Among the agricultural commodities imported by India, which one of the following accounts for the highest imports in terms of value in the last five years?
Show answer
Answer: D. Vegetable (edible) oils, mainly palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil, have been India's biggest agricultural import by value, far ahead of pulses, fruits and spices.
Watch for: Pulses imports were often in the news, so students pick them over edible oils.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Wrong because spice imports are small; India is a large spice exporter.
- B. Wrong because fresh fruit imports are much smaller in value.
- C. Wrong because pulses imports, though large, are below vegetable oil imports in value.
Source to check: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Export-Import Data Bank (DGCI&S); Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2018
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.