Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched two new plans, LIC Jan Suraksha Plan (880) that caters to the lower income group people and LIC Bima Lakshmi Plan (881) exclusively for females. These are the first two products that LIC has introduced in the new next gen GST regime, LIC announced in a statement.
LIC Jan Suraksha Plan is a life micro insurance plan. It is a non-par, non-linked individual savings insurance plan. The plan will benefit the family in case of the unfortunate death of the policyholder during the policy term and a lump sum amount at the time of maturity for the surviving policyholder.
Abhishek Sharma and Smriti Mandhana have won the ICC Player of the Month awards for men and women, respectively, after some fine efforts that helped edge out other strong contenders for September.
Abhishek’s superlative efforts in the Asia Cup T20I tournament were lauded by fans and critics alike and reflect in the Player of the Month awards.
The 25-year-old was named the Player of the Tournament and achieved the highest rating points ever in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings during the Asia Cup, reaching 931 at the end of the Super Fours stage. He won ahead of team-mate Kuldeep Yadav and Zimbabwe’s Brian Bennett.
The annual rate of inflation based on All India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is 0.13% (provisional) for the month of September, 2025 (over September, 2024). Positive rate of inflation in September, 2025 is primarily due to increase in prices of manufacture of food products, other manufacturing, non-food articles, other transport equipment and textiles etc.
The month over month change in WPI for the month of September, 2025 stood at (-) 0.19% as compared to August, 2025. Primary Articles (Weight 22.62%): - The index for this major group decreased by 1.05 % from 191.0 (provisional) for the month of August, 2025 to 189.0 (provisional) in September, 2025.
Price of food articles (-1.38%) and non-food articles (-1.06%) decreased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025. The price of minerals (1.36%) and Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas (0.64%) increased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025.Fuel & Power (Weight 13.15%): -
The index for this major group decreased by 0.14% from 143.6 (provisional) for the month of August, 2025 to 143.4 (provisional) in September, 2025. The price of and mineral oils (-0.54%) and coal (-0.15%) decreased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025. The price of electricity (1.20%) increased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025.
The index for this major group decreased by 0.14% from 143.6 (provisional) for the month of August, 2025 to 143.4 (provisional) in September, 2025. The price of and mineral oils (-0.54%) and coal (-0.15%) decreased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025. The price of electricity (1.20%) increased in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025.
Manufactured Products (Weight 64.23%): - The index for this major group increased by 0.21% from 144.9 (provisional) for the month of August, 2025 to 145.2 (provisional) in September, 2025. Out of the 22 NIC two-digit groups for manufactured products, 10 groups witnessed an increase in prices, 6 groups witnessed a decrease in prices and 6 groups witnessed no change in prices
Some of the important groups that showed month-over-month increase in prices were other manufacturing; food products; electrical equipment; textiles and other non-metallic mineral products etc. Some of the groups that witnessed a decrease in prices were manufacture of rubber and plastics products; motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; pharmaceuticals,
medicinal chemical and botanical products; leather and related products and printing and reproduction of recorded media etc. in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025.
medicinal chemical and botanical products; leather and related products and printing and reproduction of recorded media etc. in September, 2025 as compared to August, 2025.
India's second-largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has partnered with IBM to offer the American tech firm's services through its recently launched cloud platform, the companies said as demand for computing capacity grows.
Through this partnership, Airtel Cloud customers will be able to deploy IBM's offerings, such as AI-ready servers for applications, in regulated industries like banking, healthcare, government and others.
This comes just a day after Google said it would invest $15 billion over five years to set up an AI data centre in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Airtel is also partnering with Google to jointly establish the data center in the port city of Visakhapatnam.
Bharti Airtel's digital unit Xtelify unveiled its Airtel Cloud service in August.
IBM and Airtel will also establish two new Multizone Regions, or MZRs, in Mumbai and Chennai soon, said Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and managing director of Bharti Airtel.
Allianz, a global leader in insurance and asset management, has appointed Ritu Arora as the country head for India, effective immediately. Ritu Arora, who previously served as CEO and CIO of Allianz Investment Management in Asia-Pacific and as an adviser to the Allianz SE Board on India, will spearhead Allianz’s growth strategy in the country.
In her role as Asia CIO, she managed investment functions across 12 countries with assets under management totalling about $50 billion, significantly boosting investments in Indian public markets and private asset classes.
In July 2025, Allianz and Jio Financial Services signed a binding agreement to form a 50:50 domestic reinsurance joint venture in India, also planning joint ventures in the general and life insurance sectors.
Before joining Allianz, Ritu held leadership roles at major financial institutions and was a founding member of PNB MetLife and Canara HSBC Insurance, contributing to India’s insurance industry since its deregulation in 2003.
On the occasion of their meeting in New Delhi on 16th October, 2025, the Vice President of Brazil and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, Geraldo Alckmin, and the Minister of Commerce and Industry of India, Piyush Goyal, welcomed the interest of both India and the MERCOSUR Member States in deepening their existing Preferential Trade Agreement,
with a view to promoting trade and investment between the Parties.
The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS) has a vision of creating one crore internship opportunities for the young people of our country, over five years. It seeks to create a bridge between education and employment. The start of this ambitious program has been made with the top 500 companies of the country.
The first pilot saw an enthusiastic participation, with over 1.27 lakh internship positions posted in Round I, and 1.8 lakhs applicants applied; 82K offers were made; 28k+ offers accepted and at the end of the process around 8.7K+ interns joined various organizations.
Round II is ongoing right now with a much higher number of applications and positions.
The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) is part of the Prime Minister’s package of five schemes and initiatives to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for Indian youth over a 5-year period. PMIS is aimed towards youth aged 21-24 who are currently not enrolled in any full-time academic program or employment.
It offers them a paid internship opportunity in the top companies across India. This scheme plans to offer over one crore internships over the next five years and is aimed at enhancing employability of Indian youth. The pilot phase of the scheme is currently underway.
India and Australia held the 5th Meeting of the India-Australia Energy Dialogue today, 16th October 2025, in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by Shri Manohar Lal, Hon’ble Minister for Power and Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, and Mr. Chris Bowen MP, Hon’ble Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Commonwealth Government of Australia.
The Indian delegation, comprising Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Coal, made detailed presentations on the progress achieved and future cooperation pathways under their respective Joint Working Groups convened during the run-up to the 5th Energy Dialogue.
The discussions covered aspects of global transition to net zero emissions, practical cooperation and promoting dialogue in the field of energy efficiency and enabling technologies, recognising the role of green hydrogen, reaffirming commitment to being reliable and trusted trading partners for energy resources.
India represented by the Surveyor General of India, Shri Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana, IAS, has been elected to the prestigious position of Co-Chair of the Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP).
The elections were conducted during the fourteenth Plenary Meeting of UN-GGIM-AP held from 24-26 September, 2025 in Goyang-si, Republic of Korea, hosted by the National Geographic Information Institute (NGII), Republic of Korea.
The Meeting brought together delegates from member states, technical experts and observers to discuss issues relevant in geospatial information management across the Asia-Pacific region. Reports were presented by the Executive Board, working groups, and partner organizations on their progress and future plans.
India’s election as Co-Chair highlights growing leadership of India in the global geospatial arena and acknowledges its contribution in advancing innovation, capacity building, and regional collaboration. With the support of all member states of Asia-Pacific region, India looks forward to a productive three-year term aligned with the UN-GGIM Strategic Framework.
About-UN-GGIM-AP: The UN-GGIM-AP is one of the five regional committees of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). Representing the National Geospatial Information Agencies of 56 countries in Asia and the Pacific region,
it works to maximize the economic, social, and environmental benefits of geospatial information through cooperation, capacity development, and shared solutions.
UN-GGIM is the apex inter-governmental mechanism for making joint decisions and setting directions with regard to the production, availability.
NMDC Steel Limited (NSL), India’s youngest and a state-of-the-art integrated steel plant, has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first company in the country to receive an Indian Standards (IS) license for “Hot Rolled Steel Strip, Sheet, and Plates for Welded Steel Pipe for Pipeline Transportation Systems - General Requirements (IS 18384:2023).”
The certification was presented by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) during the World Standards Day 2025 celebration organized by BIS, Raipur, at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium, Raipur.
The award was received by Shri Amrit Narayan, Chief General Manager (Steel), NMDC Steel, from Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Shri Vishnu Deo Sai.
The IS 18384:2023 certification marks a significant benchmark for excellence in steel products designed for pipeline transportation systems in the petroleum and natural gas industry. It highlights NMDC Steel’s focus on technological advancement, superior product quality, and sustainable manufacturing practices.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has revised the withdrawal timeline for members who lose their jobs, extending the full withdrawal eligibility period from two months to 12 months of unemployment.
The fifth Khelo India University Games (KIUG) will be held in 7 cities of Rajasthan from November 24. The host cities are Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota and Bharatpur. The 12-day event will feature 23 medal sports and one demonstration sport – Kho-Kho, bringing together more than 5,000 university athletes from across the country.
The medal sports this year include archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, football, hockey, judo, kabaddi, mallakhamb, rugby, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, yogasana, cycling, beach volleyball, canoeing and kayaking. Kho-kho will be featured as a demonstration event.
Notably, beach volleyball, canoeing and kayaking, and cycling are being introduced in the KIUG programme for the first time.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar became the latest Asian teams to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Saudi Arabia drew 0-0 with Iraq in Jeddah, topping Group B in the Asian qualifiers. They aim to match or surpass their best performance, reaching the last 16 in the USA 1994.
Qatar earned their spot by beating the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in Doha.
Second-half headers from Boualem Khoukhi and Pedro Miguel, set up by Akram Afif, ensured victory. The UAE pulled one back late through Sultan Adil, but it was not enough. This will be Qatar’s second consecutive World Cup appearance, after a group-stage exit in 2022.
One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of Paytm, has approved the transfer of its offline merchant payments business to its wholly owned subsidiary, Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines for payment aggregators.
The company said the proposed transfer will consolidate the group's online and offline merchant payments businesses under PPSL, which has received in-principle approval from the RBI to carry out a payment aggregator (Online) business.
The company said this will ensure that all payment aggregation activities are housed within one regulated entity and will build efficiency and synergy within the group.
The Offline Merchant Payments Business includes merchants serviced through QR codes, Soundbox, and EDC machine payments.
Since this is a transfer to a wholly owned subsidiary, it will not impact the financials of the company on a consolidated basis.
"The transfer is being undertaken to take steps to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's Master Directions on Regulation of Payment Aggregators dated September 15, 2025," the filing said.
