General Awareness (with special reference to Insurance and Financial Sector)
What the section tests
General Awareness for UIIC AO concentrates on the insurance and financial sector, current events, the Indian economy and institutions. Expect questions on regulators, monetary policy tools, financial markets, government insurance and pension schemes, banking terminology, and recent appointments or policy changes. Static facts and current facts are tested together.
Core rules
- IRDAI is the insurance regulator, established under the IRDA Act, 1999, with headquarters in Hyderabad. It licenses insurers and intermediaries and protects policyholders.
- RBI regulates banks and NBFCs and conducts monetary policy; the six-member Monetary Policy Committee announces the repo rate. CRR and SLR are reserve requirements, not policy rates.
- SEBI regulates the securities market under the SEBI Act, 1992. PFRDA regulates pensions; it is not the insurance regulator.
- NPCI operates retail payment systems such as UPI, IMPS and RuPay.
- PMJJBY is a life insurance scheme, PMSBY is accidental death or disability cover, and APY is a pension scheme.
- Insurance penetration is premium as a percentage of GDP; insurance density is premium per capita.
Worked example
Which body decides India’s policy repo rate? (a) SEBI (b) IRDAI (c) RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (d) Finance Commission. The answer is (c). The repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow short-term funds from RBI against government securities. SEBI handles securities markets and IRDAI handles insurance, so neither sets monetary policy.
Traps
- Confusing IRDAI with PFRDA or SEBI.
- Mixing insurance penetration with insurance density.
- Reversing repo and reverse repo.
- Quoting stale rates or GDP figures: learn the concept and the current holder, not an old number.
- Confusing the Insurance Act, 1938 with the IRDA Act, 1999.