Explanation
- A
Interest payment (20%)
Option (a) claims that interest payment accounts for 20% of the total outlay in the Union Budget 2023-24. This statement is factually correct according to the budget documents, making it a wrong choice for the question.
- B
State share of taxes and duties (18%)
Option (b) asserts that the state share of taxes and duties constitutes 18% of the total budget outlay. This is an accurate allocation figure presented in the 2023-24 financial statement, so this option is incorrect.
- C
Defence (8%)
Option (c) states that defence expenditure makes up 8% of the total budget outlay. Official expenditure estimates confirm this percentage, which rules out this option as the correct answer.
- D
Subsidies (9%)
Option (d) claims that subsidies account for 9% of the total outlay in the Union Budget 2023-24. In the actual budget documents for 2023-24, subsidies constitute 7% of the total expenditure, not 9%, which makes this statement factually incorrect and therefore the right answer to this exception-based question.
Summary. Official key is (d) because the statement regarding subsidies is factually inaccurate. The Union Budget 2023-24 allocated 7% of total expenditure to subsidies, whereas option (d) incorrectly lists it as 9%. Options (a), (b), and (c) correctly state the financial allocations for interest payment at 20%, state share of taxes and duties at 18%, and defence at 8% respectively. Thus, only option (d) fails the factual verification of budget data. Aspirants must carefully memorize major expenditure shares presented in rupee-coming-from and rupee-going-to charts.