The Himalayan Kingfisher was unveiled in Srinagar as the mascot for the first-ever Khelo India Water Sports Festival, which is set to make a splash at the city's iconic Dal Lake from August 21 to 23, 2025. The water sports festival is part of the expanding Khelo India calendar. The first-ever Khelo India Beach Games were held in Diu in May this year.
The KIWSF will be hosted by the Jammu & Kashmir Sports Council in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and the Sports Authority of India (SAI). This will be the second Khelo India event for Jammu and Kashmir, after Gulmarg hosted the snow events of the Khelo India Winter Games in March 2025.
The Himalayan Kingfisher, the colourful mascot of the Khelo India Water Sports Festival 2025, embodies the spirit of adventure, nature, and competition in the Games. With its bold orange and blue, it represents energy, tranquillity, and the beauty of Kashmir.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is set to launch SabhaSaar, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered meeting summarization tool designed to automatically generate structured Minutes of Meeting (MoM) from Gram Sabha or other Panchayat meetings’ audio and video recordings.
SabhaSaar uses advanced AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies to transcribe spoken discussions, identify key decisions and action points, and produce well-formatted meeting minutes. Integrated with Bhashini, the Government of India’s National Language Translation Mission, the tool currently supports 13 Indian languages.
SabhaSaar is an initiative that harnesses digital innovations to further strengthen participatory democracy and enhance efficiency in local governance. By significantly reducing the time and effort required for manual documentation, SabhaSaar enables Panchayat officials to focus on governance and service delivery while ensuring transparency and accountability.
Towards the objective of facilitating availability, accessibility & affordability of credit to MSMEs, National Small Industries Corporation entered into Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) with various private sector banks such as Axis Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Karnataka Bank, AU Small Finance Bank and IndusInd Bank on 11th August, 2025 under its MSME Credit facilitation program
The collaboration aims to extend handholding support to MSMEs and help them link to the formal financial system, with increased focus on the Banks to expand their outreach to deserving micro & small enterprises, the arrangement is expected to be a force multiplier in the efforts of Banks to reach the last mile.
The Ministry of Finance welcomes the decision by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings to upgrade India’s long-term sovereign credit rating to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB-’ and its short-term rating to ‘A-2’ from ‘A-3’, with a Stable Outlook. n May 2024, the agency revised its outlook on India from ‘Stable’ to ‘Positive’.
This marks the country’s first sovereign upgrade by S&P in 18 years, the previous one being in 2007 when India was elevated to investment grade at BBB-. S&P in its report details the key strengths of the Indian economy, which have enabled India to stand out as one of the fastest-growing major economies globally, with real GDP growth averaging 8.8 per cent from FY22 to FY24.
As per S&P’s India sovereign rating review published today, the upgrade reflects a combination of key factors, including India’s buoyant and dynamic economic growth, the government’s sustained commitment to fiscal consolidation, improved quality of public spending, particularly on capex and infrastructure, and strong corporate, financial, and external balance sheets.
S&P projects GDP growth of 6.5 per cent in FY26 and a continued momentum over the next three years. Monetary improvements, combined with the ongoing development of deep domestic capital markets, have created a more stable and supportive environment for the overall economic scenario. The report further observes that India’s external and financial positions remain strong.
Morning Star DBRS had also upgraded India to “BBB” status.
In Chess, German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer has won the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 with one round to spare, becoming the first sole champion in the event’s history. His performance pushed him into the world’s Top 10 in live for the first time.
In the Challengers, Grandmaster Pranesh M leads with 6.5 points after beating GM Harika Dronavalli. Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik and Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca trail just half a point behind after wins and a draw, respectively.
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) announced the selection of the PixxelSpace India-led consortium to design, build, and operate India’s first fully indigenous commercial earth observation (EO) satellite constellation under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
It is for the first time in the history of the Indian space sector that a private consortium would invest more than Rs. 1,200 crore over the next five years to launch a constellation of 12 state-of-the-art EO satellites equipped with panchromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral, and microwave Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors.
The Bengaluru-based PixxelSpace India consortium comprises Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India, and Dhruva Space. IN-SPACe said the selection of the PixxelSpace India consortium was done following a competitive bidding process which involved two more consortia.
The constellation will deliver Analysis Ready Data (ARD) and Value-Added Services (VAS) for applications in climate change monitoring, disaster management, agriculture, infrastructure, marine surveillance, national security, and urban planning, while also catering to the global demand for high-quality geospatial intelligence.
Under the PPP framework, the Union government will provide strategic, technical, and policy support, while the PixxelSpace India-led consortium will own and operate the EO system, including satellite manufacturing, launches from Indian soil, ground infrastructure, and commercialisation of data services.
India's purchase of Russian oil has risen to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, as refiners continue to prioritise economic considerations in their sourcing decisions. As much as 38% out of an estimated 5.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported in the first half of August came from Russia, according to global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler.
Imports from Russia at 2 million bpd were up from 1.6 million bpd in July. The increase in Russian flow was at the cost of purchases from Iraq, which declined to 730,000 bpd in August, and Saudi Arabia which fell to 526,000 bpd from 700,000 bpd last month. The U.S. was the fifth largest supplier at 264,000 bpd, according to Kpler.
Fintech major PhonePe processed nearly 8.93 billion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in July, followed by Google Pay’s 6.92 billion and Paytm’s 1.36 billion, data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows. PhonePe’s total value processed stood at Rs. 12.20 trillion, followed by Google Pay’s Rs. 8.91 trillion and Paytm’s Rs. 1.43 trillion.
PhonePe’s market share by volume was 45.88 per cent in July, while its closest competitor, Google Pay, cornered 35.56 per cent. Paytm’s market share stood at 7.02 per cent. Meanwhile, emerging third-party application providers (TPAPs) such as Navi processed 444.06 million UPI transactions, while super.money processed 252.85 million.
In a step towards implementing the Risk Based Capital (RBC) framework, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) directed insurance companies to initiate the Second Quantitative Impact Study (QIS 2) and submit the results by 15 October 2025.
The Irdai had conducted QIS 1 in 2023 to assess the initial impact of the RBC framework. In a circular, the regulator said: “Insurers shall carry out the QIS 2 as per the Technical Guidance document with the data used for actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2025.
The Technical Guidance document, along with the data submission template and requirements regarding the associated template for submission of results, mode of submission of results from the QIS 2 exercise, and supplementary information, are being informed separately to the insurers. The regulator has asked insurers to submit the QIS 2 results on or before 15 October 2025.
India’s goods exports rebounded in July after two months of contraction, with outbound shipments rising 7.3 per cent to $37.24 billion, led by a surge in exports to the United States before the country’s reciprocal tariff kicked in and bolstered by a recovery in exports to other key markets.
The country’s merchandise trade deficit widened to an eight-month high of $27.35 billion as imports also picked up 8.6 per cent after two months of decline to hit a three-month high of $64.6 billion, quick estimates released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed.
Services exports grew 1.4 per cent to $31.03 billion in July, while services imports shrank 3.4 per cent to $15.4 billion, resulting in a $15.63 billion surplus. Based on these estimates, subject to revision after the Reserve Bank of India finalises services trade numbers, India’s total exports were up 4.5 per cent in July to $68.3 billion.
The original Income Tax Bill, 2025, introduced in February 2025, was withdrawn on August 8, 2025, after concerns were raised over certain provisions. A revised version, incorporating the recommendations of a Parliamentary Select Committee, was reintroduced in the Lok Sabha on August 11, 2025, and passed on the same date. The Rajya Sabha cleared the Bill on August 12.
This legislation is slated to come into force from April 1, 2026. The total number of sections has been reduced from 819 to 536. Fifty-seven tables and 46 formulae have been added to make the law easier to comprehend.
Indian Overseas Bank announced signing a partnership with Mumbai Metro One for ticketing solutions. Under an initial pact signed between the Indian Overseas Bank and Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd, the public sector lender will facilitate the issuance of smart cards for regular commuters, along with paper ticket and QR-based ticketing solutions.
The solution will be fully integrated with Mumbai Metro's ticketing APIs ensuring real time validation and instant confirmation. Mumbai Metro Line 1, with average daily ridership of 4,50,000 commuters and more than 3 lakhs transactions in a day plays a vital role in easing congestion across the city. Mumbai Metro Line 1 connects Varsova-Andheri-Ghatkopar areas of the city.
State Bank of India has launched a special personal loan scheme for Agniveers - young men and women serving in the armed forces under the Government’s short-term Agnipath recruitment programme. Under this loan scheme, Agniveers with a salary account at SBI can avail of loans of up to ₹4 lakh without any collateral and with a complete waiver of processing fees.
The repayment tenure will align with the term of the Agnipath scheme, offering maximum flexibility and convenience to our nation’s brave hearts transitioning from civilian life,”. In addition to this, the bank is charging a flat interest rate of 10.50% on personal loans to all Defence personnel till 30th September 2025.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked all regulated entities (REs) to take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with Supreme Court’s directives that make the process of digital KYC accessible to persons with disabilities, especially facial / eye disfigurements due to acid attacks and visual impairments.
The SC directives require authorities/Ministries to appoint a nodal officer in every department responsible for digital accessibility compliance. The respondent authorities have to establish dedicated helplines for persons with disabilities, offering step-by-step assistance in completing the KYC process through voice or video support.
The authorities have been directed to establish a mechanism for human review of rejected KYC applications in cases where accessibility-related challenges prevent successful verification. A designated officer has to be empowered to override automated rejections and approve applications on a case-by-case basis.
This order was passed in the case of two writ petitions -- Pragya Prasun & Others vs Union of India & Others; and Amar Jain vs Union of India & Others.
Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who retired in November 2024 as the 50th CJI, is set to release his first book titled Why the Constitution Matters by the end of August 2025 (Penguin Random House). Justice D.Y. Chandrachud’s Debut Book – Why the Constitution Matters.
Justice Chandrachud, who served over 25 years on the bench, is known for landmark judgments on Right to Privacy, Decriminalisation of Homosexuality, and Gender Equality in the Armed Forces.
The 4th Meeting of the India–Singapore Joint Working Group on Trade & Investment (JWGTI) was hosted by India at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, on 14th August 2025. The meeting was co-chaired by Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri Rajesh Agrawal and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, Dr. Beh Swan Gin.
The year 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore, as well as the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). The CECA, signed in 2005, was the first comprehensive trade agreement India entered into with any partner and Singapore’s first such pact with a South Asian country.
Singapore is India’s largest trading partner within ASEAN, with total bilateral trade of USD 34.26 billion during 2024–25. It is also India’s second-largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with equity inflows of USD 163.85 billion (INR 11,24,509.65 crore) between April 2000 and July 2024, accounting for about 24% of India’s cumulative inflows.
India hosted the 10th Meeting of the ASEAN–India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) Joint Committee and related meetings at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, from August 10 to 14, 2025. The Joint Committee focused on advancing the ongoing review of AITIGA to enhance its effectiveness, accessibility, and trade facilitation capabilities.
Delegates from all ten ASEAN Member States — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — participated. ASEAN remains a key trade partner for India, accounting for around 11% of India’s global trade. Bilateral trade reached USD 123 billion in 2024–25, reflecting the strong economic ties between the two sides.
Seven of the eight Sub-Committees under the AITIGA Joint Committee also met on the margins, namely: The Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation, Legal and Institutional Issues, National Treatment and Market Access, Sanitary and Phytosanitary, Rules of Origin, Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures, and Trade Remedies.
