Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given that below:

Money is the commonly accepted medium of exchange. The first and foremost role of money is that it acts as a medium of exchange. Economic exchanges without the mediation of money are referred to as barter exchanges. Central bank has several important functions. It issues the currency of the country. India got its central bank in 1935. Its name is the 'Reserve Bank of India'. It controls money supply of the country through various methods, like bank rate, open market operations and variations in reserve ratios. It acts as a banker to the government. It is the custodian of the foreign exchange reserves of the economy. It also acts as a bank to the banking system. Currency issued by the Central Bank can be held by the public or by the commercial banks, and is called the 'high-powered money' or 'reserve money' or 'monetary base' as it acts as a basis for credit creation.

Primary function (first and foremost role) of money is that it acts as:

A medium of exchange

The correct answer is Option (3) → A medium of exchange

The passage explicitly states that the first and foremost role of money is to act as a medium of exchange. This is its primary function, enabling economic transactions to take place efficiently by eliminating the complexities of barter exchanges.