5 min readNew DelhiFeb 5, 2024 05:54 PM IST
First published on: Feb 3, 2024 at 08:24 PM IST
Between February 1 and 2, almost 5000 people took part in The Indian Express’ mini-quiz competition on the interim Budget. Our online quiz featured 10 questions on the Indian economy, fitted with variable scoring and bonuses on time. We thank you for your enthusiastic participation, and are happy to now share the winners.
(L-R) Budget Quiz winners Anisha Antony (gold) and Tamil Anbu Selvan (silver).
Heartiest congratulations to our #1 ranker, Anisha Antony, who hit bullseye on all 10 questions within 25 seconds. Close on her heels was Tamil Anbu Selvan—a regular on our quizzes—at 30 seconds, with Sanal coming in at third by just one second. All three players have won our premium prize: a one-year, All-Access Indian Express Subscription, which opens you up to a world of exclusive games, articles and celebrity events.
How did players fare overall?
Out of about 5000 quizzers, 450 shared their contact to officially be a part of this contest. These entries make up our leaderboard. On scanning it, you’ll notice that the top 10 have all scored a perfect 250, making solving speeds a critical tiebreaker:
Leaderboard for the Union Budget Quiz 2024 by The Indian Express. Complete rankings further below.
Sharp as tacks, the average guessing speed for Express readers was 4.5 minutes. No surprises there, what with your fierce battle on The Express News Quiz every week. We’ve noticed readers fare better on our news quiz than on the Daily Mini Crossword, though the latter, on all counts, is an easier GK game.
Most quizzers participated on mobile using timely alerts from our app. For those whose entries just missed the deadline, no worries. We’ve included you on the leaderboard as well. Thank you for playing, and see you next time on @iepuzzles!
Answer Key for the Union Budget Quiz Contest
Q. The word ‘budget’ comes from the Old French ‘bougette’, meaning ‘leather bag’. While past FMs would present it from a leather briefcase, FM Sitharaman broke this tradition in 2019 by using a red cloth ‘bahi khata’ — the Indian ledger of accounts. Why?
Briefcase was colonial tradition
To not support animal cruelty via leather
To show support for Indian cloth weavers
No explanation was given
Q. The number of [BLANK] has swelled by 2.4 times, says FM Sitharaman. What?
Tax filers
Loan defaulters
First-time earners
People above poverty line
Q. Three economic rail corridor programs have been announced to improve passenger train ops. “They will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost. The resultant decongestion… will also help…in safety and higher travel speed” said the FM. Which of these is NOT one of the new corridors?
Ayodhya-Ganga tourist network
Energy, mineral and cement
Port connectivity
High traffic density
Q. The revised fiscal deficit — the gap between government’s revenue and expenses — is at 5.8% of the GDP for 2023-24 (FY24). Fiscal deficit in FY25 is expected to be 5.1% of GDP. What is the target for FY26?
Below 4.5%
At 4%
Below 4.8%
Between 3.5-4%
Q. Today’s Budget was an interim (temporary) one. Post the Lok Sabha elections, in which month will the ‘full one’ be presented by the new government?
July
June
August
September
Q. Through [BLANK], 1 crore households will be able to get 300 units of free electricity every month. The govt aims to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2070. FITB.
source
Rooftop solarisation
Mini windmill attachments
Reusable battery program
Community biogas links
Q. Most of the govt’s financial resources came from borrowings (28%). What is the second biggest income generator, at 19% for FY25?
Income tax
Corporate tax
GST
Railways
Q. At Rs 6.1 lakh crore, the Defence Ministry has received the highest allocation. Which ministry received the lowest, at Rs 1.27 lakh crore?
Agri & Farmer’s Welfare
Communication
Education
Power
Q. Welfare for women, youth, poor and farmers was the FM’s focus this year. The expanded use of Nano DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) in place of the more expensive DAP was also announced. What does Nano DAP do? Made in Gujarat, its wide use may reduce the govt’s import burdens.
Powerful plant fertiliser
Animal husbandry hormone
Makes any tapwater drinkable
Melts down crop stubble
Q. This [photo in quiz] is a word cloud of something related to today’s Budget. What did it analyse? Bigger text sizes indicate more mentions.
The FM’s speech
BJP IT Cell’s tweets
Articles on Budget
Trending Instagram topics
For feedback and ideas, you can write to puzzles@indianexpress.com or message @iepuzzles on Instagram. Happy solving!
Join @iepuzzles contests for an easy way to win Express subscriptions. 
(L-R) Budget Quiz winners Anisha Antony (gold) and Tamil Anbu Selvan (silver).
Leaderboard for the 
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