The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the launch and implementation of the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Modified UDAN for a period of ten years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36 with a total outlay of Rs.28,840 crore with the budgetary support of the Government of India.
Impact:
Enhanced regional air connectivity to underserved and unserved areas.
Boost to economic growth, trade and tourism in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
Support affordable air travel for common citizens.
Improved emergency response and healthcare access in remote and hilly regions.
Greater viability and sustainability for regional aerodromes and airline operators.
Promotion of the indigenous aerospace sector under Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Progress towards Viksit Bharat 2047 goal.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT) Scheme beyond 31 March, 2026 for a period of five year from 01 April, 2026 to 31 March, 2031 with budget outlay of Rs.1800 crore.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, with YouTube to promote and amplify Indian traditional folk and tribal music on a global stage in New Delhi.
The initiative is aimed at empowering the country’s rich community of traditional and folk musicians by providing them with access to digital tools, knowledge systems, and wider audiences.
Under the MoU, YouTube will complement these efforts, by assisting the Ministry and its affiliated bodies to facilitate training artists of folk, tribal and traditional on digital content creation best practices, channel management, monetization strategies, copyrights management, and understanding audience insights through YouTube analytics.
The Union Cabinet today approved the country’s new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the period 2031 to 2035, which will be communicated to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Under the approved NDC, India targets a 47 per cent reduction in the emissions intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2005 levels by 2035. Additionally, the target for installed power capacity from non-fossil sources has been raised to 60 per cent by 2035, up from the earlier target of 50 per cent by 2030, which India already achieved five years ahead of schedule.
The carbon sink target has been increased to 3.5–4.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2035 from 2005 levels through forest and tree cover.
India’s original climate commitments submitted in 2015 targeted a 33–35 per cent reduction in the emissions intensity of GDP and a 40 per cent share of non-fossil resource-based power installed capacity by 2030.
Both targets were met 11 years and nine years ahead of the committed timelines, respectively.
The country’s emissions intensity has been reduced by 36 per cent from 2005 levels to 2020. India achieved 52.57 per cent non-fossil capacity in February 2026. Further, it has created a carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2021.
India’s NDC is operationalised through the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and its nine national missions, as well as the State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCC). The framework is implemented in convergence with various schemes and programmes of the Centre and State governments, the statement added.
In shaping India’s NDC for 2031–2035, the government has considered the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), and equity, with a view to harmonise national realities, developmental priorities, energy security, and
and the need for greater ambition in climate action, in line with the purpose and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
The Government of India is implementing the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), with an objective to make India a global hub of production, usage and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives. India’s Green Hydrogen production capacity is likely to reach 5 Million Metric Tonnes per annum by 2030.
Hon’ble Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari, along with the Hon’ble Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & IT, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, today launched the PRISM-SG (Portal for Rail-Road Inspection & Stages Management – Steel Girders) Portal in New Delhi.
The PRISM-SG Portal has been developed to digitise key approval and inspection processes related to the construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and also includes Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), Welding Procedure Specification Sheet (WPSS) and fabrication stage inspection of steel girders.
The portal enables end-to-end online submission of documents, scrutiny, raising and resolution of queries, approvals, scheduling of inspections, and uploading of inspection reports, photographs, test results, supported by a complete audit trail and real-time monitoring capabilities.
At present, construction of ROBs requires multiple approvals from Indian Railways such as General Arrangement Drawing (GAD), Structural Drawings, Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), Welding Procedure Specification Sheet (WPSS) and fabrication stage inspection of steel girders.
While approvals for GAD and Structural Drawings are processed through the RRCAS portal, the processes related to QAP, WPSS, and fabrication inspections are largely undertaken through offline or physical modes. This often leads to delays along with limited real-time tracking and coordination among stakeholders.
The newly launched PRISM-SG Portal addresses these challenges by providing an integrated digital platform that brings together all key stakeholders, including Road Owning Departments, Indian Railways, contractors, fabricators, and inspection agencies. The initiative will help to reduce the approval and inspection timeline from approximately 12 months to about 3 to 4 months.
The Competition Commission of India has approved the acquisition of certain shares in Shriram Finance Limited (Target) by MUFG Bank Ltd. (Acquirer).
The Acquirer is a banking institution based in Japan. It is wholly owned and controlled by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., which is a financial services and holding company incorporated in Tokyo, Japan.
In India, the Acquirer provides: corporate banking loans; deposit accounts; remittances; trade finance; bank guarantees; and hedging.
The Target is a public listed company and a non-banking financial company registered with the Reserve Bank of India. It is classified as an Investment and Credit Company by the RBI and categorized as an “NBFC-Upper Layer”.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition of shareholding of Groww Asset Management Limited by State Street Global Advisors, Inc.
The proposed transaction relates to the acquisition of shareholding by State Street Global Advisors, Inc. (State Street) in Groww Asset Management Limited (Target).
State Street is a subsidiary of State Street Corporation (SSC) and operates under the “State Street Investment Management” brand, which is the asset management arm of SSC.
The Target is a wholly owned subsidiary of Billionbrains Garage Ventures Limited which manages various schemes of Groww Mutual Fund (Groww MF).
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the merger of Chess Merger Sub, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coursera Inc., with and into Udemy Inc.
The proposed combination involves the merger of Udemy Inc. (Udemy) with Chess Merger Sub (Chess merger), a newly incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of Coursera Inc. (Coursera).
Upon consummation of the merger, Chess Merger Sub will merge with and into Udemy, with Udemy surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of Coursera, resulting in Coursera acquiring sole control over Udemy.
Upon closing, existing Coursera stockholders are expected to own approximately 59% and existing Udemy stockholders are expected to own approximately 41% of the Combined Company, on a fully diluted basis. (Proposed Combination)
Coursera is a Delaware-incorporated, publicly-listed global education technology company that operates a leading online learning platform.
Kotak Mahindra Bank will fold the business activities of its wholly owned subsidiary Kotak Mahindra Investments Limited (KMIL) into the bank's own operations from April 1, 2026, the lender said in a stock exchange filing.
The decision is driven by the need to comply with the Reserve Bank of India's (Commercial Banks — Undertaking of Financial Services) Directions, 2025,
and is also aimed at simplifying the group structure and driving operational synergies.
KMIL's board has unanimously approved that the subsidiary will stop sanctioning new loans from April 1, 2026, while continuing to service its existing loan book and honouring all obligations under facility agreements executed on or before March 31, 2026.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Tuesday signed four loan projects, including a project for promoting sustainable horticulture in Punjab and Mumbai Metro Line, aggregating to Rs. 16,420 crore.
The loan agreement was signed with the Government of India to provide Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for four key projects, JICA said in a statement.
The loan agreement was signed in New Delhi between Alok Tiwari , Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Takeuchi Takuro, Chief Representative of JICA India Office.
The four projects include a project for strengthening the tertiary Healthcare Delivery,
Medical Education System and Nursing Education System in Maharashtra (62,294 million Japanese Yen); a Project for Promoting Sustainable Horticulture in Punjab (18,684 million Japanese Yen), Bengaluru Metro Rail Project (Phase 3) (I) (102,480 million) and the Mumbai Metro Line 11 Project (I) (92,400 million Japanese Yen).
The Bengaluru Metro Phase 3 project will develop approximately 44.65 km of elevated corridors with multimodal integration, enhancing travel efficiency and supporting transit-oriented development, it said.
Similarly, it said, the Mumbai Metro Line 11 project will add around 17.51 km of underground corridors,
improving connectivity across key urban nodes and enabling seamless integration with major infrastructure such as the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link.
Together, these projects are expected to contribute to economic growth, sustainable cities, and climate action, with implementation led by respective state agencies and completion timelines extending between 2032 and 2034, it said.
Chennai-headquartered Agnikul Cosmos, an end-to-end space transportation company, has successfully completed a critical booster engine test of its engine – Agnite.
Unlike traditional engines that take several months to manufacture, Agnikul’s engines can be fully 3D-printed in just seven days. This reduces production complexity and turnaround time.
The tested engine is a full metre long – the largest Inconel rocket engine ever built as a single piece and the first of its scale to be tested with electric motor-driven pumps. Validated at Agnikul’s in-house test facility in Chennai, the system reflects a focus on scalable, high-performance engineering designed to support faster launch readiness and consistent execution.
For satellite operators in critical sectors such as defence and disaster response, where launch timelines are closely tied to operational outcomes, Agnikul’s offering enables planning around committed launch windows, precise satellite placement, and the flexibility to accommodate payload changes up to 30 days before flight.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) held its board meeting, approving a wide-ranging set of regulatory changes covering market intermediaries, foreign investors, alternative funds, and governance norms.
L & T Finance Ltd. (LTF), formerly known as L & T Finance Holdings Ltd., one of the leading Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) in the country, has become a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative.
By joining the UNGC, LTF aligned itself with a global network of thousands of companies committed to taking responsible business action to pave the way for a sustainable world. This announcement serves to publicly reaffirm LTF's existing ethical practices and align its long-term strategy with the UNGC's Principles on human rights, labour, environment,
and anti-corruption while reinforcing commitment to ethical and responsible business practices, sustainable development goals, and long-term value creation.
As part of its participation in the UNGC, LTF will report annually on its progress in implementing the 'Ten Principles of the Global Compact.'
Razorpay has announced a partnership with the Bengaluru-based startup Sarvam AI to build voice-first, conversational commerce experiences in India. The collaboration combines Sarvam’s AI models and agentic stack with Razorpay’s payments infrastructure, enabling users to discover products, place orders.
As part of the collaboration, Sarvam’s technology will also be integrated into Razorpay’s Agent Studio, enabling developers to build multilingual AI agents that can interact with users in languages such as Hindi and Hinglish.
Unlike the Sarvam AI collaboration, which is centred on end-to-end conversational commerce (discovery to checkout), this platform is targeted at automating payment collections. It integrates Gnani.ai’s voice AI with Razorpay’s payments infrastructure to handle the full payment workflow in real time.
