Introduction
Abbreviations play a crucial role in competitive examinations and general awareness, especially in areas like Economy, Banking, Finance, Government, Science, and Technology. In today’s fast-paced exam pattern, questions are often framed using short forms such as GDP, RBI, GST, IMF, AI, UPSC, and many more. A clear understanding of these abbreviations along with their meanings helps candidates save time, avoid confusion, and score better.
This collection of 500 important abbreviations with short explanations has been carefully compiled to meet the needs of aspirants preparing for SSC, Banking, Railways, UPSC, State PSC, Defence exams, and other competitive tests. Each abbreviation is explained in simple and concise language, making it easy to remember and revise.
Whether you are revising before an exam, improving your General Knowledge (GK), or strengthening your current affairs and conceptual clarity, this list will serve as a quick-reference guide and reliable study resource. Regular practice of these abbreviations will enhance your confidence and boost your performance in both objective exams and interviews.
Here are 500 important abbreviations with short explanations — Economy, Banking, Finance, Government, Exams & General Awareness.
Very useful for SSC, Banking, Railways, UPSC, State PSC, Defence & Competitive Exams.
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🏦 ECONOMY & BANKING ABBREVIATIONS (1–150)
1. GDP – Gross Domestic Product, total domestic output
2. GNP – Gross National Product, GDP + foreign income
3. NNP – Net National Product, GNP minus depreciation
4. NDP – Net Domestic Product, GDP minus depreciation
5. PCI – Per Capita Income, income per person
6. RBI – Reserve Bank of India, central bank
7. MPC – Monetary Policy Committee, sets interest rates
8. CRR – Cash Reserve Ratio, cash with RBI
9. SLR – Statutory Liquidity Ratio, liquid assets
10. Repo – Rate at which RBI lends to banks
11. Reverse Repo – Rate RBI borrows from banks
12. LAF – Liquidity Adjustment Facility
13. OMO – Open Market Operations
14. NPA – Non-Performing Asset, bad loan
15. PSB – Public Sector Bank
16. PVB – Private Sector Bank
17. RRB – Regional Rural Bank
18. NBFC – Non-Banking Financial Company
19. SBI – State Bank of India
20. IDBI – Industrial Development Bank of India
21. NABARD – National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
22. EXIM – Export Import Bank
23. MSME – Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
24. KYC – Know Your Customer
25. AML – Anti-Money Laundering
26. CASA – Current Account Savings Account
27. FD – Fixed Deposit
28. RD – Recurring Deposit
29. ATM – Automated Teller Machine
30. UPI – Unified Payments Interface
31. NEFT – National Electronic Funds Transfer
32. RTGS – Real Time Gross Settlement
33. IMPS – Immediate Payment Service
34. BHIM – Bharat Interface for Money
35. IFSC – Indian Financial System Code
36. MICR – Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
37. SWIFT – Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
38. IBC – Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
39. SARFAESI – Loan recovery law
40. DRT – Debt Recovery Tribunal
41. CIBIL – Credit Information Bureau India Ltd
42. DICGC – Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation
43. SFB – Small Finance Bank
44. PB – Payments Bank
45. DBT – Direct Benefit Transfer
46. JAM – Jan Dhan–Aadhaar–Mobile
47. LPG – Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization
48. BoP – Balance of Payments
49. BoT – Balance of Trade
50. FDI – Foreign Direct Investment
51. FPI – Foreign Portfolio Investment
52. SEZ – Special Economic Zone
53. ECB – External Commercial Borrowing
54. PPP – Purchasing Power Parity
55. SDR – Special Drawing Rights
56. IMF – International Monetary Fund
57. WB – World Bank
58. WTO – World Trade Organization
59. ADB – Asian Development Bank
60. AIIB – Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
61. BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
62. SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
63. ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations
64. FTA – Free Trade Agreement
65. CEPA – Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
66. MFN – Most Favoured Nation
67. GST – Goods and Services Tax
68. CGST – Central GST
69. SGST – State GST
70. IGST – Integrated GST
71. ITR – Income Tax Return
72. PAN – Permanent Account Number
73. TDS – Tax Deducted at Source
74. TCS – Tax Collected at Source
75. MAT – Minimum Alternate Tax
76. FRBM – Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management
77. CAG – Comptroller and Auditor General
78. FC – Finance Commission
79. NITI – National Institution for Transforming India
80. CSO – Central Statistics Office
81. NSO – National Statistical Office
82. WPI – Wholesale Price Index
83. CPI – Consumer Price Index
84. IIP – Index of Industrial Production
85. FD – Fiscal Deficit
86. RD – Revenue Deficit
87. PD – Primary Deficit
88. G-Sec – Government Security
89. T-Bill – Treasury Bill
90. OMC – Oil Marketing Company
91. ONGC – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
92. LIC – Life Insurance Corporation
93. IRDAI – Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
94. EPFO – Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation
95. ESI – Employee State Insurance
96. NPS – National Pension System
97. PF – Provident Fund
98. ESG – Environment, Social, Governance
99. CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility
100. CBDC – Central Bank Digital Currency
101. e₹ – Digital Rupee
102. FinTech – Financial Technology
103. P2P – Peer to Peer lending
104. IPO – Initial Public Offering
105. FPO – Follow-on Public Offer
106. NAV – Net Asset Value
107. ETF – Exchange Traded Fund
108. SIP – Systematic Investment Plan
109. MF – Mutual Fund
110. SEBI – Securities and Exchange Board of India
111. BSE – Bombay Stock Exchange
112. NSE – National Stock Exchange
113. NIFTY – NSE index
114. SENSEX – BSE index
115. CMP – Current Market Price
116. ROE – Return on Equity
117. ROA – Return on Assets
118. EPS – Earnings Per Share
119. P/E – Price to Earnings Ratio
120. MCAP – Market Capitalization
121. T+1 – Trade settlement next day
122. HNI – High Net-worth Individual
123. VC – Venture Capital
124. PE – Private Equity
125. AIF – Alternative Investment Fund
126. NBFC-MFI – Microfinance NBFC
127. PSU – Public Sector Undertaking
128. FDI – Foreign Direct Investment
129. BO – Branch Office
130. HO – Head Office
131. CIF – Cost, Insurance, Freight
132. FOB – Free on Board
133. EXIM – Export Import
134. LC – Letter of Credit
135. BG – Bank Guarantee
136. FX – Foreign Exchange
137. IRS – Interest Rate Swap
138. OTC – Over the Counter
139. HUF – Hindu Undivided Family
140. STP – Straight Through Processing
141. QR – Quick Response code
142. POS – Point of Sale
143. NBFC-ICC – Investment & Credit Company
144. GVA – Gross Value Added
145. FMCG – Fast Moving Consumer Goods
146. MoF – Ministry of Finance
147. DEA – Department of Economic Affairs
148. DFS – Department of Financial Services
149. DoR – Department of Revenue
150. MoCI – Ministry of Commerce & Industry
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🏛️ GOVERNMENT, EXAMS & GENERAL (151–300)
151. UPSC – Union Public Service Commission
152. SSC – Staff Selection Commission
153. PSC – Public Service Commission
154. RRB – Railway Recruitment Board
155. CBSE – Central Board of Secondary Education
156. ICSE – Indian Certificate of Secondary Education
157. NCERT – National Council of Educational Research & Training
158. UGC – University Grants Commission
159. AICTE – All India Council for Technical Education
160. NAAC – National Assessment and Accreditation Council
161. ISRO – Indian Space Research Organisation
162. DRDO – Defence Research and Development Organisation
163. HAL – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
164. BSF – Border Security Force
165. CRPF – Central Reserve Police Force
166. CISF – Central Industrial Security Force
167. ITBP – Indo-Tibetan Border Police
168. NSG – National Security Guard
169. RAW – Research and Analysis Wing
170. IB – Intelligence Bureau
171. NIA – National Investigation Agency
172. NHRC – National Human Rights Commission
173. SHRC – State Human Rights Commission
174. CVC – Central Vigilance Commission
175. CJI – Chief Justice of India
176. SC – Supreme Court
177. HC – High Court
178. ECI – Election Commission of India
179. EVM – Electronic Voting Machine
180. RTI – Right to Information
181. FIR – First Information Report
182. IPC – Indian Penal Code
183. CrPC – Criminal Procedure Code
184. CPC – Civil Procedure Code
185. NGO – Non-Governmental Organisation
186. UNO – United Nations Organisation
187. UNESCO – UN Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization
188. UNICEF – UN Children’s Fund
189. WHO – World Health Organization
190. FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization
191. ILO – International Labour Organization
192. OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
193. GDP – Gross Domestic Product
194. G20 – Group of Twenty nations
195. G7 – Group of Seven nations
196. COP – Conference of Parties
197. SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals
198. MDGs – Millennium Development Goals
199. NAP – National Action Plan
200. NAPCC – National Action Plan on Climate Change
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🧠 SCIENCE, TECH & MISC (301–500)
301. AI – Artificial Intelligence
302. ML – Machine Learning
303. IoT – Internet of Things
304. ICT – Information & Communication Technology
305. CPU – Central Processing Unit
306. RAM – Random Access Memory
307. ROM – Read Only Memory
308. OS – Operating System
309. URL – Uniform Resource Locator
310. WWW – World Wide Web
311. HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
312. HTTPS – Secure HTTP
313. IP – Internet Protocol
314. DNS – Domain Name System
315. LAN – Local Area Network
316. WAN – Wide Area Network
317. VPN – Virtual Private Network
318. USB – Universal Serial Bus
319. PDF – Portable Document Format
320. HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language
321. CSS – Cascading Style Sheets
322. JS – JavaScript
323. API – Application Programming Interface
324. UI – User Interface
325. UX – User Experience
326. GPS – Global Positioning System
327. GIS – Geographic Information System
328. LED – Light Emitting Diode
329. LCD – Liquid Crystal Display
330. OLED – Organic Light Emitting Diode
331. EV – Electric Vehicle
332. ICE – Internal Combustion Engine
333. PV – Photovoltaic
334. GHG – Greenhouse Gas
335. CO₂ – Carbon Dioxide
336. PM2.5 – Fine particulate matter
337. AQI – Air Quality Index
338. DNA – Deoxyribonucleic Acid
339. RNA – Ribonucleic Acid
340. WHO – World Health Organization
341. ICMR – Indian Council of Medical Research
342. AIIMS – All India Institute of Medical Sciences
343. OPD – Out Patient Department
344. ICU – Intensive Care Unit
345. BPL – Below Poverty Line
346. APL – Above Poverty Line
347. PDS – Public Distribution System
348. AAY – Antyodaya Anna Yojana
349. NFSA – National Food Security Act
350. MGNREGA – Rural employment scheme
351. PMJDY – Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
352. PMAY – Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
353. PMFBY – Crop Insurance Scheme
354. Ujjwala – LPG scheme
355. Ayushman Bharat – Health insurance scheme
356. AB-PMJAY – Ayushman Bharat Yojana
357. SHG – Self Help Group
358. FPO – Farmer Producer Organization
359. KCC – Kisan Credit Card
360. MSP – Minimum Support Price
361. APMC – Agricultural Produce Market Committee
362. GDP Deflator – Inflation measure
363. FDI – Foreign Direct Investment
364. CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility
365. PPP – Public Private Partnership
366. LPG – Liquefied Petroleum Gas
367. OMR – Optical Mark Recognition
368. MCQ – Multiple Choice Question
369. GK – General Knowledge
370. GA – General Awareness
371. PIB – Press Information Bureau
372. PRS – Parliamentary Research Service
373. NIC – National Informatics Centre
374. UIDAI – Aadhaar authority
375. Aadhaar – Unique ID number
376. OTP – One Time Password
377. SMS – Short Message Service
378. MIS – Management Information System
379. KPI – Key Performance Indicator
380. ROI – Return on Investment
381. SOP – Standard Operating Procedure
382. MoU – Memorandum of Understanding
383. PPP – Purchasing Power Parity
384. NGT – National Green Tribunal
385. LPG – Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization
386. FD – Fixed Deposit
387. RD – Recurring Deposit
388. BOP – Balance of Payments
389. BOT – Build Operate Transfer
390. BOT – Balance of Trade
391. AIIB – Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
392. ADB – Asian Development Bank
393. ILO – International Labour Organization
394. FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization
395. UNDP – United Nations Development Programme
396. UNHRC – UN Human Rights Council
397. COP – Conference of Parties
398. SDG – Sustainable Development Goal
399. GDP – Gross Domestic Product
400. GVA – Gross Value Added
401. NITI – Policy think tank
402. MoSPI – Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
403. NSO – National Statistical Office
404. CSO – Central Statistical Office
405. IIP – Industrial Production Index
406. WPI – Wholesale Price Index
407. CPI – Consumer Price Index
408. FD – Fiscal Deficit
409. RD – Revenue Deficit
410. PD – Primary Deficit
411. LPG – Liberalization reforms
412. FDI – Foreign investment
413. FPI – Portfolio investment
414. SEBI – Capital market regulator
415. IRDAI – Insurance regulator
416. PFRDA – Pension regulator
417. EPFO – Provident fund body
418. CBDC – Digital currency
419. e₹ – Digital Rupee
420. FinTech – Financial technology
421. Neo-bank – Digital-only bank
422. RegTech – Regulatory technology
423. SupTech – Supervisory technology
424. InsurTech – Insurance technology
425. AgriTech – Agriculture technology
426. EduTech – Education technology
427. HealthTech – Healthcare technology
428. GovTech – Government technology
429. CleanTech – Clean energy technology
430. BioTech – Biotechnology
431. SpaceTech – Space technology
432. DeepTech – Advanced science tech
433. Start-up – New innovative business
434. Unicorn – $1 billion startup
435. Soonicorn – Near unicorn startup
436. Decacorn – $10 billion startup
437. MSME – Small enterprises
438. PLI – Production Linked Incentive
439. ODF – Open Defecation Free
440. Swachh – Cleanliness mission
441. AMRUT – Urban rejuvenation scheme
442. HRD – Human Resource Development
443. MoE – Ministry of Education
444. MoHFW – Health Ministry
445. MoEFCC – Environment Ministry
446. MoRD – Rural Development Ministry
447. MoA&FW – Agriculture Ministry
448. MoD – Ministry of Defence
449. MoHA – Home Ministry
450. MoFA – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
451. MEA – Ministry of External Affairs
452. GDP – National output
453. FD – Financial deficit
454. ROI – Return on investment
455. KYC – Customer verification
456. AML – Money laundering prevention
457. CSR – Corporate social duty
458. ESG – Sustainability metrics
459. SDGs – Global development goals
460. PPP – Public private partnership
461. BOT – Build operate transfer
462. EPC – Engineering Procurement Construction
463. HAM – Hybrid Annuity Model
464. NABARD – Rural development bank
465. SIDBI – Small Industries Development Bank of India
466. ICICI – Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India
467. HDFC – Housing Development Finance Corporation
468. PNB – Punjab National Bank
469. BOB – Bank of Baroda
470. CANARA – Canara Bank
471. UCO – United Commercial Bank
472. IOB – Indian Overseas Bank
473. BOI – Bank of India
474. CBI – Central Bank of India
475. RBI – Central bank
476. MoF – Finance Ministry
477. DEA – Economic Affairs Department
478. DFS – Financial Services Dept
479. DoR – Revenue Dept
480. GSTN – GST Network
481. UIDAI – Aadhaar authority
482. NPCI – National Payments Corporation of India
483. BBPS – Bharat Bill Payment System
484. AePS – Aadhaar Enabled Payment System
485. FASTag – Electronic toll system
486. NACH – National Automated Clearing House
487. CTS – Cheque Truncation System
488. CBS – Core Banking Solution
489. MIS – Management Information System
490. ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
491. BFSI – Banking, Financial Services & Insurance
492. SME – Small & Medium Enterprise
493. ESOP – Employee Stock Option Plan
494. IPO – Public issue
495. NAV – Fund value
496. SIP – Monthly investment
497. ETF – Exchange traded fund
498. KPI – Performance indicator
499. ROI – Investment return
500. GDP – Measure of economic strength
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