NABARD Assistant Manager Grade A (RDBS) · India · National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersStorage and market infrastructure for agriculture: the public programmes that fund it, how warehouses work, and how stored produce becomes collateral for credit through warehouse receipts.
In the exams: agricultural development bank officer recruitment, farm engineering and storage (present)
How our questions for NABARD Assistant Manager Grade A spread across the units of Agri Infrastructure & Warehousing. Difficulty: 6 easy, 20 medium, 11 hard.
| Agriculture Infrastructure Fund | 6 | |
| Warehousing capacity and storage gaps worldwide | 6 | |
| Agricultural infrastructure and the schemes that fund it | 4 | |
| Types of warehouses | 4 | |
| Warehouse documentation | 4 | |
| Warehouse receipts | 4 | |
| Material handling | 3 | |
| Collateral financing against stored produce | 3 | |
| IT in warehouse management | 2 | |
| Functions of warehouses | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Under a guaranteed-use (guaranteed-hire) scheme for foodgrain storage, what makes private godown construction attractive to investors?
C. A public food agency guarantees to hire the godowns for a fixed number of years
A guaranteed-hire contract with the public food agency removes most of the investor's demand risk. It is not a full capital subsidy or a tax exemption, and no receipt law lets a warehouse issue negotiable receipts without registration where registration is required.
Further reading: Public storage contracting practice
Some governments run agricultural infrastructure funds that hold no loan book of their own. How does such a fund support projects?
D. Lenders lend; the state pays interest subvention and guarantee fees
Such a fund works through banks and other lenders: they lend, and the scheme pays subvention and guarantee fees. It is not an equity investor or a flat capital subsidy, and these funds are usually open to farmers, producer organisations, cooperatives and entrepreneurs, not only public corporations.
Further reading: Interest subvention and credit guarantee design
A farmer can sell 10 tonnes of wheat now at 22,000 currency units per tonne or store for 5 months, expecting 24,500 per tonne. Rent is 80 per tonne per month, handling in and out totals 150 per tonne, 1% of the weight is lost (value the loss at 24,500 per tonne), and the farmer's opportunity cost of money is 9% per year on the harvest value. What is the expected net gain from storing?
C. 8,800
Gross gain = 10 x (24,500 - 22,000) = 25,000. Costs: rent 10 x 80 x 5 = 4,000; handling 1,500; loss 0.1 t x 24,500 = 2,450; interest 220,000 x 0.09 x 5/12 = 8,250. Net = 25,000 - 16,200 = 8,800. Leaving out interest gives 17,050, the most common mistake. 21,000 deducts only the rent.
Further reading: Storage economics
A warehouse handles 6,000 tonnes a year with an average stock of 1,500 tonnes. What is its inventory turnover and average dwell time?
B. 4 turns a year; 3 months
Turnover = throughput / average stock = 6,000 / 1,500 = 4. Dwell time = 12 / 4 = 3 months. Inverting the ratio gives 0.25; dividing 12 by 4 gives 3, not 4 or 6.
Further reading: Inventory arithmetic
An auditor finds that the total quantity on receipts outstanding exceeds the quantity in the stock register. What is the most likely problem?
D. Receipts issued without matching goods, or goods released without cancelling receipts
Receipts outstanding should equal stock held for depositors. An excess of receipts indicates fake or duplicate receipts or release without surrender, the core frauds in storage finance. Moisture gain is small and would raise physical weight, not receipts.
Further reading: Audit practice
Kenya's National Cereals and Produce Board, Zambia's Food Reserve Agency, China's Sinograin and India's Food Corporation are all examples of:
B. State agencies that buy, store and release grain for reserves
Each is a state agency that procures, stores and releases grain for public reserves or food distribution. Receipt regulators (such as Kenya's Warehouse Receipt System Council), commodity exchanges and development banks are different kinds of institution.
Further reading: Public warehousing institutions
Which type of institution is set up in some countries specifically to lend to cooperatives, including for storage and processing?
D. A cooperative bank or cooperative development fund
Cooperative banks and cooperative development funds, such as CoBank in the United States or national cooperative development corporations in several Asian countries, finance cooperative storage and processing. A derivatives regulator supervises markets, a warehousing corporation operates stores, and plant protection is a technical service.
Further reading: Cooperative finance institutions
What is the main purpose of a modern warehouse receipt law?
A. Making receipts documents of title and setting keepers' duties
Receipt laws (for example Tanzania's of 2005 and Kenya's of 2019, and the UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law of 2024) make receipts documents of title, set rules for licensing and keepers' duties, and protect holders and lenders. They do not fix prices, force farmers to store, or guarantee market values.
Further reading: FAO/World Bank, Designing warehouse receipt legislation
A lender monitors 40 pledged warehouses remotely. Sensor data show CO2 and grain temperature rising in one stack. What is the right first action?
D. Arrange prompt physical inspection of the stack for insects or mould and have it treated or turned
Rising CO2 and heat signal biological activity that can spoil stock and erode collateral; inspection and corrective treatment protect value. Waiting risks loss; recalling all loans or raising rates does not address the stack.
Further reading: Collateral management practice
A 2,000-tonne warehouse is 80% occupied on average and charges 6 currency units per 100 kg per month. What is its average monthly storage revenue?
B. 96,000
Stock = 2,000 x 0.8 = 1,600 t = 16,000 lots of 100 kg. Revenue = 16,000 x 6 = 96,000 a month. Using full capacity gives 120,000; charging per tonne instead of per 100 kg gives 9,600; 1,152,000 is annual.
Further reading: Warehouse revenue arithmetic
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