Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu inaugurated ‘Fare Se Fursat’, a historic initiative by India’s government-owned regional carrier, Alliance Air. Fair Se Fursat is aimed at giving passengers freedom from the stress of fluctuating airfares and promoting ease of flying in the country.
Under this scheme, Alliance Air will offer a single, fixed fare that remains constant regardless of the booking date, even on the day of departure. The initiative will be implemented on a pilot basis from October 13 to December 31, 2025 across select routes, to evaluate its operational feasibility and passenger response.
The Minister also shared his broader vision for making Indian aviation more passenger-centric: “Since taking charge of the Ministry, my focus has been on making aviation more people-oriented. Inspired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision under UDAN, we have launched Udan Yatri Cafes offering tea for Rs. 10, coffee for Rs. 20 and snacks for Rs. 20 at airports.
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the Logistics Excellence, Advancement, and Performance Shield (LEAPS) 2025 during the event marking the 4th Anniversary of PM GatiShakti at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
LEAPS is a flagship initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, aims to benchmark logistics excellence, strengthen India’s competitiveness, and align with the vision of the National Logistics Policy (NLP) and PM GatiShakti.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the rules to allow banks in the country and their overseas branches to lend to persons resident in, and peer banks in, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. This is expected to facilitate cross-border trade transactions, including payments.
The RBI said it has also extended the time for repatriating money in foreign currency accounts maintained in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India from one month to three months. This will encourage Indian exporters to open accounts with IFSC banking units and increase foreign exchange liquidity in the IFSC.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for their work on “innovation-driven economic growth”, the Nobel Committee said.
Mokyr, a professor at Northwestern University in the US, received half of the prize for identifying the prerequisites of sustained growth through technological progress.
The other half, was jointly conferred to French economist Aghion of Collège de France, and Howitt of Brown University for developing the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction.
After a minor uptick in August, India’s retail inflation moderated significantly in September to hit a 99-month low of 1.54 per cent, with food prices dropping 2.3 per cent from a year ago, marking the most benign print for the volatile and essential component of the household spending basket since December 2018.
With September’s price rise pace coming under the central bank’s inflation tolerance range of 2 per cent to 6 per cent, the average inflation through the second quarter (Q2) of 2025-26 (FY26) is 1.74 per cent, a tad below the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) projection of 1.8 per cent for Q2 as well as Q3.
Receding inflation pressures could lend more comfort for the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI, which chose to keep interest rates unchanged for the second time at its bi-monthly review that concluded on October 1, to focus on growth. The RBI has lowered its inflation projection for FY26 to 2.6 per cent, with Q4 expected to clock a higher average of 4 per cent.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) estimated that rural inflation cooled sharply from 1.69 per cent in August to 1.07 per cent in September, while urban inflation eased from 2.47 per cent to 2.04 per cent. Food prices were 2.17 per cent lower in rural India, and 2.47 per cent down in urban centres.
State Bank of India said it has provided loans worth Rs 74,434 crore to 2.25 lakh MSMEs in less than one hour through SME Digital Business Loans platform in the last 15 months.
SBI launched 'SME Digital Business Loans' in June 2024 which enables the MSME entrepreneur to apply online for credit requirements up to Rs 5 crore.
MSME advances have been identified as the focal point for the bank's growth and profitability over the next five years and this innovative product marks a leap forward in digitalisation by offering SMEs a digital loan journey with an end-to-end sanction turnaround time of up to 45 minutes.
SME Digital Business Loans leverages cutting-edge technology and a robust ecosystem of APIs to streamline the lending process, SBI said in a statement.
Notably, for loans up to Rs 50 lakh, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST returns for appraisal, it said.
Sonali Ghosh, the Director of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, has become the first Indian to receive an international award for innovation in national parks and protected area sustainability.
She received the Kenton R. Miller Award, constituted by the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), along with Ecuador’s Roque Simón Sevilla Larrea at a function in Abu Dhabi on October 10.
NITI Aayog released a report on “India’s Blue Economy: Strategy for Harnessing Deep-Sea and Offshore Fisheries”. This report was formally launched by Prof. Ramesh Chand, Member (Agriculture), NITI Aayog, and Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog, in a special event attended by representatives from the fisheries sector, maritime states, and stakeholder organizations.
India is the second-largest fish-producing country in the world, accounting for 8% of global production. India’s fisheries sector supports nearly 30 million livelihoods and contributes significantly to exports, with fishery products earning ₹60,523 crore in FY 2023–24.
GST cut from 18% → 5% on processed Mizo Bird’s Eye Chilli, ginger and turmeric to benefit farmers and promote exports.
Processed fruit products, including passion fruit juice and pulp, now taxed at 5%, creating jobs in local food units.
All bamboo and cane products brought under a 5% GST slab, supporting rural artisans and eco-friendly livelihoods.
Hotel rooms up to ₹7,500/night taxed at 5%, making Mizoram more attractive for travellers and boosting employment.
Mizoram’s economy is deeply rooted in its land and forests, from organic spices and horticultural crops to bamboo crafts and eco-tourism.
The Mizo Bird’s Eye Chilli, a GI-tagged organic crop, is one of the most distinctive agricultural products of the state. It is mainly grown in the districts of Lunglei, Siaha and Lawngtlai, where the climate and soil are ideal for its cultivation.
Mizoram produced about 10,918 metric tonnes of Mizo chilli in 2020–21.
Ginger and turmeric are among Mizoram’s most important cash crops and exportable commodities. Cultivated across the state, these spices form a major part of local farming incomes.
Mizoram’s total horticultural output was estimated nearly 708 thousand metric tonnes in 2023–24, which includes a substantial contribution from spices.
In 2024–25, the state produced over 60,000 tonnes of ginger and nearly 30,000 tonnes of turmeric, reflecting the steady growth of spice cultivation in Mizoram’s hilly terrain and favourable climate.
Mizoram is India’s third-largest producer of passion fruit, and cultivation is expanding rapidly due to favourable climatic conditions.
In 2023–24, the state produced over 3.4 lakh tonnes of fruits, including passion fruit, spread across nearly 69,000 hectares. Passion fruit processing has created new entrepreneurial opportunities in juice and concentrate production, offering additional income for farmers and women’s groups.
Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 3 National Highway projects worth over Rs. 2,000 crore along with Lt. Governor of Puducherry Shri K. Kailashnathan, Chief Minister Shri N. Rangaswamy, Union Minister Dr. L. Murugan, State Ministers, Member of Parliaments, MLAs, and senior officials in Puducherry.
This includes the foundation stone laying for the construction of a 4 km elevated corridor between Indira Gandhi Square and Rajiv Gandhi Square on NH-32, improvements to the 14 km ECR Road on NH-332A, and the inauguration of the 38 km four-lane Puducherry–Poondiyankuppam section of NH-32.
These projects are designed to enhance road safety and ease traffic congestion within the urban stretch from Indira Gandhi Square to Rajiv Gandhi Square, reducing travel time from 35 minutes to just 10 minutes. They will also decongest Puducherry’s urban areas, resulting in significant fuel savings, reduced vehicular emissions, and lower operating costs.
The improved road network will offer better connectivity for pilgrims visiting the Manakula Vinayagar Temple, Natarajar Temple, Navagraha Temples, and Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Motorists travelling from Viluppuram towards Cuddalore, Chidambaram, and Nagapattinam will now be able to bypass the busy Puducherry town, saving approximately 50 minutes of travel time.
The National Statistics Office (NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), is conducting large-scale household surveys on diverse social and economic subjects, undertaken regularly since its inception in 1950.
Over the years, the National Sample Survey (NSS) has emerged as a vital source of official statistics for evidence-based policymaking, capturing household welfare, consumption, employment, health, assets, indebtedness and related aspects of socio-economic development.
Among the forthcoming surveys, a major new initiative is the National Household Income Survey (NHIS), scheduled to be launched in February, 2026. This will be the first-ever pan-India survey focused on measuring household income, representing a significant step toward filling a long-standing data gap in India’s socio-economic statistics system.
With a view to provide necessary guidelines in conduct of the survey in India, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has constituted a Technical Expert Group (TEG) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla, Former Executive Director of India, International Monetary Fund.
As per the recommendation made by the TEG, a pre-testing exercise of the draft schedule for the NHIS 2026 was conducted during 4–8 August 2025 to evaluate the clarity, comprehension, interpretability, and acceptability of the questionnaire.
The Indian Army will host the United Nations Troop Contributing Countries’ (UNTCC) Chiefs’ Conclave in New Delhi, beginning. The three-day conclave, bringing together senior military leadership from 32 nations to deliberate on operational challenges, evolving threats, share best practices and build shared understanding on future peacekeeping.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the inaugural session of the conclave. The session will also feature Chiefs and Heads of Delegations putting forth their viewpoints. Defence Exhibitions for shared capacity building, bilaterals and cultural exchanges will also feature during the conclave.
