As Per AS 2,
Inventories are assets:
(i) held for sale in the ordinary course of business;
(ii) in the process of production for such sale; or
(iii) in the form of materials or supplies to be consumed in
the production process or in the rendering of services.
The most appropriate answer for ur question is
(d) stock for share trading.
this answer is debatable because the above definition can be applied to stock for share trading also...
Only thing is that financial instruments held as stock in trade is expressly spelt out of the scope of AS2..
Going deeper..
Inventories are assets:
(i) held for sale in the ordinary course of business;
(ii) in the process of production for such sale; or
(iii) in the form of materials or supplies to be consumed in
the production process or in the rendering of services.
Definition of asset.
Asset is a resource controlled by the enterprise as a result of past events from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the enterprise.
therefore, stocks held for trading can also be treated as inventory by going with the above definitions eventhough it is not covered under AS 2.
So, Strictly speaking, none of the options can be considered as an answer..
But as i said earlier, appropriate answer is (d)
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