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Question

In which of the following appraisal criteria of capital budgeting, the use of varying opportunity cost of capital as a discount factor is possible ?

(a) NPV

(b) IRR

(c) Pay-back Period

(d) ARR

This question was previously asked in
UGC NET 2015 Paper 1 Question Paper (27-Dec-2015)
The correct answer is

Only (a) is correct.

 Option 1 — Only (a) NPV is correct.

Net Present Value discounts each year's cash flow back to the present using an externally supplied opportunity cost of capital. Because the discount rate is fed in period by period, NPV can accommodate a changing (varying) cost of capital — for example, if interest rates or the firm's risk are expected to differ across the project's life, a different discount factor can be applied to each year's flow.

Why the other options are wrong:

CriterionDiscount rate used
(b) IRRSolves for a single internal rate that sets NPV = 0; it does not take a varying external cost of capital as input.
(c) Pay-back PeriodA non-discounted method — it only counts years to recover the outlay, ignoring the time value of money altogether.
(d) ARRAccounting Rate of Return uses average book profits, not discounted cash flows, so no discount factor is applied.

Only NPV explicitly discounts, and only NPV lets you plug in a different opportunity cost for each period, so just (a) is correct.

Takeaway: a varying period-wise discount rate is a feature unique to the NPV method.

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Similar Questions

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  2. Select the correct statement/s from the following :

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    Statement II : To find total NPV of more than one projects, their NPV cannot be added.

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    Statement IV : The risk - adjusted discount factor applies adjustment for risk only to the discount factor (denominator).

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  4. Capital budgeting is concerned with :

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  6. Select the correct statement/s from the following:

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    Statement II: To find total NPV of more than one projects, their NPV cannot be added.

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    Statement IV: The risk-adjusted discount factor applies adjustment for risk only to the discount factor (denominator).

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Important Questions from Capital Budgeting

  1. A firm is currently earning Rs. 50,000 and its one share has a present market value of Rs. 175. It has 5,000 shares outstanding. The earnings of the firm is expected to remain stable and it has a payout ratio of 100%. The cost of equity is:

  2. With project cost of ₹300 lacs, profits after depreciation (straight line method) and tax for its lifetime of 5 years are estimated at ₹10 lacs, ₹10 lacs, ₹30 lacs, ₹40 lacs and ₹50 lacs respectively. The cost of capital is 12% and discount factors @ 12%, for the first five years are 0.89, 0.80, 0.71, 0.64 and 0.57 respectively. The Net present value of project is :

  3. Match List I with List II

    LIST I

    (Investment Decision rule)

    LIST II

    (Feature)

    A.NPVI.Insufficiently consistent
    B.PaybackII.Highly Inflexible
    C.Cash ReturnsIII.Balance between flexibility and consistency
    D.Accounting ReturnsIV.Relatively consistent

    Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

  4. Which of the following are assumption of Net Operating Income Approach of Capital Structure?

    (A) There is no Corporate Tax

    (B) Cost of debt remain constant at all level

    (C) The Business risk remain constant every level of debt and equity mix

    (D) The cost of Debt is less than cost of equity

    (E) Overall cost of Capital remain constant

    Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

  5. Fixing the zero date is important step in establishing a project-

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