Q.Which branch of business activity is concerned with the production or processing of goods and materials?

Business splits into two branches based on function — one that makes goods and one that moves them to the people who need them.

Work through each option: Commerce, Trade, and Aids to Trade are all concerned with distribution/exchange, not production.

Business activity is broadly divided into two interdependent branches: Industry and Commerce. Industry is defined as the branch concerned with the production, processing, or extraction of goods and materials — converting raw material into a more useful form, or extracting it from nature.

Option-by-option analysis:

• (a) Commerce — incorrect; commerce is the distribution/exchange branch, not production.
• (b) Trade — incorrect; trade is only the buying-and-selling component of commerce.
• (c) Industry — correct; industry produces/processes goods.
• (d) Aids to Trade — incorrect; these are auxiliary services (transport, banking, etc.) that support trade, not production.