The Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), Sarbananda Sonowal virtually flagged off the steel-cutting ceremony for India’s first all-electric green tug, marking a major milestone in the country’s shift toward sustainable and energy-efficient maritime operations.
The tug, designed for Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla, is being developed under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways’ Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP), a flagship initiative aimed at accelerating India’s maritime decarbonisation efforts.
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, Government of India, and Hitachi MGRM Net Ltd. (HMN) have, on December 1, 2025, entered into a partnership through the signing of a SoI (Statement of Intent).
The purpose of the strategic alignment between these two organizations is the development and use of a single Innovation Platform called, "MStarTM Global AI Connect", which will rely upon Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other innovative technologies to help build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout India.
The collaboration between AIM and Hitachi MGRM Net Ltd. will be instrumental in realization of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for a "Viksit Bharat".
S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its ranking for India’s insolvency regime from ‘C’ to ‘B’, citing continuous improvement in successful creditor-led resolutions.
Average recovery values under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) have improved to more than 30 per cent, from 15-20 per cent under the previous regime, said the rating agency in a statement.
The ranking was changed following an upward revision of assessment of the creditor-friendliness of the bankruptcy resolution framework to medium from weak.
A jurisdiction-ranking assessment indicates the degree of protection that a country’s insolvency laws and practices afford to creditors’ interests. It also indicates the predictability of insolvency proceedings.
S&P classifies insolvency regimes into three groups — Group A, Group B, and Group C — which in turn form the jurisdiction-ranking assessments. The assessment captures how insolvency proceedings and rule-of-law considerations in a given jurisdiction are likely to affect recovery prospects for creditors.
S&P said in India’s insolvency regime secured creditors often recover several multiples of that recovered by unsecured creditors. IBC has reduced the average resolution time for bad loans to about two years, according to official data, down from six to eight years.
The Department of Telecommunications on December 3, 2025 walked back its directions to phone manufacturers, ordering them to install a government app starting next year. The reversal caps a turbulent episode where the government first downplayed the nature of the mandate before committing to withdraw it altogether,
arguing that a recent spike in downloads of Sanchar Saathi, following the furore, meant that there was “no need” for smartphone manufacturers to preload the app on their devices.
The original directions were one of at least three issued after the DoT gave itself new powers to regulate Telecommunication Identifier User Entities (TIUE), a concept the department created to allow it to issue such orders to any entity that used phone numbers, not just telecom operators.
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the 18th plenary meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in New Delhi.
India is hosting the 18th Plenary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in New Delhi from 2nd to 5th December 2025, under the theme “Tax Transparency: Delivering a Shared Vision Through International Cooperation”.
The Global Forum, with 172 member jurisdictions, is the world’s leading body for the implementation of international standards on tax transparency — namely the Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR) and the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI), including all G20 countries.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Arvind Shrivastava, Secretary, D/o Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Gaël Perraud, Chair of the Global Forum.
Veteran academic Dr Manali Kshirsagar took over as the first full-time woman Vice-Chancellor of the Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University and immediately listed her priorities, saying she would focus on launching technology-oriented courses.
She took charge from the acting Vice-Chancellor Dr Madhavi Chavare.
Addressing a press conference, Kshirsagar said she would focus on launching innovative technology-based courses to make students more employable.
Apple has handed a critical leadership role to Bengaluru-born AI researcher Amar Subramanya, marking one of its biggest strategic shifts since launching Apple Intelligence last year. The longtime technologist has been appointed vice-president of artificial intelligence, taking over from John Giannandrea, who will retire in spring 2026.
Apple said Subramanya will report to Craig Federighi, senior vice-president of software engineering, and lead work on Apple Foundation Models, machine learning research, and AI safety and evaluation. Parts of Giannandrea’s organisation will now move under COO Sabih Khan and services chief Eddy Cue.
Amar Subramanya enters Apple with more than two decades of experience in machine learning and large-scale AI systems. Before joining Apple, he briefly served as corporate vice-president of AI at Microsoft, where he worked on foundation models used in Microsoft Copilot.
Prior to that, he spent 16 years at Google, rising from staff research scientist to vice-president of engineering. He later became the head of engineering for Gemini, Google’s flagship generative AI system, and worked closely with DeepMind, contributing to advanced model training and deployment.
Fitch Ratings raised India's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.4 per cent, from 6.9 per cent, on increased consumer spending and improved sentiment boosted by GST reforms.
It said falling inflation gives the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) room for one more policy rate cut in December to 5.25 per cent, following 100 bp of cuts in 2025 so far.
Fitch said GDP growth accelerated further in the July-September quarter to 8.2 per cent, from 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter.
Effective September 22, GST on about 375 items has been slashed, making over 99 per cent of consumption items cheaper.
Fitch expects GDP growth to slow to 6.4 per cent in FY'27.
The 46th Annual Conference of the Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP) was inaugurated at the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), Kolkata, bringing together leading personalities to deliberate on demographic drivers of India’s inclusive growth.
Organised by the Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP) jointly with the National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO), and in collaboration with the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI), the three-day conference (27–29 November 2025) is themed “People, Planet, Prosperity: Demographic Drivers of India’s Inclusive Growth.”
Suparna Mitra will be joining TeamLease Services as managing director & chief executive officer, effective February 2, 2026, marking a leadership transition as part of the company’s long-term succession planning and governance strategy, the company said in a statement.
Mitra succeeds Ashok Reddy, the current managing director & CEO. Vice-chairman Manish Sabharwal will step down from his executive responsibilities but continue as a non-executive non-independent director.
Government approved the PM-WANI Scheme on 9th December 2020 to accelerate the proliferation of Broadband services through Public Wi-Fi networks across the country. The PM-WANI framework, in line with the objectives of the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018, aims to create a robust digital communications infrastructure.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Second (Amendment) Rules, 2025 through G.S.R. 881(E), making it mandatory for all pan masala packs of every size and weight to display the Retail Sale Price (RSP) and all other declarations required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
The amended rules will come into force on 1 February 2026, from which date all manufacturers, packers and importers of pan masala must ensure full compliance. The notification has been issued by Shri Anupam Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.
Key Changes Introduced
Mandatory RSP on all pan masala packs: Small packs of 10 grams or less, which were previously exempted, must now print the Retail Sale Price on their labels.
Full compliance with mandatory declarations: All pan masala packages must display every declaration required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
Removal of earlier exemption: The previous proviso under Rule 26(a), which allowed small pan masala packs to avoid certain declarations, has now been withdrawn with the insertion of a new proviso specific to pan masala.
The amendment significantly strengthens consumer protection by ensuring that buyers have transparent and clear pricing information for every pack size,
prevents misleading or deceptive pricing on smaller packs, enables consumers to make better informed purchasing decisions
GST Compliance and Revenue Collection
By mandating RSP on all packages, the amendment facilitates the effective implementation of RSP-based GST levy on pan masala, enabling:
prevents misleading or deceptive pricing on smaller packs, enables consumers to make better informed purchasing decisions
GST Compliance and Revenue Collection
By mandating RSP on all packages, the amendment facilitates the effective implementation of RSP-based GST levy on pan masala, enabling:
Seamless enforcement of GST Council decisions.
Proper tax assessment and revenue collection across all pack sizes, including the smallest units.
Seamless enforcement of GST Council decisions.
Proper tax assessment and revenue collection across all pack sizes, including the smallest units.
On 19 December 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 74/245, which designated 4 December as the International Day of Banks in recognition of the significant potential of multilateral development banks and other international development banks in financing sustainable development and providing know-how;
and also in recognition of the vital role of the banking systems in Member States in contributing to the improvement of the standard of living.
The 2025 theme draws its rationale from three interconnected imperatives: financing a livable planet, closing the SDG financing gap and strengthening resilient and inclusive finance.
In June 2025, the General Assembly proclaimed 4 December as the International Day against Unilateral Coercive Measures as part of global efforts to raise awareness about the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the term “unilateral coercive measures” usually refers to economic measures taken by one State to compel a change in the policy of another State. Examples of such measures include trade sanctions in the form of embargoes and the interruption of financial and investment flows between sender and target countries.
