This section can be easy as pie if your basics are clear. Sometimes, even those who can communicate very well in English, fail to perform to the best of their ability in the banking exams. So, instead of boiling the ocean, try building up a strong vocabulary, an effective knowledge of grammar, and efficient comprehension skills so as to be on the ball to face this particular section. Here is a quiz being provided by Adda247 to let you practice the best of latest pattern English Questions.
Directions (1-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in BOLD to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Marketers are forever seeking fresh challenges and scouting for more and more clientele to be drawn into their sphere of influence. The urban consumer has always been pampered with the most dazzling array of goods and services from every industry. But the urban market is fast shrinking due to saturation caused by competition, and the growth rate over the past few years has consistently shown a declining trend. In the hunt for fresh pastures, the vast and hitherto vastly unexplored terrains of rural India consistently beckon the moolah-seeking marketer.
There are various reasons why every industry is taking a very serious look at rural markets. About 285 million live in urban India whereas 742 million reside in rural areas. Thus 72% of India’s population resides in its 6,00,000 villages. The number of middle income and high income households in rural India is expected to growfrom 80 million to 111 million while urban India is expected to grow from 46 million to 59 million. Size of the rural market is estimated to be 42 million households and the rural market has been growing at five times the pace of the urban market. More rural development initiatives are being implemented by the government. Increasing agricultural productivity has led to growth in rural disposable income.
Many companies have already made forays into rural households but still capturing the markets is a distant dream. Most marketers still lack in-depth knowledge to analyse the complex rural market. In the Indian context especially, rural marketing is a complex subject. The prices of rural marketing pose many problems due to the vastness of the country. It is now unanimously accepted that the rural salesmanship in India has been insufficient and inadequate and out of proportion to the agriculture revolution.
The traditional marketing activities of promotion, distribution, sales and servicing, undertaken so far in the urban and semi-urban contexts, are to be extended to cover a much wider area in a rural environment by introducing appropriate innovation, selection and adoption.
The development of the rural market will involve additional cost both in terms of promotion and distribution. In rural marketing, often it is not promotion of a brand that is crucial, but creating an awareness concerning a particular product field, for instance, fertilizers and pesticides. Urban and semi-urban based salesmen are not able to tap the full potential in the villages. The marketers should select and employ the educated unemployed from villages. The past practices of treating rural markets as appendages of the urban market is not correct, since rural markets have their own independent existence, and if cultivated well could turn into a generator of profit for the marketers.
The focus should be on infecting marketing culture into the villages. The educated unemployed youth in the villages could be trained to carry
out this mission. The salesmen in rural markets should be selected from the educated unemployed villagers and trained well. The town-to-villages shuttling salesmen are to be replaced by the stationary salesman in villages. Companies should also adequately concentrate on educating the villagers to save them from spurious goods and services. Rural markets are laggards in picking up new products. This will help the companies to phase their marketing efforts.
In this respect, it makes sense for non-competitive companies to make a joint effort to penetrate the market. They can use each other’s distribution channels to leverage their brands. Also considering the poor awareness levels of the people, competitors should join hands to avoid product proliferation, which results in confusing the consumer. Rural consumers have a very high level of ethos so all the care should be taken not to hurt them in any form of advertising. Moreover, every effort should be made by the companies to promote the “my brand” feel in the minds of consumers. This can be achieved by connecting the local industries of that place and, if possible, use it in packaging or graphics of the product. So the need of the hour is the integration of all the above-stated approaches and constantly reinventing the products and bringing new innovations.
Q1. Which of the following best explains the sentence ‘Rural markets are laggards in picking up new products’, as used in the passage?
(a) New products do not sell easily in rural markets
(b) People living in rural areas are lazy by nature
(c) People living in rural areas look forward to new products being launched
(d) The fastest selling products in rural areas happen to be new products alone
(e) Rural markets demand newer products
Q2. Which of the following is/are the problem/s faced by marketers in the rural area?
(A) Higher price of rural marketing.
(B) Problems in analysing rural markets due to their complexities.
(C) Inadequate rural salesmanship,
(a) Only (B)
(b) Only (A) and (B)
(c) Only (B) and (C)
(d) Only (A)
(e) All (A), (B) and (C)
Q3. What, according to the author, can be done to promote the ‘my brand’ feeling in the minds of rural consumers?
(a) Use local artists in advertisements related to the media.
(b) Give the product a local name so that it sells better.
(c) Advertise about the product in the local language alone.
(d) Involve local industries and use them for graphics or packaging.
(e) None of these.
Q4. Which of the following is NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(a) Growth rate of the urban market is on the wane.
(b) As compared to urban areas, a higher proportion of India’s population resides in villages.
(c) The spending capacity of rural people has not shown any change in the past years.
(d) The expected number of middle income and high income households in rural areas is greater than those of the urban areas.
(e) All are true
Q5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
(a) At present no company is catering to the rural market.
(b) Marketing activities used in the urban and semi-urban context can be used as is in the rural context as well.
(c) The rural markets can be treated as extensions of the urban markets.
(d) In rural markets creating awareness about a product takes precedence over promoting a brand.
(e) None is true
Q6. Which of the following is the author’s suggestion for appointing the salesmen for rural markets?
(a) The town-to-villages shuttling salesmen may be persuaded to relocate to villages, thereby making them stationary.
(b) The urban and semi-urban based salesmen may be appointed but should be given adequate training to get them acquainted with rural problems.
(c) The educated unemployed villagers may be trained and employed as salesmen rather than appointing salesmen from towns.
(d) The salesmen chosen for marketing in the rural areas may be a mix of urban. semi-urban and rural salesmen.
(e) None of these
Q7. What role, according to the author, can the non-competitive companies play in terms of rural marketing?
(a) Provide training to salesmen on the uniqueness of the rural market through joint efforts.
(b) Use each other’s distribution channels through joint efforts and raise awareness amongst the rural folk.
(c) Conduct awareness camps and workshops about their products in villages through joint efforts.
(d) Attract more companies to invest in the rural markets.
(e) Start competing with each other in order to increase product proliferation, there-by providing more options to villagers.
Q8. Which of the following is possibly the most appropriate title for the passage?’
(a) Consumerism In Urban Areas vis-à-vis Rural Areas
(b) Concepts In Marketing Of Goods
(c) Behaviour Of The Declining Urban Market
(d) Buying Habits Of The Poor
(e) Enticing The Rural Market
Directions (9-12): Choose the word/group of words which is most similar in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.
Q9. ARRAY
(a) tatter
(b) upset
(c) feature
(d) entity
(e) batch
Q10. SCOUTING FOR
(a) disciplining for
(b) exploring
(c) commemorate
(d) hoping for
(e) investigating
Q11. INFECTING
(a) conservating
(b) contaminating
(c) formation
(d) furlough
(e) striking
Q12. LEVERAGE
(a) promote
(b) cliff
(c) pull
(d) weigh
(e) limit
Directions (13-15): Choose the word/group of words which is most opposite in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in the passage.
Q13. AVOID
(a) preclude
(b) shun
(c) dodge
(d) pursue
(e) duck
Q14. INTEGRATION
(a) adumbrate
(b) segregation
(c) assimilation
(d) tying
(e) lifting
Q15. CRUCIAL
(a) basic
(b) important
(c) healthy
(d) irregular
(e) insignificant
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