BANKING | ECONOMY CURRENT AFFAIRS
Union Government Finances (April–February 2025–26)
- Fiscal data for April–February FY2025–26 released by government shows steady progress toward Revised Estimates (RE).
- Total Receipts: Reached ₹27,91,943 crore (82% of RE), comprising net tax revenue ₹21,45,223 crore, non-tax revenue ₹5,81,173 crore, and non-debt capital receipts ₹65,547 crore.
- Devolution: The Centre transferred ₹12,66,369 crore to States as tax devolution, ₹85,837 crore higher than the previous year, reflecting stronger fiscal federalism.
- Total Expenditure: stood at ₹40,44,592 crore (81.5% of RE), including revenue expenditure ₹31,15,270 crore and capital expenditure ₹9,29,322 crore, indicating continued infrastructure investment.
- Interest payments: of ₹10,65,305 crore formed a major share of revenue spending, while major subsidies amounted to ₹3,89,610 crore.
Record 219 Advance Pricing Agreements signed in FY 2025-26
- Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed a record 219 Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers in FY 2025–26. This is the highest in a single year since programme’s launch. With this, the total APAs reached 1,034, including 750 Unilateral APAs (UAPAs) and 284 Bilateral APAs (BAPAs).
- Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs): It is an agreement between a taxpayer and the tax authority that pre-determines the transfer pricing methodology and arm’s length price for international transactions, usually for up to 5 years, providing certainty and reducing tax disputes for multinational firms.
- UAPA & BAPA: UAPAs involve only CBDT and taxpayer, while BAPAs involve two tax authorities through Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP), preventing double taxation.
- The APA framework is complemented by Safe Harbour Rules (introduced in 2013), which provide fixed margins for certain transactions to simplify transfer pricing compliance.
GOVERNMENT SCHEMES CURRENT AFFAIRS
JanSamarth portal
- JanSamarth Portal, launched in 2022 is a single digital platform designed to streamline credit delivery and access to government-sponsored schemes.
- Objective: It aims to promote inclusive growth, improve transparency and efficiency, and provide end-to-end digital processing for credit-linked schemes.
- Features: The portal acts as a digital marketplace for credit schemes, integrating multiple government databases to connect beneficiaries with suitable schemes across sectors (e.g. business, livelihoods, agriculture, renewable energy, and housing). Currently 15 credit-linked Central Government schemes are available on the platform.
- It provides a single-window facility linking applicants with 254 member lending institutions, including all PSB (Public Sector Banks), offering features like eligibility checks, in-principle loan sanction and digital forwarding of applications to banks for seamless loan processing.
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Agray: Indian Navy receives 4th Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft
- Indian Navy received ‘Agray’, the indigenous 4th Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC).
- Designed and Built by: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata under Indian Register of Shipping classification rules.
- The vessel revives the legacy of the earlier INS Agray, a 1241 PE class patrol vessel decommissioned in 2017.
- Features: ASW SWCs are about 77 metres long and are the largest Indian naval warships propelled by waterjets. They are equipped with lightweight torpedoes, indigenous rocket launchers and shallow-water SONAR, enabling detection and neutralisation of underwater threats.
- Applications: These vessels enhance anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and coastal surveillance capabilities. The project strengthens domestic defence manufacturing and supports Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
MoD Signs Rs 1,950 Crore Contract with BEL for Mountain Radars
- Ministry of Defence signed a ₹1,950-crore contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to procure two Mountain Radars with associated equipment for the Indian Air Force.
- Buy (Indian – IDDM) Procurement Category: The deal falls under this category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP). This is the highest priority procurement category aimed at maximizing indigenous design and manufacturing under Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India.
- Mountain Radar: It has been designed and developed by Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (a DRDO laboratory), and will be manufactured by BEL.
- The system will significantly strengthen India’s air surveillance and air defence, particularly in mountainous and difficult terrains, enhancing national security preparedness.
ENVIRONMENT CURRENT AFFAIRS
CMLRE’s Bhavasagara Referral Centre designated as a National Repository for Deep-Sea Fauna
- Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change designated Bhavasagara Referral Centre of Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi as a National Repository for Deep-Sea Fauna under Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
- National Repository for Deep-Sea Fauna: The centre will preserve and document India’s deep-sea biodiversity by maintaining secure custody of DNA data, biological samples and voucher specimens. It will serve as the official custodian of type specimens of newly discovered deep-sea species. It will also support capacity building in deep-sea taxonomy, aligned with UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030).
- CMLRE, Kochi: Established in 1998 under Ministry of Earth Sciences, it studies marine resources in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The Bhavasagara centre already houses 3,500+ geo-referenced specimens, including cnidarians, annelids, molluscs, arthropods, echinoderms and fish species.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CURRENT AFFAIRS
Nyaya Setu AI Chatbot Launched
- It is a voice-first, multilingual AI-powered legal assistant designed to simplify legal processes and improve citizen access to justice. It was launched by Ministry of Law and Justice at DISHA Programme in New Delhi, along with its mascot “Dishika.”
- Developed by: Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD), the chatbot is a multimodal platform supporting voice and text queries. It helps citizens understand legal rights, procedures, and next legal steps, and is trained on legal frameworks such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
- Features: The chatbot is part of the BHASHINI Initiative, which supports 36 text languages, 23 voice languages, 20+ NLP services, processes 15 million daily inferences, and powers 500+ government websites. It integrates BHASHINI ASR, multilingual NLP, and conversational AI for seamless interaction across languages.
Bio-Bitumen Technology
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) held a Technology Transfer Event in New Delhi to promote its innovation Bio-Bitumen from Lignocellulosic Biomass- From Farm Residue to Roads, aimed at enabling large-scale industry adoption.
- Developed by: CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi and CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, for use by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in road construction.
- What is Bio-bitumen? It uses agricultural biomass and crop residues through a thermochemical conversion process to produce a renewable alternative to petroleum-based bitumen, with performance comparable to conventional bitumen.
- Applications: The innovation helps lower import dependence on bitumen, reduce stubble burning and air pollution, promotes a circular economy by converting farm waste into road material, and supports low-carbon infrastructure also India’s climate goals.
REPORTS AND INDICES CURRENT AFFAIRS
Energy Statistics India 2026 Report Released
- National Statistics Office (under Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation) released 33rd edition of Energy Statistics India 2026, providing comprehensive data on energy reserves, capacity, production, consumption and trade for commodities such as coal, lignite, petroleum, natural gas and renewables.
- Improved Coverage: The report improves coverage by including credit flow to global energy statistics, energy sector, and new datasets like HSD distribution by industry and international aviation and marine bunker fuel data. It also fills gaps on domestic coal e-auction consumption and electricity use in industry using ASI data.
- India’s Total Primary Energy Supply: grew 2.95% in FY2024–25 to 9,32,816 KToE. Renewable energy potential reached 47,04,043 MW, led by solar (71%), followed by wind and large hydro, with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka accounting for over 70% of potential.