General Awareness
General Awareness
KMAT's general awareness domain blends static facts with current affairs, weighted towards Indian business, economy, banking, polity, international organisations, awards, sports and science. The useful strategy is to build clusters around institutions and concepts rather than memorise isolated headlines.
Core rules and concepts
- Monetary policy is managed by the Reserve Bank of India. Repo is the rate at which RBI lends to banks against government securities; reverse repo absorbs liquidity.
- CRR is the share of deposits held as cash with RBI; SLR is held in approved securities. A repo hike generally raises borrowing costs and cools credit demand.
- Fiscal policy covers taxation, spending and deficits; monetary policy covers money supply and interest rates.
- GDP measures output within a country's borders; GNP adds net factor income from abroad.
- For current affairs, focus on the last 12-18 months: appointments, summits, schemes, awards and economic indicators.
Worked example
Question: If RBI raises the repo rate, what is the most likely immediate effect?
Answer: Bank lending rates rise, which tends to reduce credit demand. Repo is the policy rate at which banks borrow short-term funds from RBI; a higher cost of funds is passed on to borrowers. A tax change would be fiscal policy, and an increase in CRR would also tighten liquidity but is a separate instrument.
Traps that cost marks
The most common confusions are repo with reverse repo, CRR with SLR, and GDP with GNP. Current-affairs options often use an outdated name or an incorrect designation; check the exact title. Absolute options containing first, largest or only are risky unless the fact is certain. Static polity questions reward article numbers and constitutional bodies, so do not substitute recent news for fundamentals.