 32% would mean a rise of 0.32 × 6,200 = ₹1,984, ₹186 above the true ₹1,798. It overshoots because it credits the expenditure with growing more slowly than the stated 8%.
(c)
27% — 27% gives 0.27 × 6,200 = ₹1,674, ₹124 short. Near-miss options like this punish rounding — 12,400 × 1.08 is exactly ₹13,392, not ₹13,400.

Concept

Percentages do not transfer across a subtraction. Income up 15% and expenditure up 8% does not make savings up 7% or 23% — savings has its own base, and only the rupee amounts settle it.

So the method is fixed: compute old savings, compute new income and new expenditure, subtract to get new savings, and compare against the old savings.

Here ₹6,200 becomes ₹7,998, a rise of ₹1,798, which is 29% of 6,200.

There is a faster equivalent. The rise in savings equals the rise in income minus the rise in expenditure, that is 15% of 18,600 minus 8% of 12,400.

That is 2,790 − 992 = ₹1,798 in one line, and it is the version worth carrying because it skips both new totals.

Key facts

Savings = income − expenditure, so 18,600 − 12,400 = ₹6,200 in 2021.
In 2022 the income is ₹21,390 and the expenditure ₹13,392, leaving savings of ₹7,998.
The rise of ₹1,798 measured on ₹6,200 is exactly 29%.
Percentage increase is always measured on the original value, never on the new one.

Study next

Income–expenditure–savings problems stated only as ratios, with no rupee figuresSuccessive percentage change on a single quantity, where the net factor is a productPercentage point versus percentage change, which SSC separates in data-interpretation items

Common traps

Subtracting the percentages and answering 7%.
Dividing the ₹1,798 rise by the new savings of ₹7,998, which gives about 22.5%.
Rounding 12,400 × 1.08 up to ₹13,400 and drifting onto a neighbouring option.

SSC gives the income and either the expenditure or the percentage spent, then raises both by different rates. The same construction runs at 13 Sep 2024, 16:00, Quant Q.11 and at 09 Sep 2024, 12:30, Quant Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.