The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, approved seven schemes to improve farmers’ lives and increase their incomes at a total outlay of Rs 14,235.30 Crore.
1. Digital Agriculture Mission: based on the structure of Digital Public Infrastructure, Digital Agriculture Mission will use technology to improve farmers’ lives.
The Mission has a total outlay of Rs 2,817 crores. It comprises two foundational pillars.
1. Agri Stack
Farmers registry
Village land maps registry
Crop Sown Registry
2. Krishi Decision Support System
Geospatial data
Drought/flood monitoring
Weather/satellite data
Groundwater/water availability data.
The Mission has provision for:
Soil profile, Digital crop estimation, Digital yield modelling, Connect for crop loan, Modern technologies like AI and Big Data, Connect with buyers, Bring new knowledge on mobile phones
2. Crop science for food and nutritional security: with a total outlay of Rs 3,979 crore.
The initiative will prepare farmers for climate resilience and provide for food security by 2047. It has following pillars:
Research and education
Plant genetic resource management
Genetic improvement for food and fodder crop
Pulse and oilseed crop improvement
Improvement of commercial crops
Research on insects, microbes, pollinators etc.
3. Strengthening Agricultural Education, Management, and Social Sciences: with a total outlay of Rs 2,291 Crore the measure will prepare agriculture students and researchers for current challenges and comprises the following:
Under the Indian Council of Agri Research
Modernising agri research and education
In line with the New Education Policy 2020
Use latest technology … Digital DPI, AI, big data, remote, etc
Include natural farming and climate resilience
4. Sustainable livestock health and production: with a total outlay of Rs 1,702 crore, the decision aims to Increase farmers income from livestock and dairy. It comprises the following
Animal health management and veterinary education
Dairy production and technology
Animal genetic resource management, production and improvement
Animal nutrition and small ruminant production and development
5. Sustainable development of Horticulture: with a total outlay of Rs 1129.30 crore, the measure aims to increase farmers’ income from horticulture plants. It comprises the following:
Tropical, sub-tropical and temperate horticulture crops.
Root, tuber, bulbous, and arid crops
Vegetable, floriculture, and mushroom crops
Plantation, spices, medicinal, and aromatic plants
6. Strengthening Krishi Vigyan Kendra with an outlay of Rs 1,202 crore.
7. Natural Resource Management with an outlay of Rs 1,115 crore.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved a new railway line project under the Ministry of Railways with a total cost of Rs. 18,036 crore (approx.). The proposed new line between Indore and Manmad will provide direct connectivity and improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability,
The project is in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji’s Vision of a New India which will make people of the region “Atmanirbhar” by way of comprehensive development in the area, enhancing their employment/ self-employment opportunities.
The project covers 6 Districts in 2 States i.e., Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 309 Kms. With this project 30 New Stations will be constructed, providing enhancing connectivity to Aspirational District Barwani. New Line project will provide connectivity to approx. 1,000 villages and about 30 Lakh population.
The project will promote tourism in the region by providing a shorter route between the Western/ South-Western part of the country with Central India. This will increase the tourist footfall to various tourist/ religious places of the Ujjain – Indore region including Sri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple.
Project will provide direct connectivity to Pithampur Auto Cluster (houses 90 large units and 700 small and medium industries) from gateway port of JNPA and other state ports. Project will also provide direct connectivity to millet-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh and Onion producing districts of Maharashtra which further facilitates the distribution of the same to,
northern and southern parts of the country.
This is an essential route for transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertilizer, containers, iron ore, steel, cement, POL etc. The capacity augmentation work will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude of about 26 MTPA (Million Tonnes Per Annum).
To develop a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the proposal of Kaynes Semicon Pvt Ltd to set up a semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat.
The proposed unit will be setup with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore. The capacity of this unit will be 60 Lakh chips per day.
The chips produced in this unit will cater to a wide variety of applications which include segments such as industrial, automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom, mobile phones, etc.
The Programme for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem in India was notified on 21.12.2021 with a total outlay of Rs. 76,000 crore.
In June, 2023, the Union Cabinet had approved the first proposal for setting up a semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat.
In February, 2024, three more semiconductor units were approved. Tata Electronics is setting up a semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat and one semiconductor unit in Morigaon, Assam. CG Power is setting up one semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat
Construction of all 4 semiconductor units is progressing at a rapid pace and a robust semiconductor ecosystem is emerging near the units. These 4 units will bring an investment of almost Rs 1.5 Lakh crore. The cumulative capacity of these units is about 7 crore chips per day.
RBL Bank, one of India’s leading private sector banks, and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the country’s energy major, launched a one-of-a-kind and thrilling bike trip in conjunction with Mastercard. This excursion celebrates their recently created co-branded credit card and highlights the partnership’s inventive attitude.
The open-air partnership announcement will occur on September 7, 2024, in Leh, Ladakh, with the majestic Himalayan Mountain ranges in the background. This must-see event will mark the successful conclusion of the bike trip while also promoting the new solutions and products developed by RBL Bank and IOCL to improve travel and financial experiences.
Federal Bank has officially approved the appointment of Krishnan Venkat Subramanian as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. The decision was announced on August 31, with Subramanian set to assume his role on September 23, 2024. His term will extend for three years, subject to retirement by rotation.
Subramanian brings extensive experience to Federal Bank, having previously served as the Joint Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank until April 30, 2024. Throughout his tenure at Kotak Mahindra Bank, he led several key divisions, including Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking, Private Banking, and the Asset Reconstruction business.
NPST,a major digital banking and payments technology company unveiled a range of cutting-edge AI-enabled digital payment solutions at the Global Fintech Fest 2024.
UPI rails are driving the exponential growth of India’s fintech sector. These solutions are intended to help banks and payment aggregators benefit from the current momentum by utilising cutting-edge technologies,
such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Risk Intelligence Decision-Making Platform: The Risk Insight Decisioning Platform learns and analyses transaction patterns by combining insight from numerous data sources. By forecasting and mitigating new threats, the platform allows merchant acquirers to efficiently foresee and prevent fraud.
EVOK 3.0 is an enhanced version of the EvoK platform that provides a complete payment solution for payment aggregators, payment gateway service providers, and retailers. This comprehensive solution addresses all aspects of the payment lifecycle, including end-to-end transaction processing, risk and fraud management, reconciliation, dispute and chargeback management.
The World Bank revised its FY25 growth forecast for India to 7%, up from its previous estimate of 6.6%. The upgrade reflects the Indian's government's continued capital expenditure on infrastructure, a rise in household investments in real estate, better-than-expected monsoon and agricultural output, and an increase in private consumption, it said.
The Washington-based multilateral development bank remains optimistic about India's medium-term prospects, citing robust revenue growth and further fiscal consolidation, despite global economic challenges.
According to its projections, India's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline from 83.9% in FY24 to 82% by FY27,
while the current account deficit is anticipated to remain between 1% and 1.6% of GDP until FY27.
Moody's upgraded its economic growth forecast for India to 7.2% in 2024 and 6.6% in 2025, from earlier estimates of 6.8% and 6.4%, respectively, driven by broad-based growth.
India’s Thulasimathi Murugesan secured a silver medal after a hard-fought battle against China’s Xia Qui Yang, losing 17-21, 10-21 in the women’s singles SU5 finals at the Paris Paralympics.
Meanwhile, Manisha Ramadass triumphed over Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren with a decisive 21-12, 21-8 victory, earning her the bronze medal.
Manisha Ramdass has achieved her first-ever medal at the Paralympics, marking a significant milestone in her athletic career. Over the past four years, she has consistently impressed by winning numerous medals at major competitions. At the recent Asian Para Games, she secured three bronze medals, adding to her growing list of accomplishments.
In 2022, at the World Championships in Tokyo, she captured both a gold and a bronze medal. This year, she continued to shine at the World Championships in Pattaya, where she earned one silver and two bronze medals. Earlier this year, Thulasimathi, alongside her doubles partner Manasi Joshi, also claimed silver at the BWF World Para-Badminton Championships in Thailand.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the first Indian company to surpass Rs 10 lakh crore in annual revenue. This significant milestone was announced by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani during the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM).
During the AGM, Ambani revealed that Reliance achieved a record consolidated turnover of Rs 10,00,122 crore (USD 119.9 billion),
for the financial year 2023-24. For the same period, RIL reported an EBITDA of Rs 1,78,677 crore (USD 21.4 billion) and a net profit of Rs 79,020 crore (USD 9.5 billion).
The company also recorded exports amounting to Rs 2,99,832 crore (USD 35.9 billion), which accounted for 8.2% of India's total merchandise exports.
Additionally, the company remained the largest contributor to the national exchequer, contributing Rs 1,86,440 crore (USD 22.4 billion) through various taxes and duties during FY 2023-24. Over the past three years, RIL's total contribution to the exchequer has crossed Rs 5.5 lakh crore (USD 68.7 billion), the highest by any Indian corporate.
Indian shuttler Suhas Yathiraj secured his second successive Paralympics silver medal in men's singles SL4 after going down in straight games to favourite Lucas Mazur of France in the final here.
His silver took India's medal tally in Paris Paralympics para-badminton to four, following the gold won by Kumar Nitesh (SL3)and silver and bronze claimed by Thulasimathi Murugesan
and Manisha Ramadass in women's singles SU5.
The loss meant Lucas once again denied Suhas the glory, having beaten him in the Tokyo Paralympics final three years ago.
Dutch multinational conglomerate Philips said that it appointed Bharath Sesha as Managing Director for India, starting September 1.
Bharath will lead Philips' growth strategy in India and oversee the healthcare business based in Gurugram, Additionally, he will also manage Philips’ operations across several key locations in India.
He succeeds Daniel Mazon, who has moved to a global role at the Philips headquarters in the Netherlands.
He has a strong background in strategic leadership, business development, and operational excellence. Before joining Philips, he was the MD at Heubach Colorants India.
The Indian duo of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar staged a remarkable comeback after the heartbreak in the semifinals to claim the bronze medal with a close 156-155 win over Italy's Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina in the mixed team compound archery competition at the Paralympics 2024.
It is only the second time that India has won a medal in Paralympics in archery.
Harvinder Singh bagged a bronze at the Tokyo edition of the Games three years ago.
With just four arrows left, the Indians were trailing by a point with Sarti displaying awesome form even as her partner Bonacina struggled a bit. But the Indian pair held on to emerge winners in the end.
The Union Cabinet Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the Digital Agriculture Mission with an outlay of Rs. 2817 Crore, including the central share of Rs. 1940 Crore.
The Mission is conceived as an umbrella scheme to support digital agriculture initiatives, such as creating Digital Public Infrastructure,
implementing the Digital General Crop Estimation Survey (DGCES), and taking up other IT initiatives by the Central Government, State Governments, and Academic and Research Institutions.
For a similar transformation of the Agriculture Sector, the government announced the building of Digital Public Infrastructure for agriculture in the Union Budget 2023-24.
Further, in the Budget 2024-25, the augmentation of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiative for the agricultural sector has also been announced. The Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for Agriculture aims to provide comprehensive and useful data on farmers comprising authenticated demographic details, land holdings, and crops sown.
It will include cultivators & tenant farmers, as per the policy of the State Government. It would also connect to relevant Digital Public Infrastructure of the State Governments and Ministries of the Government of India to use data of farmers on livestock, fisheries, soil health, other vocations, family details, and schemes and benefits availed,
leading to innovative farmer-centric digital services in the agriculture sector. Aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047, the DPI for Agriculture forms the core of the Digital Agriculture Mission.
The three DPIs to be built under the Mission are Agristack, Krishi Decision Support System, and Soil Profile Mapping.
leading to innovative farmer-centric digital services in the agriculture sector. Aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047, the DPI for Agriculture forms the core of the Digital Agriculture Mission.
The three DPIs to be built under the Mission are Agristack, Krishi Decision Support System, and Soil Profile Mapping.
