The 22nd ASEAN-India Summit was held on 26 October 2025. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated virtually in the Summit. Prime Minister and ASEAN leaders jointly reviewed progress in ASEAN-India relations and discussed initiatives for strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This was Prime Minister’s 12th participation in the India-ASEAN Summit.
Reiterating India's support for ASEAN Unity, ASEAN Centrality, and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, Prime Minister complimented ASEAN on adoption of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.
Satish Shah of Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai fame died due to kidney failure. He was 74.
Satish Shah's extensive body of work includes films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), Main Hoon Na (2004), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), and Om Shanti Om (2007).
Satish Shah also played important roles in TV shows like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Filmi Chakkar and Ghar Jamai.
The actor gained immense popularity for his portrayal of Indravadan Sarabhai in the beloved sitcom Sarabhai vs Sarabhai.
Apart from his acting career, Satish Shah co-judged the reality series Comedy Circus with Archana Puran Singh in 2008. He was also appointed as a member of the Film and Television Institute of India society in 2015.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn a 2016 circular that restricted the banking system from lending to a borrower beyond a certain threshold, introduced to reduce concentration risk from aggregate credit exposure to a single large corporate.
However, the large exposure framework, which sets limits on credit exposure of individual banks to a single borrower or a group of connected borrowers, will continue.
As per the circular, the threshold of credit exposure to a borrower by the banking system was reduced from Rs 25,000 crore in FY18 to Rs 15,000 crore in FY19, and to Rs 10,000 crore from FY20.
According to the large exposure framework, a bank’s total exposure to a single borrower cannot exceed 20 per cent of its eligible capital base (Tier 1 capital), and 25 per cent in the case of exposure to a corporate group.
RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said the 2016 policy was aimed at mitigating risk and limiting exposure to large corporates at the system level.
He highlighted that the share of corporates in total banking exposure has declined by about 10 per cent over the years, reducing risks. This was the primary reason for the withdrawal of the circular.
He clarified that the measures should not be seen as any form of relaxation or dilution of financial stability.
State Bank of India (SBI) received two prestigious accolades from Global Finance, New York at the Global Finance Award Ceremony held during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings 2025: World's Best Consumer Bank 2025 and Best Bank in India 2025.
The awards acknowledge the bank's success in delivering world-class banking experiences to its extensive customer base while maintaining technological leadership and expanding services across India's diverse geographic landscape, SBI said.
State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees.
It is also one of the largest mortgage lenders in the country, which has so far fulfilled the home-buying dreams of around 30 lakh Indian families.
SBI has the largest network of 22,980 branches and 62,200 ATMs/ADWMs in India, with more than 76,800 BC outlets. The number of customers using internet banking stands at 14.2 crores.
YONO, which has more than 9.04 crore registered users, witnessed 27.4 lakh new YONO registrations in Q1FY26. In terms of digital lending, the bank disbursed pre-approved personal loans worth Rs 1,791 crores through YONO during Q1 FY26.
Dame Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female leader in the history of the Church of England as Downing Street announced the 106th archbishop of Canterbury nearly a year on from Justin Welby’s resignation over the handling of a safeguarding scandal.
A former chief nursing officer for England, Mullally, 63, the Bishop of London, is now archbishop of Canterbury-designate. She will legally become the archbishop at a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral in January, followed by a formal enthronement service at a later date where members of the royal family are likely to be present.
The appointment of a woman as the archbishop of Canterbury had been widely anticipated as this was the first time the role has been chosen since the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014.
Queen Sirikit, the mother of Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn, has died aged 93.
For more than six decades, Queen Sirikit was married to Thailand's longest-reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016. In their globe-trotting heyday, she was seen as a style icon.
She was seen as a key maternal figure for the country, with her birthday, 12 August, marked as Mother's Day since 1976.
Sirikit was given the royal title Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat. The couple had four children – King Vajiralongkorn, and princesses Ubolratana, Sirindhorn and Chulabhorn.
'The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years' by Indian-origin historian Sunil Amrith has been named the winner of this year's British Academy Book Prize, a prestigious 25,000-pound award that celebrates the world's best works of non-fiction.
Amrith, a Professor of History at Yale University in the U.S., was born in Kenya to South Indian parents, grew up in Singapore and graduated from the University of Cambridge in England.
The 46-year-old's latest book, described by judges as “important reading” in the context of the climate crisis, received the coveted prize at a ceremony at the British Academy in London.
The announcement was made by the chair of the judges, UK-based historian Professor Rebecca Earle, who described the winning work as a magisterial account of the interconnections between human history and environmental transformation.
The other five shortlisted works, which each receive 1,000 pounds, included ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple; ‘The Baton and The Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin’ by Lucy Ash; ‘Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance’ by Bronwen Everill; ‘Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health’ by Sophie Harman; and
‘Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story’ by Graeme Lawson.
The British Academy Book Prize was established in 2013 to reward writing grounded in exceptional research in the fields of the humanities and social sciences.
To be eligible for the prize, books must be works of non-fiction published in the UK, with authors of any nationality, based anywhere in the world and working in any language, provided that the nominated work is available in the English language.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has announced a major innovation initiative titled Scheme for Innovation and Technology Association with Aadhaar (SITAA), designed to advance India’s digital identity ecosystem through collaboration with startups, academia, and industry.
The programme aims to promote indigenous, AI-driven solutions that enhance the security, scalability, and resilience of Aadhaar authentication.
The 150-year-old Darbar Move, the biannual tradition of shifting the Jammu and Kashmir capital between Srinagar and Jammu, has been restored, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced as he completed one year in office.
The tradition was initially scrapped in 2021 by the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, citing cost-cutting measures that he claimed would save around Rs. 200 crore annually. This followed the Central government's 2019 decisions, including the abrogation of Article 370, which had paved the way for such administrative changes.
The practice was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872 to move the capital to Jammu in the winter and to Srinagar during the summer, and provide administrative access to people in both regions.
Stopping the Darbar move had an impact on Jammu in particular. Traders say they suffered a great deal and consistently demanded the revival of long-held traditions in J&K.
In 2022, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries launched a campaign for the restoration of the Darbar Move and observed a complete strike against the LG administration.
Both trader bodies and political groups say the Darbar move has not only been a means of livelihood for people in Jammu but also a strong symbol of coexistence and communal harmony in J&K.
The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad) to collaborate on joint studies, research,
and technical contributions in advanced telecom technologies and global standardisation activities.
The partnership aims to develop India-specific standards and test frameworks, explore future network technologies such as 6G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), and
enhance India’s participation in ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector) Study Groups.
About TEC
The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) is the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.
About IIT Hyderabad
The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT Hyderabad), established in 2008, is a premier institute of national importance with strong academic and research capabilities in advanced telecommunications, 5G/6G technologies, artificial intelligence applications in telecom, and emerging ICT domains.
Project Arunank of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) celebrated its 18th Raising Day at Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh on October 24, 2025, marking 17 years of dedicated service in one of India’s most challenging terrains.
Since its raising in 2008, the Project has constructed & maintained over 696 km of roads and 1.18 km of major bridges, providing vital connectivity to remote valleys & forward areas of Arunachal Pradesh while meeting the operational requirements of the Armed Forces.
One of the Project’s landmark achievements was the completion of the 278 km Hapoli-Sarli-Huri Road, blacktopped for the first time since Independence, connecting one of the remotest regions of Kurung Kumey district.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to reduce risk weight on high-quality infrastructure projects of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the apex bank said in its draft guidelines issued.
Loans to high quality infrastructure projects — where the borrower has repaid at least 10 per cent of the sanctioned amount — would attract 50 per cent of risk weight.
If the borrower has paid at least 5 per cent but less than 10 per cent of the sanctioned amount, it would attract 75 per cent of risk weight compared to 100 per cent earlier, the draft guidelines said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to enlist SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing) Investment Fund-I under the specified exemption category when it comes to investments by regulated entities (REs). This is expected to attract inflows into the fund from REs such as banks.
So, investments made by REs in SWAMIH will not be subject to limits on investments and provisioning under the Reserve Bank of India (Investment in AIF) Directions, 2025.
SWAMIH was announced on November 6, 2019. This ‘Special Window’, in the form of AIF, provides priority debt financing for completion of stalled housing projects.
SWAMIH Fund I and II
SWAMIH Fund I: Raised ₹15,530 crore and had approved sanctions worth over ₹12,000 crore for about 130 projects as of early 2025. It has been instrumental in completing tens of thousands of homes and is considered the largest social impact fund of its kind in India.
SWAMIH Fund II: Launched in the 2025 budget with a corpus of ₹15,000 crore. This second fund is a blended finance facility involving contributions from the government, banks, and private investors. Its goal is to complete an additional 1 lakh stalled housing units.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development has announced a change in the toll-free helpline number for POSHAN and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) to make it easier for citizens to remember and access support services. The new helpline number 1515 will be live from 1st November 2025, replacing the existing number 14408.
This change has been introduced to simplify recall and improve accessibility for beneficiaries seeking assistance under POSHAN and PMMVY schemes. As integration is in process, users may experience a brief transition period. During this time, if callers are unable to connect to the new number 1515, they are advised to continue using the old number 14408.
