IBPS is going to conduct the prelims exam in the month of October for recruitment of POs. IBPS PO profit and loss questions often appear in the quantitative aptitude section. Since these are low hanging fruits, aspirants must attempt these questions.
On analysing previous year papers of IBPS PO, it is quite evident that IBPS has been asking questions from this topic since time immemorial. Having a decent understanding of percentages is essential to solve these questions.
Since IBPS PO profit and loss questions are usually simple, aspirants must solve them in a jiffy. Aspirants can opt for IBPS PO online preparation to help them solve these questions fast. IBPS PO mock tests will help candidates to identify and solve easy questions – a crucial test taking skill that aspirants must master.
Simple IBPS PO profit loss questions:
Let us start with simple template questions and then move on to the tougher ones.
Question 1:
A shopkeeper marks up the price of his goods by 50%. If he offers a discount of 30% on the marked price, what is his overall profit percentage?
Let us assume the price of the article to be Rs. 100.
Mark up percentage = 50%
Marked up price = 1.5 * 100 = Rs. 150
Discount offered = 30%
Selling price = 0.7 *150 = Rs. 105
Profit percentage = (105 -100)/100 = 5%.
Question 2:
A shopkeeper buys 150 fruits for Rs. 9000. At what price must he sell one fruit if he wants to realise a profit of 40%.
Cost of 1 fruit = 9000/150 = Rs. 60
Profit required = 40%
=> Selling price of the fruit = 1.4*60 = Rs. 84
These are template questions and are too simple to ignore. Most aspirants avoid word problems and stick to DI and approximations to avoid time consumption. But, one must look out for simple word problems. Since the questions are of individual type, the stakes are not too high.
Tricky IBPS PO profit and loss questions:
Now, let us look at some tough IBPS PO profit and loss questions.
Question 3:
A fraudulent shopkeeper uses a 900 gm weight (instead of 1 kg weight) while selling goods to people. He uses a 1200 gm weight instead of 1 kg weight while procuring. What is his profit percentage if he claims to sell at the cost price.
Let us assume the cost price of 1000 gms of the good to be Rs. 100
The shopkeeper procures 1200 gms at Rs. 100. Hence, C.P. of the good = 100/1200 = 1/12
The shopkeeper sells 900 gms at Rs. 100. Hence, S.P of the good = 100/900 = 1/9
Profit percentage = (1/9 – 1/12) / 1/12
= (1/36)*12
= 1/3 or 33.33%
A more intuitive way of solving this problem is as follows.
Let us assume that the shopkeeper procures 1200 gms for Rs. 300
He will sell 900 gms at Rs. 300. He will sell the remaining 300 gms at 300/3 = Rs. 100.
Therefore, the shopkeeper procures at Rs. 300 and sells at Rs. 400. Therefore the profit percentage is 33.333%.
Question 4:
A shopkeeper sells 2 different mobile phones at Rs. 200 each. If he acquires a profit of 60% on one mobile phone and a loss of 60% on the other mobile phone, what is his net profit or loss percentage?
Let the CPs of the two mobiles be ‘x’ and ‘y’.
1.6 x = 200
=> x = Rs. 125
0.4y = 200 => y = Rs.500
Net revenue = 200+200 = 400
Net cost = 500+125 =625
Loss = 625 – 400 = 225
Loss % = 225/625 = 9/25 = 36% loss
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Question 5:
A milkman sets out with 160 litres of milk. He marks up the price of milk by 20%. After he sells 80 litres, he notices that the demand is high. So he mixes up 40 litres of water with the remaining milk and again marks up the price by another 20%. If the milkman procures milk at Rs. 10 a litre, what is the profit realised by him?
Let us break down the question into simpler parts.
Milkman procures 160 litres of milk at Rs. 10 a litre. Hence, cost price = Rs. 1600
Now, he sells the first 80 litres at 1.2*10 = Rs. 12 a litre.
Therefore, he obtains 12*80 = Rs. 960
Now, 160 -80 = 80 litres will be remaining. He adds 40 litres of water. Hence, the milkman will have 120 litres left.
He will sell these 120 litres at 1.2*12 = Rs.14.4 a litre.
He will obtain 14.4*120 = Rs. 1728
Net revenue = 1728+960 = Rs. 2688
Profit realised = 2688 – 1600 = Rs. 1088
Question 6:
A coffee shop owner sells coffee powder. He buys coffee powder at Rs. 1000 a Kg and chicory powder at Rs. 200 a Kg. If he sells the mixture at Rs. 1260 a kg and realises a profit percentage of 50%, find the ratio in which he mixed the coffee and chicory.
The final selling price of mixture = Rs. 1260 and it yields a profit of 50%.
=> 1.5* cost = 1260
Cost of final mixture = 1260/1.5 = Rs. 840
Let a:b be the ratio in which coffee and chicory are mixed.
(1000a + 200b)/(a+b) = 840
1000a + 200b = 840a + 840b
160 a = 640 b
=> a/b = 4
a:b = 4:1
Hence, 4 parts of coffee must be mixed with 1 part of chicory to get the final mixture.
As we can see, aspirants can solve tougher IBPS PO profit and loss questions by adopting a systematic approach.
To know more about the quantitative aptitude section, try reading 6 tricks to crack IBPS PO quantitative aptitude and 7 important IBPS PO maths tricks.
