Acknowledging the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries, and that it is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation, fostering environmental stewardship and health, the General Assembly decided to declare 3 June World Bicycle Day.
On 15 March 2022, the General Assembly adopted the resolution on integration of mainstream bicycling into public transportation systems for sustainable development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), safe infrastructure for walking and cycling is also a pathway for achieving greater health equity.
The official theme for World Bicycle Day 2025 is 'Cycling for a Sustainable Future.
The Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed acquisition of up to 9.99% of the paid up share capital of IDFC First Bank Limited by Currant Sea Investments B.V. The Acquirer is an investment holding company incorporated in the Netherlands.
The Target is engaged in the business of providing banking services i.e., taking deposits; providing loans, credit cards; distributing mutual fund and insurance products and providing other financial solutions like corporate banking solutions, banking solutions for MSMEs, NRI banking, transaction banking & cash management solutions, FASTag, trade finance.
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances represents India as a Member State of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences since 1998. The International Institute of Administrative Sciences is a Federation of 31 Countries, 20 National Sections and 15 Academic Research Centres jointly collaborating for scientific research on public administration
Key member countries include - India, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Mexico, Spain, Qatar, Morocco, Indonesia etc. For 2025-2028 Presidency of IIAS, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi nominated the Indian candidacy of Secretary DARPG Shri V.Srinivas in November 2024.
The election was held between India and Austria on June 3, 2025 in which 141 votes were polled, of which India registered 87 votes (61.7 percent of the vote), and Austria registered 54 votes (38.3 percent of the vote). India’s candidacy received wide spread support from across the membership. The hearings for the IIAS Presidency were held in February 2025 at Bharat Mandapam
This is first time in the 100 years history of IIAS that the election to the post of President was held by ballot process and it is the first time that India has secured the historic mandate for the Presidency of the IIAS.
Liberal Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung was sworn in as the 21st President of South Korea. He will serve a five-year term. South Korea’s National Election Commission held a meeting this morning and confirmed Lee’s win in the presidential polls held ON 3rd June 2025. His nearest rival was Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party.
South Korea has developed into one of Asia's most affluent countries since partition in 1948.
REPUBLIC OF KOREA: FACTS
- Capital: Seoul
- Area: 100,363 sq km
- Population: 51.8 million
- Language: Korean
- Life expectancy: 80 years (men) 86 years (women)
Mount Etna erupted on 2nd June 2025, sending plumes of ash and streams of lava from its Southeast Crater, according to Italy’s volcano monitoring agency. Mount Etna, located on the island of Sicily, is Europe’s most active volcano and the most active stratovolcano in the world. Known for its conical shape and frequent eruptions, it has built itself over thousands of years.
The volcano last erupted over a year ago, producing rare smoke rings known as vortex bubbles. While ash from Etna occasionally blankets nearby towns, its eruptions have caused little harm in recent years. The volcano has erupted annually for the past several years, often without major incident.
India will continue to experience "strong and broadly stable economic growth", OECD said while pointing out that global economic growth is slowing more than expected as the tariff war takes a bigger toll on the US economy. The OECD projects India's economic growth to remain strong and stable, forecasting a GDP growth of 6.3% in FY26 and 6.4% in FY27.
Paris-based OECD also lowered India’s FY27 outlook to 6.4 per cent from 6.6 per cent projected earlier, as it noted that private consumption will continue to support growth, with recent tax cuts and moderating inflation providing support. India’s policy rate has come down to 6 per cent from 6.5 per cent projected earlier.
Swiss brokerage UBS raised its FY26 GDP growth forecast for India to 6.4 per cent from an earlier 6 per cent, underlining that economic momentum is holding up despite the trade war. Official data released last week said India's economic growth slowed to 7.4 per cent in the March quarter, bringing down the annual growth rate to 6.5 per cent during 2024-25.
The growth in capital expenditure is likely to decelerate marginally in FY26 on the risk of China offloading excess capacity in the manufacturing sector and heightened global uncertainty dragging on private corporate capex, it said, adding that stretched balance sheets will lead to a disappointment in the state capex.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL), one of India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, has recently launched an app iSight with which its employees can report market trends and give insights into competitors’ on ground strategies. Through iSight, employees will be able to share feedback and information about HUL’s products, their placement and market trends.
While this initiative by the maker of Lux is exclusively for India and was launched in April-end, the app already has 1,000 of its employees enrolled and generated 300 insights since launch. Through iSight, HUL has already run two ‘missions’ for its brands Glow & Lovely and Lifebuoy and is in the process of analysing the ideas and insights.
HDB Financial Services, the non-banking finance (NBFC) arm of HDFC Bank, received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs). HDB’s IPO will be the largest NBFC IPO and the fifth-largest overall to hit the domestic markets.
The IPO includes a Rs 2,500 crore fresh issue and a Rs 10,000 crore offer for sale by parent company HDFC Bank. This marks one of the largest IPOs by a non-banking lender in India’s history. As many as six entities including HDB Financial Services and Vikram Solar have received Sebi’s go ahead to raise funds through IPOs.
The other firms that received Sebi’s nod are A-One Steels India, Shanti Gold International, Dorf-Ketal Chemicals and Shreeji Shipping Global Ltd. These six firms, which filed their preliminary IPO papers with Sebi between October 2024 and January 25, 2025 obtained their observations during May 27-30, the update showed.
Paytm Cloud Technologies (PCTL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Paytm brand operator One97 Communications (OCL), incorporated Paytm Singapore on 3rd June 2025. PCTL’s Board of Directors approved a subscription of SGD 250,000 (Singapore dollars) toward the acquisition of 25,000 equity shares of SGD 10 each at par in Paytm Singapore.
Earlier this year, PCTL acquired a 25 per cent stake in Brazil-based embedded finance firm Seven Technology for $1 million. The acquisition of this stake will enable the company to better understand the merchants’ business landscape in the Brazilian market.
State-run UCO Bank has appointed Sumit Khandelwal as its new chief financial officer (CFO) with immediate effect, according to a regulatory filing. Khandelwal, who previously served as the general manager and the zonal head of the bank's New Delhi zone, replaces Sujoy Dutta as CFO.
Khandelwal brings over 15 years of diverse banking experience, having served across multiple corporate branches, zones and departments within the bank. Founded in 1943, UCO Bank is a commercial bank and a Government of India Undertaking. Its Board of Directors consists of government representatives from the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India.
The value of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions saw a healthy 23 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in May 2025, rising to ₹25.14 lakh crore as compared to ₹20.44 lakh crore in May 2024. Further, the volume of UPI transactions too rose by a robust 33 per cent to 1,868 crore in the reporting month against 1,403 crore in the year ago period, according to NPCI.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the value and volume of UPI transactions have grown about 5 per cent from Rs. 23.95 lakh crore and 4.4 per cent from 1,889 crore, respectively. Further, in May 2025, the average daily transaction volume increased to 60.2 crore (from 59.6 crore in April 2025) and the average daily transaction amount was up at 81,106 crore (79,831 crore).
The last high was touched in March when the UPI transactions in value terms hit Rs 24.77 lakh crore. Spice Money founder and CEO Dilip Modi said in a statement that the record-breaking milestone of 1,868 crore UPI transactions worth Rs 25.14 lakh crore in May 2025 is a resounding testament to India’s growing digital payment ecosystem.
NPCI, an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association, is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India (IBA). It runs the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) used for real-time payments between peers or at merchants’ end while making purchases.
The Gross Direct Premium Income (GDPI) of general insurance industry is expected to grow by 8.7 per cent to be in the range of ₹3.21 lakh crore to ₹3.24 lakh crore in FY26 and ₹3.53 lakh crore to ₹3.61 lakh crore in FY27, up from ₹2.97 lakh crore in FY25, according to ICRA.
The expected growth will be supported by improvement in economic activity and pricing discipline. While the private insurers’ combined ratio is likely to improve; return on equity (RoE) has been projected at 12.6 per cent in FY26 and 12.8% in the FY27.
As per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) data, the gross direct premium underwritten by all non-life insurers — including standalone health insurers and specialised players — grew 6.2 per cent in FY25, reaching ₹3,07,612 crore, up from ₹2,89,652 crore in FY24. In contrast, FY24 had seen a higher growth rate of 13 per cent over FY23.
“GDPI growth is expected to improve in FY26 supported by pricing discipline in commercial lines and low base, continued growth in health and increase in vehicle sales vis-à-vis FY2025, partly offset by the impact of 1/n, 1 which is expected to continue in H1 FY2026,’‘ Neha Parikh, Vice President and Sector Head – Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA, said.
“1/n” refers to a way of reporting premium income for long-term insurance policies, as per IRDAI norms. As pre this method, introduced recently by the insurance regulator, it is ensured that the premium income is spread over the policy term, rather than being recognised upfront.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) performs Space Situational Awareness (SSA) activities to protect national space assets against various space environmental hazards, such as Resident Space Objects including space debris, natural objects like asteroids and meteoroids, energy and particle flux.
ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Operations Management (IS4OM) functions as the nodal entity to concert all space sustainability efforts, including SSA activities, and to improve compliance with internationally recognised guidelines on the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.
Besides the inauguration of the electric locomotive unit in Dahod, Gujarat has achieved the distinction of 100 per cent electrification of rail networks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated these to the nation on 4 June, during his visit to Dahod. Modi flagged off the first 9,000-horsepower locomotive from the facility in Dahod on Tuesday. These electric locomotives are
Mission 100% Electrification is a highly challenging project, as it involves electrifying railway lines that are already in operation and encountering unforeseen various challenges during execution.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru delivered on their promise on ending a 17-year wait for a maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title by defeating Punjab Kings by 6 runs in the final in Ahmedabad . Virat Kohl was overcome with emotion , having been part of the franchise since the IPL’s inception in 2008 and waiting until the 18th season to fulfill his dream of lifting the trophy.
RCB, in the process, became the eighth franchise to win the Indian Premier League, joining Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and the now-defunct Deccan Chargers. CSK and MI have five titles each and KKR three while the remaining teams, RCB, included have won.
Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Kings are the only teams still in existence that are yet to lift the trophy even once. DC and PBKS have been part of the IPL since the inaugural season in 2008 and having gone as far as the final – twice in Punjab’s case.
