The Indian Navy’s Sail Training Ship INS Sudarshini successfully concluded her first port call at Salalah, Oman, on 05 Feb 2026. The visit marked a key milestone in the ship’s ambitious ten-month trans-oceanic voyage, Lokayan 26, aimed at showcasing India’s rich maritime heritage and the ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is One Family) across the globe.
INS Sudarshini now proceeds on her next leg of Lokayan 26, carrying forward India’s timeless seafaring legacy across the oceans. With sails set and spirits high, she continues to serve as a symbol of maritime excellence, friendship, and goodwill.
Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw launched Qualcomm 2 nm semiconductor chip, marking a significant moment in advanced semiconductor design and India’s Key Role in Global Engineering Operations.
The minister added that we have made a good progress - 10 units are under construction. 4 of them started pilot production recently. They are getting their products qualified, validated with the customers and soon we will have the first unit with commercial production.
Students from remote universities and colleges are designing chips, getting them taped out, validated to actual functioning process. A huge talent pipeline is getting created that will give us significant strength and advantage that our country has been known for.
Going forward, we will be starting India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 with a different outlook.
In ISM 1.0, the focus was on getting first few semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facilities and getting the ecosystem in place and talent pipeline started. In India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0, first focus will be design companies and startups who can design a product and take it to the market.
Second focus will be on getting the entire ecosystem from equipment manufacturers, chemical and gas manufacturers, validation and testing in India. The third focus will be to deepen the talent base. With talent pipeline being wide now, our focus is to partner with universities to develop solution in different sectors.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has become the first custodian in India to issue a foreign portfolio investor (FPI) licence and complete the entire account-opening process using electronic signatures, marking a key step in fully digital onboarding for overseas investors. The bank has already issued two FPI licences based entirely on digitally signed documents, it said in a release.
The move follows Securities and Exchange Board of India operationalising a unified digital workflow in January 2026.
The launch strengthens Kotak’s commitment to simplifying and accelerating India market access through a digital‑first, future‑ready custody and onboarding ecosystem.
IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), India’s first university-based research park and a leading force behind India’s deep tech transformation, and Unicorn India Ventures, a deep tech venture capital fund, have joined hands to launch a Rs 600 crore deep tech fund. The fund will also have an additional Rs 400 crore as a greenshoe option.
The fund will look to build a portfolio of over 25 companies in IP-led, engineering-heavy startups in sectors such as robotics, spacetech, defencetech, semiconductors and medtech, aligned with national strategic interests.
IIT Madras—India’s premier engineering institution—has ranked number one for 10 consecutive years in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for excellence in academics and innovation, and leads the nation in intellectual property creation, achieving a record average of more than one patent per day.
The fund will deploy 60 per cent of the investable corpus to build the initial portfolio and reserve 40 per cent for follow-on rounds to ensure that there is enough “patient capital” to back winners through the “valley of death”. A significant portion of the companies will be sourced from IITM’s ecosystem, with the balance coming from the wider Indian deep tech ecosystem.
India today successfully test-fired the Agni-III intermediate-range ballistic missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha. The launch was conducted under the supervision of the Strategic Forces Command as part of a routine training exercise to validate the operational and technical preparedness of the missile system.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Agni-Three is a two-stage, solid-fuelled ballistic missile with a strike range exceeding three thousand kilometres. The missile is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.
A key component of India’s credible minimum deterrence strategy, the Agni-III has been inducted into the Strategic Forces Command since 2011. The successful test underscores India’s continued focus on strengthening its strategic deterrence and maintaining high levels of operational readiness.
India and Canada agreed on a "shared work plan" to guide cooperation on national security and law enforcement issues. The plan is also aimed at enhancing collaboration to address common concerns such as transnational criminal networks.
The decision was taken at a meeting between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin in Ottawa.
They agreed to put in place a shared work plan to guide cooperation on national security and law enforcement matters. This plan aims to enable practical cooperation on the priorities of both countries.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the introduction of a risk-based premium (RBP) framework for deposit insurance, which will come into effect from April 1. The framework, which replaces the flat-rate premium system in place since 1962, will be reviewed at least once every three years.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) proposal to allow banks to lend directly to Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits) is expected to make it easier for the trusts to speed up retail and expand office assets by raising funds at lower rates, say industry executives.
Banks were earlier restricted from lending directly to the Reits, with the trusts having to borrow through their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) or rely on issuing bonds and raising equity in the capital markets.
“With greater financial flexibility and access to long-term capital, Reits will be better positioned to support portfolio expansion and contribute to the formalisation and institutionalisation of India’s commercial real-estate sector,” the Indian Reit Association (IRA) said.
The association stated that direct access to bank lending provides Reits with a stable, long-term source of funding, expanding the avenues of fund raising for these instruments. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra added that the move is expected to be positive for both the banks and the real-estate sector.
Reits are investment vehicles that own or operate income-generating real estate, enabling investors to earn a share of the income produced without directly purchasing properties.
Industry executives noted that Reits raised debt by issuing securities subscribed to by mutual funds and NBFCs.
But since these investors typically prefer instruments with a three-to-five-year tenure, securing a long-term funding remains a challenge. With bank lending now available, experts said that Reits might now have a diversified funding base, making them less vulnerable to capital market volatility.
India currently has five publicly listed Reits -- Brookfield India Real Estate Trust, Embassy Office Parks Reit, Knowledge Realty Trust, Mindspace Business Parks Reit and Nexus Select Trust. These hold approximately $27 billion of assets under management across office and retail segments, and have historically relied on capital market issuances and sponsor-backed financing.
The Union Budget 2026 has proposed the Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers – Disclosure Scheme (FAST–DS), 2026, a one-time amnesty window for small taxpayers to regularise undisclosed foreign assets and foreign-sourced income relating to past years.
Nirupama Devi scripted clean and jerk and total records on her way to win the elite women’s 63kg crown with an aggregate of 221kg at the National weightlifting championships in Modinagar.
Bidusmita Bhoi set three records (snatch 89kg, clean and jerk 117kg and total 206kg) while claiming the junior title. She also secured the bronze in the elite women's division.
The results (winners only): Women: 63kg: Elite: Nirupama Devi (RSPB) snatch 94 kg, clean and jerk 127 kg, total 221 kg; Junior: Bidusmita Bhoi 89kg, 117kg, 206kg; Youth: Karangi Tharangini (AP) 81kg, 101 kg, 182kg.
Pravan Chavan, a yoga teacher and resident of Begum Talab Tanda on the outskirts of Vijayapura city, has won three gold medals at the Indo-Malaysian Yoga Championship held in Kuala Lumpur recently.
The championship was organised by the World Yoga and Sports Education Council in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from January 17 to 20.
Participatig in the 26 to 35-year age category, Prakash Chavan delivered an outstanding performance, securing first place in the Traditional Yoga, Artistic Yoga, and Rhythmic Yoga competitions.
Day 1 of the Black Swan Summit India positioned Odisha as an emerging centre for policy-led innovation and digital economic growth, as policymakers, industry leaders, technologists and global investors convened in Bhubaneswar to discuss the role of next-age technologies in India’s fast-expanding digital finance ecosystem.
The two-day summit is being co-organised by the Government of Odisha and Singapore-headquartered Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), an entity of Singapore’s central bank, under the BharatNetra initiative.
The event places Odisha at the centre of discussions around regulated digital finance, artificial intelligence (AI), and sustainable job creation, as India’s global capability centre (GCC) ecosystem expands beyond traditional Tier I cities.
BharatNetra is a five-year initiative of the Odisha government, in partnership with GFTN, to build an integrated global fintech and insurtech capability hub in Bhubaneswar by training thousands of youths and attracting digital finance companies.
Indian teacher Rouble Nagi has won the Global Teacher Prize 2026, receiving the one million dollar award at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
The award, presented by GEMS Education in its tenth edition, was handed over by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Nagi was honoured for transforming neglected walls into interactive educational murals that teach reading, writing, arithmetic, as well as public health and environmental awareness.
Over the past two decades, her work has helped integrate more than one million children into formal education using art as a learning tool.
She was chosen from over 5,000 nominations from 139 countries.
Through her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, she has set up more than 800 educational centres across India, providing safe and inspiring spaces in over 100 low-income communities and villages.
The Global Teacher Prize, presented by GEMS Education and organised by the Varkey Foundation with UNESCO during the World Government Summit, recognises exceptional educators for their outstanding contributions to teaching.
