The Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast in FY27 by 40 basis points (bps) to 6.9 per cent compared to its December 2025 forecast of 6.5 per cent.
It cited robust domestic reforms, rising consumption and investment, even as it flagged risks from the escalating West Asia conflict that could keep energy prices elevated and weigh on the outlook.
Filing of patent applications has increased by 30.2 per cent to 1,43,729 in 2025-26 against 1,10,375 in the previous fiscal, on account of several initiatives taken by the government to strengthen the intellectual property rights ecosystem, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said.
India is the world's 6th largest patent filer.
Our patent filings soared to a historic 1.43 lakh+ in FY 2025-26, marking a 30.2 per cent increase over last year. With over 69 per cent of patents filed domestically, led by innovators from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, we are showing the world that Made in India is powered by Invented in India.
The filings have been continuously increasing since 2016-17, when they were 45,444. It was 47,894 in 2027-28, 50,660 in 2018-19, 56,268 in 2019-20, 58,503 in 2020-21, 66,440 in 2021-22, 82,208 in 2022-23, and 92,163 in 2023-24.
The government has undertaken several measures to strengthen the patent ecosystem in the country, particularly aimed at startups, MSMEs and educational institutions.
These steps include the reduction of fees for startups, small entities, and educational institutions; providing expedited examination of patent applications; and pro bono facilitation to Indian startups for the filing and processing of patent, trademark, and design applications.
The patent applications are granted only after substantive examination to determine compliance with the requirements of novelty, inventive step & industrial applicability under the Patents Act, 1970.
The Act also provides for pre-grant opposition by any person & post-grant opposition by any interested person, thereby ensuring that only genuine & quality patents are granted.
The Indian Army today flagged off its first blue-water sailing expedition, Samudra Sahas, from Marve in Mumbai as part of the bicentenary celebrations of the Regiment of Artillery.
The 520 nautical mile expedition along the Konkan coast will be conducted in four legs from Mumbai to Vijaydurg, Goa and back, using 21-foot Seabird class sailing boats. The team will sail about 7 nautical miles off the coast, navigating varying wind conditions.
Led by Captain Kshitij Nair and Subedar Prakash Funde, with ground support from Major Vardhan Shidhye, the mission aims to promote endurance, teamwork and leadership. It is being conducted with support from the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard.
India and Germany have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties, agreeing to deepen cooperation across a wide range of sectors during the India-Germany Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) held in Berlin.
The consultations were co-chaired by India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Germany’s State Secretary Géza Andreas von Geyr. During the visit, Misri also met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who appreciated the steady progress in the India-Germany Strategic Partnership.
The discussions assumed added significance as both countries mark 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2026, following the celebration of 25 years of their Strategic Partnership last year. To commemorate the milestone, both sides jointly launched a special logo symbolising the enduring strength of bilateral ties.
The visit builds on the momentum generated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to India in January 2026, which had given a fresh impetus to bilateral relations. The latest round of consultations is expected to help shape substantive outcomes for the upcoming India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations scheduled later this year.
Razorpay said it has partnered with OpenAI to let developers embed payments directly into applications within minutes, aiming to simplify monetisation for AI-built products.
Under the collaboration, developers using Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, can connect Razorpay inside the agent and begin accepting payments almost instantly.
The integration allows builders to move from idea to a revenue-generating product in minutes, rather than spending days setting up payment infrastructure, with payments enabled through Razorpay’s MCP Server.
By enabling the Razorpay MCP integration, developers can instruct Codex by describing the product they want to build and how they want to charge for it.
Razorpay is also integrating payments management into ChatGPT, allowing businesses to install its app and manage transactions through simple prompts. Users can reconcile payments with bank statements, track settlements, and check refund status conversationally, without navigating traditional dashboards.
Razorpay said the launch is part of its push to enable AI-driven commerce. Building on work with OpenAI and the National Payments Corporation of India, the company has introduced agentic payments that allow AI systems to initiate and complete transactions. The effort aims to make monetisation as seamless as building with AI.
For student builders, solo founders, and early-stage startups, this removes one of the biggest hurdles to launching a product — that is, setting up payments. Builders can now go from idea to product to revenue without complex setup or building any payment infrastructure.
The Andhra Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to reduce deaths caused by lightning strikes, particularly in rural areas. The agreement was signed at the State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) office by Managing Director Prakhar Jain and NRSC Deputy Director Dr Aparna.
The collaboration aims to minimise loss of life and property by improving preparedness and strengthening disaster response systems. As part of the initiative, the two agencies will identify lightning-prone areas across the state and carry out risk assessments.
The project will also focus on developing prevention strategies and enhancing early warning systems to provide timely alerts to the public. APSDMA officials said the initiative is expected to improve safety measures and build a more effective disaster management framework in the state. Senior APSDMA officials and NRSC scientists were present at the event.
India’s Palak Gulia and Mukesh Nelavalli broke the world record en route to winning a gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team competition at the ISSF World Cup for rifle and pistol in Granada.
The win was impressive, as the field included the world champion Chinese pair of Kai Hu and Qianxun Yao, along with Paris Olympics bronze medallist Veronika Major and Akos Nagy of Hungary.
With Nelavalli, making his senior debut, shooting a score of 294 as compared to Gulia’s score of 287, the Indian pair qualified in second spot behind the Chinese pair.
An hour later, the Indian pair won the title, with a 2.9-point lead over the second-placed Chinese pair, setting a new world record and junior world record score of 487.7.
IT services company Infosys on April 15, 2026 announced it has signed up seven-time Grand Slam Champion Carlos Alcaraz as its global brand ambassador.
Further, Infosys — leveraging Infosys Topaz, an AI-first offering powered by generative and agentic AI technologies — will now work with Alcaraz and his coaching team to develop an AI-powered match analytics and a personalised performance application to aid match preparation and in-game strategy.
Beyond the court, the partnership also extends to joint initiatives between Infosys and the Carlos Alcaraz Foundation, to leverage technology to drive social impact, focusing on tech-for-good initiatives.
Carlos Alcaraz is a champion athlete, recognised not only for his seven Grand Slam titles but also for being the youngest man in history to complete a career Grand Slam.
Partnering with Alcaraz marks the next chapter in Infosys’ mission to elevate tennis through AI and extend its impact across the sport’s global community.
China has overtaken the US to emerge as India's largest trading partner in 2025-26, with bilateral trade reaching $151.1 billion, while the country's trade deficit with Beijing widened to $112.16 billion during the period.
The US was India's largest trading partner for four consecutive years till 2024-25.
India's exports to China rose 36.66 per cent to $19.47 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased 16 per cent to $131.63 billion. The trade deficit swelled to an all-time high of $112.6 billion in 2025-26 as against $99.2 billion in 2024-25.
On the other hand, the country's outbound shipments to the US grew marginally 0.92 per cent to $87.3 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased 15.95 per cent to $52.9 billion. The trade surplus declined to $34.4 billion in 2025-26 from $40.89 billion in 2024-25.
According to commerce ministry data, China was India's top trading partner from 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in 2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country's largest trading partner. The US has been the largest partner since 2021-22.
The major trading partners with which India recorded negative exports growth in 2025-26 include the Netherlands, the UK, Singapore, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Australia, France, South Africa, and Malaysia.
However, exports to the UAE, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Nepal, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, and Vietnam registered positive growth last fiscal year.
The major trading partners with which India recorded negative imports growth in 2025-26 include Russia, Iraq, Indonesia, Australia, Qatar, and Taiwan.
However, imports from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Germany, Thailand, and Malaysia registered positive growth in the last fiscal year.
GE Aerospace and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. have agreed upon technical specifications to co-produce fighter-jet engines, moving one step closer to a deal that would shift high-end US military technology to India.
GE and HAL “reached an agreement on technical matters” for the production of F414 engines, according to a joint statement issued. The pact, under negotiation for three years, includes the transfer of manufacturing expertise to India and will be followed by a final contract.
The agreement marks a pivotal moment for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, which seeks to modernise the country’s aging air force while reducing its decades-long reliance on Russian hardware. India intends to use the F414 turbines to power 120 to 130 next-generation, indigenously developed fighter jets.
For Washington, the technology transfer signals a deepening of the strategic partnership aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
While the US has historically guarded its jet engine “crown jewels”, the Biden administration fast-tracked the GE-HAL deal in 2023 as part of a broader push for cooperation on semiconductors, quantum computing and defense hardware.
A new species of gecko, identified as Cyrtodactylus raimonaensis, has been discovered near Raimona National Park in the Kokrajhar district of Assam, according to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The species, commonly referred to as the Raimona bent-toed gecko, has been named after the national park where it was found, underscoring the region’s ecological significance. The discovery has been documented in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa, which notes that genetic analysis places the species within the Cyrtodactylus septentrionalis group.
Researchers report that adult individuals of the species reach a snout–vent length of up to 71.1 mm. Morphologically, the gecko is described as having a rounded body and a bluntly conical head, distinguishing it from closely related species.
Raimona National Park, located in the westernmost part of Assam along the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, forms part of a larger transboundary conservation landscape spanning more than 2,400 square kilometres. It shares ecological continuity with Bhutan’s Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and West Bengal’s Buxa Tiger Reserve.
The Department of Posts and the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen collaboration in preserving and presenting the country’s democratic and national journey. The MoU was signed on the occasion of the museum’s foundation day at Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya.
On this occasion, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also inaugurated a philatelic exhibition titled Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat: Celebrating India’s Unity and Democracy through Postage Stamps in New Delhi. The three day exhibition is organised by the Department of Posts, in collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Museum and Library.
The exhibition presents a curated collection of postage stamps reflecting country’s cultural heritage, and historical legacy with thematic highlights on the Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Freedom Fighters.
