IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 41

IPMAT Indore 2023 previous year question on RC Main Idea Questions, with the answer and a step-by-step solution.

RC Main Idea QuestionsReading Comprehension - Question TypesMultiple choiceMedium

RC passage 2: Passage 2 – Apple’s retail stores and the Indian market — this question belongs to a set. Read the full set with all 6 questions →

Read the following passage and choose the answer that is closest to each of the questions that are based on the passage.

Two Apple stores in Delhi and in Mumbai – opened in April 2023. Until now, Indians could buy Apple products in the country either online or through a vast network of what the company calls ‘premium resellers’. Will the new-found ability to sell products directly to customers in India – the world’s second largest smartphone market – impact its fortunes here? Apple has long tried to open physical retail stores in India. In 2019, the Indian government relaxed some investment rules, exempting companies selling ‘cutting-edge’ items, such as Apple’s iPhones and iPads, from restrictions.

Apple first launched an online store in India through a website which allows users to request for customised products. Apple’s decision to open physical stores in India could be the next step in its branding strategy. It is not as if this will change Apple’s sales in any dramatic way, but it is still a key milestone, one that will allow Apple to deliver to Indian customers the full Apple experience.

The iPhone is still an aspirational product in the price-sensitive Indian market. When you launch an Apple store, you are basically giving a premium experience to your premium consumers. It might not pull up sales, but it pulls more people into the Apple ecosystem.

Setting up an Apple store in India is also a statement that the country is now big enough for Apple to be actually interested in expanding operations here, and comes at a time when India is rising fast as a manufacturing base for the iPhone. Apple first began making a lower-end model of the iPhone in India in 2017. Last year, it began producing its latest model of iPhone 14 in the country, which now accounts for 5 percent of total iPhone production. For years, Apple had relied on China’s sophisticated manufacturing network to produce the bulk of its products. But analysts predict that by 2025, a quarter of all iPhones the company makes could be produced in India. Apple was already making between 5-7 percent of its products in India, and they are targeting to go up to 25 percent of their manufacturing capacity.

In 2022, Apple had a 60 percent market share in the Indian ‘premium smartphone’ market – which refers to mobiles that cost INR 40,000 or more, ahead of Samsung’s 21 percent share. Apple is doing well across categories. The real issue will be to pull consumers to these flagship centres without alienating the partner sellers.

Apple has finally understood that India’s premium market is growing, so why not be serious about it.

The main point the passage makes is that Apple

A
iPhone was already popular in India.
B
has realised the strategic importance of the Indian market.
C
needs new branding and marketing strategies to compete with Samsung.
D
needs physical stores to expand sales to more buyers of premium products.

Pick an option, then check.

Answer & solution

Answer: Option B

Step 1 — find the summarising sentence. The passage closes:

“Apple has finally understood that India’s premium market is growing, so why not be serious about it.”

That is the main point, and option (b) states it.

Step 2 — note the two strands the passage weaves together. India matters to Apple both as a market (60 percent premium share, stores opening) and as a manufacturing base (5–7 percent rising toward 25 percent). Only “strategic importance” is broad enough to cover both.

Step 3 — eliminate.

(a) True but minor — the iPhone being “aspirational” is a supporting detail, not the point.

(c) Samsung is mentioned once, as a market-share comparison. The passage never says Apple needs to change strategy to compete with it.

(d) Directly contradicted: “It is not as if this will change Apple’s sales in any dramatic way” and “It might not pull up sales.”

Answer: Option 2

Shortcut. Option (d) is refuted twice in the passage, which is unusual and worth noticing — the writer takes care to say the stores will not drive sales. Any option built on sales expansion is therefore out.

For main-idea questions on business passages, look for the sentence containing “finally”, “really” or “the real issue”. Here the last line begins “Apple has finally understood…”, which is the writer handing you the thesis.

IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 41

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