State agricultural university MBA (ABM) admission · India · State agricultural universities via ICAR AIEEA-PG Group 19
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersTaking an agricultural project from idea to appraisal to delivery, and building an agri-enterprise: feasibility, NPV and IRR, PERT/CPM, business plans and incubation.
In the exams: agribusiness management PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, project management and entrepreneurship (heavy); agricultural economics PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, project appraisal (heavy); agricultural master's entrance examinations, time value of money and entrepreneurship (heavy); agricultural development bank officer recruitment, project appraisal (present)
How our questions for State agricultural university MBA admission spread across the units of Project Management, Appraisal & Agri-Entrepreneurship. Difficulty: 29 easy, 17 medium, 1 hard.
| Time value of money: compounding and discounting | 8 | |
| Discounted measures: NPV, IRR, BCR and profitability index | 6 | |
| Theories of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competencies | 6 | |
| Business plans | 4 | |
| Incubation, IPR and technology commercialisation | 4 | |
| Undiscounted measures: payback and ARR | 3 | |
| The project cycle | 3 | |
| Market and technical feasibility | 3 | |
| Setting up a micro, small or medium enterprise | 3 | |
| Financial and economic feasibility | 2 | |
| Women's, self-help group and family enterprises | 2 | |
| Project risk | 1 | |
| Scheduling and resource allocation | 1 | |
| Cost overruns, monitoring and mid-course correction | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A cooperative must have 200,000 currency units in 4 years to replace a milk chiller. How much must it deposit at the end of each year at 8% compound interest?
C. 44,384
Sinking fund factor = r/[(1 + r)^n − 1] = 0.08/(1.08^4 − 1) = 0.08/0.3605 = 0.2219; deposit = 200,000 × that = 44,384 currency units. 50,000 currency units ignores interest; 60,384 currency units uses the capital recovery factor (repaying a present loan of 200,000); 147,006 currency units is the single lump sum needed today, not an annual deposit.
Further reading: Gittinger, Economic Analysis of Agricultural Projects (1982)
A mini dal mill costs 100,000 currency units now and yields net cash flows of 30,000 currency units, 40,000, 50,000 and 30,000 in years 1 to 4. What is the NPV at 10%?
D. 18,387
Discount factors at 10%: 0.9091, 0.8264, 0.7513, 0.6830. PV of inflows = 27,273 + 33,058 + 37,566 + 20,490 = 118,387. NPV = 118,387 − 100,000 = 18,387 currency units. 50,000 currency units is undiscounted; 7,624 currency units discounts every flow one year too many; 118,387 currency units is the gross PV of inflows, not the net value.
Further reading: Gittinger, Economic Analysis of Agricultural Projects (1982)
What is the defining feature of the Delphi method of forecasting?
C. Repeated rounds of anonymous expert opinion with feedback until judgements converge
Delphi keeps experts anonymous so that dominant personalities do not sway the group, and feeds back the group's summary between rounds.
Further reading: Prasanna Chandra, Projects
Which economist defined the entrepreneur as an innovator who carries out 'new combinations' and linked this to 'creative destruction'?
C. Joseph Schumpeter
Schumpeter's Theory of Economic Development (1911; English 1934) made innovation the entrepreneur's defining function. Knight emphasised uncertainty-bearing, Kirzner alertness, and Cantillon risk-bearing through buying at certain and selling at uncertain prices.
Further reading: Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development
The Kakinada experiment of the 1960s, reported by McClelland and Winter, is associated with which idea?
B. Achievement motivation training raises entrepreneurial activity
McClelland and Winter (Motivating Economic Achievement, 1969) reported that businessmen in Kakinada, a port town in southern India, given achievement-motivation training subsequently showed more entrepreneurial activity than a comparison group. The study shaped later entrepreneurship development programmes built around achievement motivation.
Further reading: McClelland and Winter, Motivating Economic Achievement (1969)
In Clarence Danhof's classification of entrepreneurs, a farmer who adopts a new practice only when failing to do so would clearly cause a loss is called:
B. Fabian
Danhof, studying American agriculture, identified innovative (introduce new ideas), imitative or adoptive (copy successful innovations), Fabian (very cautious, change only when forced by threat of loss) and drone (refuse to change even at a loss).
Further reading: Danhof (1949), as summarised in standard entrepreneurship texts
Which sequence is the most sensible for setting up a small feed mill?
B. Opportunity screening, feasibility study, choice of legal form and registration, DPR and finance, machinery and staff, trial run, commercial production
Commitments that are hard to reverse (machinery, loans) should follow evidence of feasibility and a legal and financial structure. Starting with machinery is a common and costly mistake.
Further reading: Prasanna Chandra, Projects
Under the TRIPS Agreement, what is the minimum term of patent protection?
B. 20 years from the filing date
TRIPS Article 33 sets a minimum term of 20 years counted from the filing date. The 25- and 15-year figures relate to plant variety protection terms in some systems.
Further reading: WTO TRIPS Agreement, Art. 33
On the technology readiness level (TRL) scale, what does level 9 indicate?
C. System proven in operation
TRLs, developed at NASA, run from 1 (basic principles) to 9 (proven in operation). Proof of concept is around level 3 and prototype demonstration around levels 6-7.
Further reading: NASA technology readiness levels
What mainly distinguishes an accelerator from an incubator?
C. Accelerators run short, intensive, cohort-based programmes for ventures already trading, often for equity; incubators support earlier-stage ventures for longer
Incubators nurture early ventures with space, mentoring and services over a longer period; accelerators compress growth support into a fixed programme ending in a demo day, usually for startups with a product in the market.
Further reading: Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd, Entrepreneurship
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