Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of tertiary services?

Question

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of tertiary services?

1. A. Directly processes natural resources (Correct answer)
2. B. Often located in urban areas
3. C. Includes tourism, banking, and trade
4. D. Involves face-to-face or remote interaction

Correct Answer

Option A — Directly processes natural resources

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is Directly processes natural resources.

Key Points

• Directly processing natural resources is the defining work of the primary and secondary sectors, not the tertiary. Extraction belongs to the primary sector (agriculture, mining, fishing); processing and manufacture to the secondary.
• The tertiary sector produces services rather than goods, and the other three options describe it accurately — it is concentrated in urban areas, it includes tourism, banking and trade, and it operates through interaction with people, face-to-face or remote.

Additional Information

• The sectors are conventionally distinguished by output: primary extracts, secondary transforms, tertiary serves. A quaternary sector is sometimes added for knowledge-based work such as research and IT, and a quinary for the highest levels of decision-making.
• In India the tertiary sector contributes over half of GDP while employing a far smaller share of the workforce than agriculture — the imbalance that defines the country's structural development problem.
• Services are typically intangible, perishable and cannot be stored, which is why a hotel room unsold tonight is revenue lost permanently.
• The usual development sequence runs primary → secondary → tertiary; India is notable for having moved substantially to services without a full manufacturing transition.