The Centre raised the subsidy on phosphorous (P) and sulphur (S) fertilisers for the ongoing 2025-26 rabi season, with a higher subsidy allocation of Rs 37,952 crore to provide relief to the farming community.
However, the subsidy rate for nitrogen (N) and potash (K) were kept unchanged. The rates will be effective from October 1, 2025 till March 31, 2026.
The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, increased the subsidy for phosphate to Rs 47.96 per kg for the ongoing rabi season from Rs 43.60 per kg in the 2025 kharif season. Similarly, the subsidy for sulphur was raised to Rs 2.87 per kg from Rs 1.77 per kg for the period under review.
The subsidy rate for nitrogen and potash were, however, kept unchanged at Rs 43.02 per kg and Rs 2.38 per kg, respectively.
"The subsidy approved for 2025 rabi season is higher by about Rs 14,000 crore from the previous rabi season (2024). During the last rabi season, the subsidy was about Rs 24,000 crore," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told.
The world’s first stablecoin pegged to the yen launched in Japan, a small but significant move in a country where traditional payment means like cash and credit cards dominate financial infrastructure.
A Japanese startup, JPYC, said it will begin issuing stablecoins that are fully convertible to the yen and backed by domestic savings and Japanese government bonds (JCB).
Japan’s three megabanks will also jointly issue stablecoins, the Nikkei daily reported earlier this month, which may push the digital asset into the mainstream in a once cash-loving population.
Stablecoins backed by the U.S. dollar currently dominate the market, accounting for over 99% of the global stablecoin supply, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
In Asia, Japan laid out rules in 2023 to allow issuance of stablecoins. South Korea has also pledged to allow companies to introduce won-based stablecoins.
While various financial institutions have announced plans to look at launching stablecoins, policymakers have expressed concern that stablecoins could facilitate the movement of funds outside regulated banking systems and potentially undermine the role of commercial banks in global payment flows.
Known as a population favouring physical currency, Japan has gradually embraced digital innovation with the ratio of cashless payments having risen to 42.8% in 2024 from 13.2% in 2010, according to government data.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the successful test of a unique nuclear-powered ‘Burevestnik’ cruise missile with unlimited range and ordered the armed forces to prepare infrastructure for its deployment.
In his televised meeting with the chief of defence staff and other military commanders, Mr Putin mentioned that during recent drills of nuclear forces, the ‘Burevestnik’ cruise was in the air for 15 hours and covered 14,000 kilometres during successful trials.
In a bid to promote tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, passenger vessel 'Sindhu' has completed its maiden voyage to Barren Island — the only active volcano in the Indian subcontinent, and returned to Haddo Wharf in Port Blair, an official said on October 26, 2025.
Chief Secretary Chandra Bhushan Kumar flagged off the ship around 9 p.m. on October 24, 2025. Nearly 140 km away from Port Blair by sea, the uninhabited Barren Island lies at the junction of the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates.
"The ship returned safely with all tourists and school children on October 25, 2025. This is the first time the Union Territory Administration has launched this service for travellers to visit the island," Andaman and Nicobar Chief Secretary Chandra Bhushan Kumar told.
There will be two such trips, which will be operated every month, offering islanders and tourists an opportunity to witness one of nature's most awe-inspiring sights, amid the scenic water of the Andaman Sea, Mr. Kumar said.
The vessel 'Sindhu', with a carrying capacity of 500 passengers, sailed almost at full capacity, including 125 government school students drawn from different parts of the archipelago.
There are four categories of accommodation in the vessel.
While 'Coral Suite' and 'Reef Suite' will cost around ₹8,310 and ₹6,340 per head, respectively, 'Island Breeze' and 'Lagoon' will cost around ₹4,290 and ₹3,180 per head.
Food will be provided for the entire round voyage for an additional charge of ₹2,000 per passenger.
East Timor, officially known as Timor-Leste, officially became the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on October 26, 2025. The formal induction took place at a ceremony during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Also known as Timor-Leste, the country of 1.4 million people is among Asia's poorest and hopes to see gains from integrating its fledgling economy, which at about $2 billion represents only a tiny fraction of ASEAN's collective $3.8 trillion gross domestic product.
India is taking its top engineering institutes global, with Nigeria set to host the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in West Africa. The move marks a major step in India’s international education outreach and aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020,
which encourages Indian universities to establish campuses abroad and strengthen global collaboration.
According to a statement from Nigeria’s Ministry of Education on X, the IIT campus will be located at the Federal Government Academy (FGA) in Suleja, also known as the Nigerian Academy for the Gifted
The project forms part of India’s global education strategy. IIT Madras opened its international campus in Zanzibar in 2023, followed by IIT Delhi–Abu Dhabi in 2024. Talks are also underway to set up future campuses in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the UK.
Under NEP 2020, Indian universities are encouraged to open overseas campuses and host top global universities in India. The policy also supports joint degree programs, research collaborations, and faculty exchanges to promote international knowledge sharing.
The Federal Bank board on Friday approved a preferential issue of an aggregate of up to about 27.29 crore convertible warrants aggregating ₹6,196.51 crore to an affiliate of Blackstone, marking the alternative assets firm’s maiden investment in the Indian banking sector. It will hold a 9.99 per cent stake on exercise of the warrants.
With this, Kochi-based Federal Bank joins the list of other banks such as IDFC First Bank, Yes Bank and RBL Bank that have attracted the attention of foreign investors.
Global private equity investors and foreign banks have taken a yen for Indian private sector banks in a big way so far in the current financial year.
They have either picked up or are in the process of picking up significant to majority stakes in these Banks.
The Bank’s Board also approved the grant of a special right to the investor to nominate one retiring non-executive director on the Board upon exercise of all the Warrants by the investor.
This is subject to the investor holding at least 5 per cent of the paid-up share capital of the Bank, under the terms of the Investment Agreement.
Each warrant carries a right to subscribe to one fully paid-up equity share of the private sector bank having a face value of ₹Two each (including a premium of ₹225 per Equity Share, at a price of ₹227 per such warrant.
Shooter Abhinav Bindra, India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medallist, has been selected as a torchbearer for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Torch Relay.
This won’t be the first time that Abhinav Bindra will be part of an Olympic Torch relay. He was also a torchbearer for the Paris 2024 Olympics in France last year.
The Olympic Torch Relay is a ceremonial journey that precedes both the Summer and Winter Games.
As part of the sacred tradition, the Olympic flame is transferred from Olympia, Greece - the site of the ancient Olympic Games - to the host city of the upcoming edition of the Olympics.
Over a period of 63 days, the relay will cover 12000 kilometres and make 60 official stops, visiting all 110 provinces of Italy.
A total of 10001 torchbearers will take part in carrying the flame across the country before it reaches the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Games on February 6, 2026.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will be held across the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina d’Ampezzo from February 6 to 22 2026. This will be the fourth time Italy will be hosting the multi-sport meet.
Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana has secured the top spot among batters in the world in Women’s ODI rankings.
She achieved the rating of 828 points, which puts her nearly 100 points ahead of the second-placed player, Ashleigh Gardner of Australia-thanks to her spectacular performance in the home ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup,
which included a brilliant 109 against New Zealand and an unbeaten 34 against Bangladesh. She was also named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for September 2025.
While her opening partner, Pratika Rawal, also saw a big jump to 27th place with 564 points before unfortunately having to pull out of the rest of the tournament due to injury.
In wrestling, India’s Sujeet Kalkal has struck gold at the Under-23 World Championships. Competing in the men’s freestyle 65-kilogram category, Kalkal dominated Uzbekistan’s Umidjon Jalolov with a 10-0 win.
his is Kalkal’s first-ever world title. The young wrestler already had two U-23 Asian titles and one U-20 Asian Championship gold to his name.
Earlier, the Indian women’s wrestling team won 5 bronze medals and 2 silver medals, and also secured the team championship title at the same event.
Sujeet’s medal is the only medal for India in the men’s Under-23 Senior World Wrestling Championship this year. Two other wrestlers competed for the bronze medal bouts but could not succeed.
In Chess, Indian grandmasters Gukesh Dommaraju and Divya Deshmukh starred at the recently held 2025 European Chess Club Cup, winning two gold medal apiece. Grand master D Gukesh playing for team Super Chess and Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh playing for Cercle d’échecs de Monte-Carlo won the team championship in the Women’s competition.
In the women's section, Divya Deshmukh bagged gold on the second board and her team Cercle d'echecs de Monte Carlo became champions. Divya is the only woman competitor in the upcoming World Cup, and her performance puts her in good shape ahead of the tournament in India.
The Chess World Cup 2025 is scheduled to take place in Goa from 31 October to 27 November. The winner, runner-up and third-place finisher will also get berths at the 2026 Candidates. There are 24 players from India participatingi n the tournament. Gukesh is the top seed and Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa are the second and third seeds.
India’s Nihal Sarin also bagged an individual gold medal.
