With reference to the international trade of India at present, which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. India's merchandise exports are less than its merchandise imports. 2. India's imports of iron and steel, chemicals, fertilisers and machinery have decreased in recent years. 3. India's exports of services are more than its imports of services .- 4. India suffers from an overall trade/current account deficit. Select the correct answer using the code given below :

Explicit claim in a textbook chapter that 'India's imports of iron and steel, chemicals, fertilisers and machinery have decreased in recent years' — a general statement about import trends.

A student could treat this as a hypothesis and check official commodity-wise import series (e.g., Commerce Ministry or Economic Survey tables) for chemicals from 2015 to 2020 to verify direction and magnitude.

Notes that India moved from importing many goods to exporting 'electronic, and chemical goods', implying domestic chemical production/competitiveness improved which could reduce chemical imports.

Compare export growth in chemical items and domestic production growth (industrial statistics) against import values for 2015–2020 to infer whether rising domestic supply could explain lower imports.

Describes steady progress and post‑independence expansion of the chemical industry and lists many sub‑sectors, suggesting expanding domestic capacity that could substitute imports.

Use this industry expansion idea plus production data by sub‑sector (petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers) to assess whether increased output plausibly reduced import dependence during 2015–2020.

Reports changing composition of imports with declines in some categories (capital goods, food and allied products) showing the textbooks track item‑wise shifts in import patterns.

Apply the same approach used for those categories: obtain the textbooks' referenced tables (e.g., Table 8.5) or official import commodity tables to examine the chemical category trend 2015–2020.

Discusses changing composition of international trade over recent years and references Economic Survey / Commerce data sources — points to where reliable time series by commodity are published.

Follow the referenced sources (Economic Survey, Commerce annual reports) to retrieve chemical import time series for 2015–2020 and judge whether imports decreased.

Explicitly asserts that India's imports of fertilisers (along with iron/steel, chemicals, machinery) 'have decreased in recent years', suggesting a downward import trend.

A student could interpret 'recent years' to include 2015–2020 and then check official trade statistics (e.g., annual customs or DGCIS data) for 2015–2020 to confirm the timing and magnitude of any decrease.

Notes that urea is the most imported fertiliser (accounts for 74% of fertiliser imports), tying overall fertiliser import volumes closely to urea supply/demand.

A student could focus on urea-specific production and import data for 2015–2020 (domestic urea production changes, policy shifts, or import records) to infer whether total fertiliser imports fell.

Provides a datapoint for domestic urea production in 2017–18 (~24.02 MT), which affects import dependence—higher domestic production can reduce imports.

Compare this production figure with domestic consumption for 2017–18 and adjacent years (2015–2020) to estimate whether increased production could have driven import declines.

Shows historical import figures for earlier periods (2000–01 and 2007–08) and demonstrates that imports can change substantially over time, establishing that import trends are variable.

Use the pattern of past variability as a reason to examine year-by-year import series (2015–2020) rather than assuming a constant trend; check whether the post-2007 pattern reversed or continued.

Explicit textbook claim that 'India's imports of ... machinery have decreased in recent years' — a direct statement about a downward trend in machinery imports.

A student could treat 'recent years' as overlapping 2015–2020 and check official import time‑series (e.g., BOT tables) for machinery to confirm the timing and magnitude.

States that 'import of capital goods maintained a steady decline' — capital goods commonly include machinery, so it supplies a pattern of falling capital/machinery imports.

Map 'capital goods' to the trade category for machinery and compare annual capital‑goods import figures for 2015–2020 from government trade data to test the claim.

Notes a structural shift: earlier India imported 'almost all types of machinery' but now is 'exporting all sorts of machinery' — implying reduced reliance on machinery imports over time.

Use this qualitative shift plus export/import series (or a world map of trading partners) to see if machinery import volumes fell while engineering/machinery exports rose between 2015 and 2020.

Clarifies that 'plant and machinery' are recorded under the Balance of Trade (BOT) and notes measurement conventions (FOB/CIF), which matters when comparing import values over years.

A student should ensure they compare like‑with‑like (CIF vs FOB) across 2015–2020 BOT data to avoid misleading conclusions about increases/decreases in machinery imports.

Shows the secondary sector (which includes manufacturing and capital goods activity) contracted sharply in 2020‑21, indicating potential disruptions to trade flows including machinery imports in 2020.

Combine the sectoral downturn (especially in 2020) with annual import data to determine whether machinery imports fell in 2020 as part of the broader manufacturing slump.