Statements & Conclusions – Industrial economics: “National Aluminium Company has moved India from a position of shortage to self-sufficiency in aluminium.” From this, decide which conclusions logically follow: (I) Earlier, India had to import aluminium; (II) At this pace, India will soon earn foreign exchange by exporting aluminium.

Given data

• Premise: Country moved from shortage to self-sufficiency in aluminium due to NALCO.
• Conclusion I: Previously, aluminium was imported to meet the gap.
• Conclusion II: India will soon export aluminium and earn foreign exchange.

Concept/Approach
'Shortage' relative to demand is typically bridged by imports or unmet demand. For a national account, persistent shortage commonly entails imports. 'Self-sufficiency' means domestic production now meets domestic demand, removing the prior dependence.

Step-by-step evaluation
• Conclusion I is a reasonable and direct inference: moving from shortage to self-sufficiency implies that earlier domestic supply was inadequate and, in a standard trade scenario, the deficit was met by imports.• Conclusion II is speculative extrapolation (about future exports and pace). The premise does not state output will exceed demand or continue increasing; thus II does not follow.

Verification
Self-sufficiency = domestic supply ≈ domestic demand, not necessarily a surplus. Hence export inference is not compelled.

Common pitfalls

• Projecting future trends (exports) from a present status (self-sufficient) without evidence.

Final Answer
Only conclusion I follows.