To help students overcome this difficulty, we have compiled a comprehensive collection of CAT profit and loss, interest questions from all the CAT previous years' papers in pdf format with detailed video solutions. Every question has video solution that is explained by CAT experts. Over the past few years, CAT Profit and Loss questions have made a recurrent appearance in the Quant section. You can expect around 1-2 questions in the new format of the CAT Quant section. Practising free CAT mock where you'll get a fair idea of how questions are asked, and type of questions asked in CAT Exam. Here download the PDF for free without signing up. Click the link below to download the CAT profit, loss and interest questions PDF with detailed video solutions.
Year | Weightage |
2023 | 6 |
2022 | 4 |
2021 | 5 |
2020 | 8 |
2019 | 7 |
2018 | 2 |
Profit and loss, Simple interest and Compound interest are some of the essential topics in the quantitative
aptitude section, and it is vital to have a clear understanding of the
formulas related to them. To help the aspirants to ace this topic, we have
made a PDF containing a comprehensive list of formulas, tips, and
tricks that you can use to solve Profit, loss and interest questions with ease
and speed. Click on the below link to download the CAT profit, loss and interest formulas PDF.
1. Compound Interest - Instalments
If an amount 'P' is borrowed for 'n' years at r% per annum compounded annually, and x is the installment that is paid at the end of each year, starting from the first year, then:
$$P\ =\ \dfrac{\ x}{1+\dfrac{r}{100}}+\ \dfrac{\ x}{\left(1+\dfrac{r}{100}\right)^{^2}}+...+\ \dfrac{\ x}{\left(1+\dfrac{r}{100}\right)^{^n}}$$
or
$$P\ \left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n\ }=\ x\ \left(\left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n-1}+\left(1+\frac{r}{100}\right)^{n-2\ }...\ +1\right)$$
2. Consecutive Profit %
When there are two successive profits of $$x\%$$ and $$y\%$$ then the net percentage profit $$=\ \dfrac{\ x+y+xy}{100}$$.
When there is a profit of $$x\%$$ and loss of $$y\%$$ then net percentage profit or loss $$=\ \dfrac{\ x-y-xy}{100}$$
3. Simple and Compound Interest
The principal amount is P, rate of interest is R and time of loan is T
Simple Interest = $$\dfrac{P*T*R}{100}$$
Amount = Principal + Simple Interest
Compound Interest = $$ P(1+\dfrac{R}{100})^{T}$$ - P
For the same principal, positive rate of interest and time period, the compound interest on the loan is always greater than the simple interest.
4. SP - CP - Discount - Marked Price
The cost price of an article is C.P, the selling price is S.P and the marked price is M.P
Profit (Loss) = S.P – C.P
% Profit (Loss) = Profit (Loss)/C.P *100
Discount = M.P – S.P
% Discount = Discount/M.P * 100
Total increase in price due to two subsequent increases of X% and Y% is (X+Y+XY/100)%
Bina incurs 19% loss when she sells a product at Rs. 4860 to Shyam, who in turn sells this product to Hari. If Bina would have sold this product to Shyam at the purchase price of Hari, she would have obtained 17% profit. Then, the profit, in rupees, made by Shyam is
correct answer:-2160
Aman invests Rs 4000 in a bank at a certain rate of interest, compounded annually. If the ratio of the value of the investment after 3 years to the value of the investment after 5 years is 25 : 36, then the minimum number of years required for the value of the investment to exceed Rs 20000 is
correct answer:-9
Anil invests Rs 22000 for 6 years in a scheme with 4% interest per annum, compounded half-yearly. Separately, Sunil invests a certain amount in the same scheme for 5 years, and then reinvests the entire amount he receives at the end of 5 years, for one year at 10% simple interest. If the amounts received by both at the end of 6 years are equal, then the initial investment, in rupees, made by Sunil is
correct answer:-4
Gopi marks a price on a product in order to make 20% profit. Ravi gets 10% discount on this marked price, and thus saves Rs 15. Then, the profit, in rupees, made by Gopi by selling the product to Ravi, is
correct answer:-1
The selling price of a product is fixed to ensure 40% profit. If the product had cost 40% less and had been sold for 5 rupees less, then the resulting profit would have been 50%. The original selling price, in rupees, of the product is
correct answer:-2
An amount of Rs 10000 is deposited in bank A for a certain number of years at a simple interest of 5% per annum. On maturity, the total amount received is deposited in bank B for another 5 years at a simple interest of 6% per annum. If the interests received from bank A and bank B are in the ratio 10 : 13, then the investment period, in years, in bank A is
correct answer:-4
After two successive increments, Gopal's salary became 187.5% of his initial salary. If the percentage of salary increase in the second increment was twice of that in the first increment, then the percentage of salary increase in the first increment was
correct answer:-3
A merchant purchases a cloth at a rate of Rs.100 per meter and receives 5 cm length of cloth free for every 100 cm length of cloth purchased by him. He sells the same cloth at a rate of Rs.110 per meter but cheats his customers by giving 95 cm length of cloth for every 100 cm length of cloth purchased by the customers. If the merchant provides a 5% discount, the resulting profit earned by him is
correct answer:-3
Anil borrows Rs 2 lakhs at an interest rate of 8% per annum, compounded half-yearly. He repays Rs 10320 at the end of the first year and closes the loan by paying the outstanding amount at the end of the third year. Then, the total interest, in rupees, paid over the three years is nearest to
correct answer:-2
Gita sells two objects A and B at the same price such that she makes a profit of 20% on object A and a loss of 10% on object B. If she increases the selling price such that objects A and B are still sold at an equal price and a profit of 10% is made on object B, then the profit made on object A will be nearest to
correct answer:-3
Minu purchases a pair of sunglasses at Rs.1000 and sells to Kanu at 20% profit. Then, Kanu sells it back to Minu at 20% loss. Finally, Minu sells the same pair of sunglasses to Tanu. If the total profit made by Minu from all her transactions is Rs.500, then the percentage of profit made by Minu when she sold the pair of sunglasses to Tanu is
correct answer:-3
Anil invests Rs. 22000 for 6 years in a certain scheme with 4% interest per annum, compounded half-yearly. Sunil invests in the same scheme for 5 years, and then reinvests the entire amount received at the end of 5 years for one year at 10% simple interest. If the amounts received by both at the end of 6 years are same, then the initial investment made by Sunil, in rupees, is
correct answer:-20808
Jayant bought a certain number of white shirts at the rate of Rs 1000 per piece and a certain number of blue shirts at the rate of Rs 1125 per piece. For each shirt, he then set a fixed market price which was 25% higher than the average cost of all the shirts. He sold all the shirts at a discount of 10% and made a total profit of Rs.51000. If he bought both colors of shirts, then the maximum possible total number of shirts that he could have bought is
correct answer:-407
Mr. Pinto invests one-fifth of his capital at 6%, one-third at 10% and the remaining at 1%, each rate being simple interest per annum. Then, the minimum number of years required for the cumulative interest income from these investments to equal or exceed his initial capital is
correct answer:-20
Nitu has an initial capital of ₹20,000. Out of this, she invests ₹8,000 at 5.5% in bank A, ₹5,000 at 5.6% in bank B and the remaining amount at x% in bank C, each rate being simple interest per annum. Her combined annual interest income from these investments is equal to 5% of the initial capital. If she had invested her entire initial capital in bank C alone, then her annual interest income, in rupees, would have been
correct answer:-2
Amal buys 110 kg of syrup and 120 kg of juice, syrup being 20% less costly than juice, per kg. He sells 10 kg of syrup at 10% profit and 20 kg of juice at 20% profit. Mixing the remaining juice and syrup, Amal sells the mixture at ₹ 308.32 per kg and makes an overall profit of 64%. Then, Amal’s cost price for syrup, in rupees per kg, is
correct answer:-160
Alex invested his savings in two parts. The simple interest earned on the first part at 15% per annum for 4 years is the same as the simple interest earned on the second part at 12% per annum for 3 years. Then, the percentage of his savings invested in the first part is
correct answer:-1
Raj invested ₹ 10000 in a fund. At the end of first year, he incurred a loss but his balance was more than ₹ 5000. This balance, when invested for another year, grew and the percentage of growth in the second year was five times the percentage of loss in the first year. If the gain of Raj from the initial investment over the two year period is 35%, then the percentage of loss in the first year is
correct answer:-4
Amal purchases some pens at ₹ 8 each. To sell these, he hires an employee at a fixed wage. He sells 100 of these pens at ₹ 12 each. If the remaining pens are sold at ₹ 11 each, then he makes a net profit of ₹ 300, while he makes a net loss of ₹ 300 if the remaining pens are sold at ₹ 9 each. The wage of the employee, in INR, is
correct answer:-1000
Anil invests some money at a fixed rate of interest, compounded annually. If the interests accrued during the second and third year are ₹ 806.25 and ₹ 866.72, respectively, the interest accrued, in INR, during the fourth year is nearest to
correct answer:-3