India has become the sixth largest market in the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index (ACWI IMI), surpassing China and narrowly behind France.
For the first time, India is the largest emerging market (EM) in the gauge that tracks the performance of global capital markets.
At the end of August, India’s weight in the MSCI ACWI IMI stood at 2.35 percent, 11 basis points (bps) more than China's, which is 2.24 percent. France has just 3 bps more weight than India. The MSCI ACWI IMI index encompasses stocks in the large—and mid-cap space. It is a spinoff of the more widely followed MSCI ACWI Index, which has only large—and mid-cap representation.
As of September 16, India still lags behind China in this index, with a weight of 2.07 percent compared to 2.41 percent for the neighbouring nation. According to analysts, India's top weight in the MSCI ACWI IMI may not significantly impact passive inflows, as the index is tracked by exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with relatively modest assets of less than $2 billion.
The government of India has approved the building of the first module of the country’s space station, to be called Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1), by extending the scope of its Gaganyaan mission.
The development marks an important milestone towards the operationalisation of India’s own space station by 2035 and paves the way for a crewed moon mission by 2040.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved building the first unit of the country’s first space station. “Approval by the cabinet is given for the development of the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) and undertake missions to demonstrate and validate various technologies for building and operating BAS,” said a statement.
India’s space ambitions include the development of space station (Bharatiya Antariksh Station)by 2035 and Indian Landing on the Moon by 2040.The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) plans to launch a series of Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan follow-on missions, including the development of associated space transportation and infrastructure capabilities to achieve the target.
The Gaganyaan mission has received an additional funding of ₹11170 crore in the already approved programme, taking the total funding with the revised scope to ₹20193 crore.
India and the European Union agreed to enhance cooperation in sustainable water management and both sides committed to advance cooperation in river basin management, fostering innovation and technology transfer while promoting sustainable investments.
The forum explored trilateral collaboration between East Africa, India, and the EU,
to address challenges in East Africa’s water bodies such as Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika, leveraging the combined strength of India and the EU.
At the 6th EU-India Water Forum held on the sidelines of the 8th India Water Week in New Delhi today, the India-EU Water Partnership (IEWP), established in 2016, aims to enhance technological, scientific, and policy frameworks.
Under the IEWP, the EU and India are collaborating on river management in the Tapi and Ramganga River Basins. Under Phase III, the partnership will extend its efforts to other key basins like the Brahmaputra.
Both regions have co-jointly funded seven research and innovation water projects, bringing together 743 participants from the EU and India.
The IEWP is closely aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to contributing to SDG 6 and SDG 13, the partnership also supports SDG 15 (life on land) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) by promoting sustainable, green, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
ICICI Bank announced the launch of NPS Vatsalya, a pension program targeted at protecting children’s financial future, at its service location in BKC, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The Union Budget 2024-2025 suggested a new pension program that will be overseen by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
It permits parents/guardians to contribute to the minor until they reach adulthood. When the individual reaches the age of 18, they can turn it into a regular NPS account. This initiative was announced by ICICI Bank in New Delhi as part of the government’s formal rollout across the country by Honourable Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
ICICI Bank marked the start of the scheme by creating accounts for a few children under NPS Vatsalya. They were also given a symbolic Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) card for their NPS Vatsalya account.
Airtel Payments Bank recently named Amar Kumar Kakarlapudi as its new Chief Compliance Officer. Amar will be responsible for enhancing the Bank’s compliance framework and ensuring that regulatory and statutory requirements are met seamlessly.
As Chief Compliance Officer, Amar will be a vital partner for the Bank in achieving core and non-core compliance standards and a crucial interface between the bank and regulatory agencies, all while developing a solid compliance and regulatory framework. He will collaborate closely with Anubrata Biswas, Managing Director and CEO of Airtel Payments Bank.
Indian IT giant Infosys has announced a long-term collaboration with Metro Bank, a UK-based community bank, to drive the digital transformation of its operations. Leveraging Infosys Topaz, an AI-first suite of offerings, the partnership aims to enhance Metro Bank’s digital capabilities by improving automation, refining data usage, and embedding advanced AI features.
This strategic move is expected to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs for Metro Bank. Daniel Frumkin, CEO of Metro Bank, stated, “At the end of this transformation, we will be a very different business, but the true essence of Metro Bank will remain the same – a high-quality service organisation putting customers centre-stage.”
To unlock exponential growth for business, Razorpay launched DataSync, a no-code data integration platform that aims to transform how businesses access and use critical payment, transaction, refund, chargeback, and settlement data. Built on Amazon Redshift and the Snowflake AI Data Cloud,
DataSync will allow businesses to safely and conveniently integrate their financial and business data on Razorpay. This allows firms to use their data for deeper business insight, improved financial reporting, fraud and security monitoring, and generating new revenue ideas, transforming payment data into a profit centre.
According to ACI Worldwide’s most recent report, India will account for 49% of all real-time transactions globally in 2023.
DataSync, India’s first no-code, seamless data integration platform, will enable organisations to make faster, data-driven choices by providing real-time information on transactions such as settlements, refunds, chargebacks, and
reversals with robust security and low latency. DataSync can help businesses save up to 50% on operational costs, boost fraud detection, and achieve 99.99% uptime by providing quick access to vital transaction data.It improves organisations’ operational capabilities, exhibits Razorpay’s vision and responsiveness to market trends, cementing its position as a reliable partner
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved continuation of the two umbrella schemes of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), merged as one scheme-‘Biotechnology Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (Bio- RIDE)’ with a new component namely Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry.
The scheme has three broad components:
a) Biotechnology Research and Development (R&D);
b) Industrial & Entrepreneurship Development (I&ED)
c) Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry
The proposed outlay for the implementation of the unified scheme ‘Bio-RIDE’ is Rs.9197 crore during the 15th Finance Commission period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Bio-RIDE scheme is designed to foster innovation, promote bio-entrepreneurship, and strengthen India’s position as a global leader in biomanufacturing and biotechnology. It aims to accelerate research, enhance product development, and bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications.
The scheme is part of the Government of India’s mission to harness the potential of bio-innovation to tackle national and global challenges such as healthcare, agriculture, environmental sustainability, and clean energy. Implementation of the Bio-RIDE Scheme will -
Promote Bio-Entrepreneurship
Advance Innovation
Facilitate Industry-Academia Collaboration
Encourage Sustainable Biomanufacturing
Support researchers through Extramural funding
Nurturing Human Resource in Biotechnology sector
Further, to enable a circular bioeconomy in the country a component on Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry is being initiated in alignment with ‘Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE)’ launched by the Hon’ble PM to,
propel mitigation of global climate change by incorporating green and friendly environmental solutions in every aspect of life.
Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, promotes excellence and innovation-driven discovery research and entrepreneurship in biotechnology and modern biology.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan with total outlay of Rs.79,156 crore (Central Share: Rs.56,333 crore and State Share: Rs. 22,823 crore) for improving the socio-economic condition of tribal communities, by adopting saturation coverage for tribal families in tribal-majority villages.
This will cover around 63,000 villages benefitting more than 5 crore tribal people as announced in the Budget Speech 2024-25. It will cover 549 districts and 2,740 blocks spread across all tribal majority villages across 30 States / UTs. India has an ST population of 10.45 crore as per 2011 census and there are more than 705 tribal communities, spread across the country,
living in remote and hard-to-reach areas.The Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan envisions saturation of critical gaps in social infrastructure, health,education, livelihood, through different schemes of Govt of India by convergence and outreach and ensure holistic and sustainable development of tribal areas and communities based on learnings and success of PMJANMAN
The Mission comprises 25 interventions which will be implemented by 17 line ministries. Each Ministry/Department would be responsible for implementation of a scheme related to it in a time-bound manner through funds allocated to them under the Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes (DAPST) in the next 5 years to achieve the following goals:
Goal-I: Developing Enabling Infrastructure
Goal-2: Promotion of Economic Empowerment
Goal-3: Universalization of Access to Good Education
Goal-4: Healthy Lives and Dignified Ageing
The tribal villages covered under the Abhiyan would be mapped on the PM Gati Shakti Portal with the gaps identified by the concerned department for its scheme-specific requirements.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of schemes of Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) to provide remunerative prices to farmers and to control price volatility of essential commodities for consumers.
The total financial outgo will be Rs. 35,000 crore during 15th Finance Commission Cycle up to 2025-26.
The Government has converged the Price Support Scheme (PSS) & Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) schemes in PM AASHA to serve the farmers and consumers more efficiently.
The Integrated scheme of PM-AASHA will bring-in more effectiveness in the implementation which would not only help in providing remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce but also control the price volatility of essential commodities by ensuring their availability at affordable prices to consumers.
PM-AASHA will now have the components of the Price Support Scheme (PSS) , Price Stabilization Fund (PSF), Price Deficit Payment Scheme (POPS), and Market Intervention Scheme (MIS).
The procurement of notified pulses, oilseeds & copra at MSP under the Price Support Scheme will be on 25% of the national Production of these notified crops from the 2024-25 season onwards,
which would enable States to procure more of these crops at MSP from farmers for ensuring remunerative prices and preventing distress sale. However, this ceiling will not be applicable in case of Tur, Urad & Masur for 2024-25 season as there will be a 100 % procurement of Tur, Urad & Masur during in 2024-25 season as decided earlier.
The Government has renewed and enhanced the existing government guarantee to Rs.45,000 crore for procurement of notified pulses, oilseeds & copra at MSP from farmers.
The extension of Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) scheme will help protect consumers from extreme volatility in prices of agri-horticultural commodities by maintaining a strategic buffer stock of pulses,
and onion for calibrated release; to discourage hoarding, unscrupulous speculation; and for supplies to consumers at affordable prices.
In order to encourage the states to come forward for implementation of Price Deficit Payment Scheme (PDPS) as an option for Notified oilseeds, the coverage has been enhanced from existing 25% of state production of oilseeds to 40% and also,
enhanced the implementation period from 3 months to 4 months for the benefits of farmers. The compensation difference between MSP and Sale/Modal price to be borne by Central Government is limited to 15% of MSP.
The extension of implementation of Market Intervention scheme (MIS) with changes will provide remunerative prices to farmers growing perishable horticulture crops.
The Government has increased the coverage from 20% to 25% of production and has added a new option of making differential payments directly into the farmers' account instead of physical procurement under MIS.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released Recommendations on the 'Framework for Service Authorisations to be Granted Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) through a letter dated 21.06.2024 informed TRAI that the Telecommunications Act, 2023 has been published in the Official Gazette of India;
and Section 3(1)(a) of the Act provides for obtaining an authorisation by any entity/ person intending to provide telecommunication services, subject to such terms and conditions, including fees or charges, as may be prescribed. With the letter, DoT also shared a background note on related aspects, including relevant sections of the new Act.
Based on the comments received from stakeholders during the consultation process, and on its own analysis, TRAI has finalized the Recommendations on the ‘Framework for Service Authorisations to be Granted Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’.
The Union Cabinet cleared the new moon mission Chandrayaan-4 and approved the development of the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)as part of the government’s vision to explore and study the Earth’s closest planet.
The Chandrayaan-4 will develop and demonstrate the technologies to come back to Earth after successfully landing on the moon and also collect lunar sample for analysis.
VOM, scheduled to launch in March 2028, will focus on putting a scientific spacecraft in the orbit of Venus for a better understanding of its surface and subsurface, atmospheric processes, and the influence of the sun on the Venusian atmosphere.
The Chandrayaan-4 mission will cost Rs 2104.06 crore.
The budget includes spacecraft development and realisation, two LVM3 launches, external deep space network support, and conducting special tests for design validation, finally leading to the landing on the moon’s surface and safe return to Earth along with the collected lunar samples.
Major technologies that are required for docking/undocking, landing, safe return to Earth and also accomplishing lunar sample collection and analysis would be demonstrated. The mission is expected to be completed within 36 months of approval with the participation of industry and academia.
The Cabinet allocated Rs 1,236 crore for VOM,
of which Rs 824 crore will be spent on the spacecraft. The cost includes the development and realisation of the spacecraft including its specific payloads and technology elements, global ground station support cost for navigation and network, as well as the cost of the launch vehicle. Venus is believed to have formed in conditions similar to Earth.
India’s rising badminton star Anmol Kharb secured her first senior international title by winning the women’s singles event at the Belgian International 2024 in Leuven. In a remarkable display of skill and determination, the 17-year-old, overcame Denmark’s Amalie Schulz 24-22, 12-21, 21-10 in the final.
What makes her achievement even more extraordinary is the fact that she entered the main draw through the qualifiers and was unseeded.
