Appointment of Chief Economic Advisor: Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran assumes charge, bringing academic and advisory experience.
The Government has appointed Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor and he has assumed charge. He will serve in an advisory capacity to the central administration. Dr Nageswaran's background includes deanship at a graduate business school, visiting professorship in economics, membership of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, published scholarship, consultancy work, and academic qualifications including a management diploma and a doctoral degree.

Strategic disinvestment completed as share transfers and debt allocation occurred following satisfaction of contractual conditions precedent.
Completion of Strategic Disinvestment effected by transfer of government equity in the national airline and its subsidiary and a minority stake in a related services joint venture to a strategic partner under a Share Purchase Agreement, with the government receiving consideration and retaining specified legacy debt; completion required and followed satisfaction of contractual conditions precedent including regulatory, antitrust, lender and third party approvals.

Girl child empowerment: projects by young innovators to be advanced to the Startup Advisory Council for support.
Projects by eight girl innovators covering biodegradable sanitary napkins, sign language converting smart gloves, and AI/GPS applications will be presented before the Startup Advisory Council after three months; the announcement was accompanied by a four point call to action promoting local goods, a Quality Revolution focused on sustainable high quality products, collaboration among women entrepreneurs in smaller cities, and heritage inspired innovation in handlooms and handicrafts to strengthen girl child empowerment.

Merger control approval secures acquisition of full shareholding in a consumer healthcare company, with prior trademark transfer.
Approval under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 was granted for the two GlaxoSmithKline consumer healthcare subsidiaries to acquire 100% of the share capital of GlaxoSmithKline Asia Private Limited, and precedes the transfer of India trademarks for the "Iodex" and "Ostocalcium" brands and associated legal, economic, commercial and marketing rights from GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Limited to GSKAPL.

Shareholding increase to majority control via staged preferential allotments and full exit of an existing investor approved.
CCI approved an increase in Generali Participations Netherlands N.V.'s shareholding in Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited through a three step acquisition: a preferential allotment, purchase of Industrial Investment Trusts Limited's entire stake resulting in its exit, and a further preferential allotment, cumulatively increasing GPN's aggregate holding and consolidating control.

National Single Window System security: mandate exclusive Chief Information Security Officer and recorded video-only interfaces for approvals.
NSWS must prioritise simplicity and transparency with end-to-end testing of one approval set per integrated Ministry. A Chief Information Security Officer must be exclusively appointed for NSWS security and risk monitoring, and a no physical interface policy should be enforced with required recorded video conferencing as documentary evidence. Outreach to large corporations and Indian Missions abroad, ongoing onboarding of States and Ministries, continuous upgrades informed by user feedback, and operation of the Know Your Approvals service are key operational measures.

Ex-gratia payment for interest differential restores relief to eligible small borrowers after the pandemic moratorium period.
Approval is granted for disbursement of an additional ex-gratia payment of Rs. 973.74 crore to cover remaining claims submitted by lending institutions under the Scheme for grant of ex-gratia payment of difference between compound interest and simple interest for six months to borrowers in specified loan accounts (1.3.2020 to 31.8.2020). The payment will be disbursed by the nodal agency, SBI, in accordance with previously issued operational guidelines to reimburse lending institutions.

Maturity repayment of government security repayable at par; holders must provide bank details or tender securities for payment.
The government security is repayable at par with no interest after maturity; if a State holiday falls on repayment day, payment is made on the prior working day. Maturity proceeds to registered holders in SGL/CSGL accounts or on Stock Certificate will be paid by pay order with bank particulars or by credit to an account able to receive electronic funds. Holders must submit bank account particulars in advance or, absent those, tender duly discharged securities at designated paying offices twenty days before maturity.

National Startup Awards recognition expands support and incentives for startups and ecosystem enablers across sectors and impact criteria.
The National Startup Awards 2021 recognised 46 startups, one incubator and one accelerator after three rounds of evaluation and presentations before specialist jury panels. Applicants across 49 sub-sectors were assessed on Innovation, Scalability, Economic Impact, Social Impact, Environmental Impact, and Inclusiveness and Diversity. Winners will receive year-round support across seven tracks-Investor Connect, Mentorship, Government Connect, Capacity Development, Corporate Connect, Brand Showcase and Unicorn Engagement-and benefit from complementary digital measures including blockchain-enabled verification and Digilocker-enabled recognition certificates.

Startup investment focus: prioritise VC capital and support for Tier 2 and Tier 3 city ventures to scale and protect IP.
Global venture capital engagement in India is urged to prioritise investment in startups from Tier 2 and 3 cities, broaden sectoral focus, support intellectual property protection, and provide scale-up expertise and risk capital. The appeal, made at a DPIIT roundtable with global and India-domiciled VC funds, emphasised directing capital and technical support to geographically diverse and inclusive ventures alongside government regulatory reforms to improve ease of doing business and ease of raising capital.

Prepay MSMEs to protect viability and sustain employment, while supporting decriminalisation and Single Window reform.
The minister urged industry to prepay MSMEs to protect viability and employment, to provide inputs for decriminalization of rules and compliance reduction, and to maximise use of the Single Window for business approvals. Industry was also asked to guide transformational export growth, engage in ongoing FTA negotiations, invest in R&D, support upgradation of testing facilities, and utilise government infrastructure initiatives to expand capacity.

CEPA up gradation negotiations accelerated to resolve industry difficulties and strengthen bilateral trade through regular, time bound talks.
The Ministers committed to accelerate CEPA up-gradation negotiations by instructing negotiating teams to meet regularly in a time-bound manner, using the forum to address industry difficulties, promote extensive B2B interactions, and discuss emerging trade-related issues including supply chain resilience, with the objective of expanding bilateral trade through stakeholder-informed, fair and balanced growth.

Startup India Innovation Week convenes virtual entrepreneurship sessions nationwide; stakeholders invited to register and participate in curated programming.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is organizing a national virtual Startup India Innovation Week to convene policymakers, industry, investors, academia, startups and ecosystem enablers, featuring sessions on market access, state best practices, capacity building, reverse pitching by incubators, technology exhibitions and corporate-startup connections; stakeholders are invited to register on the event portal and use provided contact details for further information.

Single KYC system to unify investor onboarding across brokers, mutual funds and depositories, enhancing market transparency and integrity.
A policy call urges the creation of a Single KYC system via a single-window portal, based on the National Single Window System, to unify KYC and onboarding across stock brokers, mutual funds and depositories, reduce compliance burden, and strengthen market integrity; complementary measures include enhancing transparency, investor protection, financial literacy, product simplification, regional language offerings, and adoption of international best practices to deepen markets and mobilise savings for productive finance.

Guaranteed pension provision secures lifetime pension and survivor benefits under the Atal Pension Yojana for eligible subscribers.
Atal Pension Yojana targets unorganised sector citizens aged 18-40 with a bank account and is administered by PFRDA. The scheme guarantees a minimum guaranteed pension at age 60, provides lifetime pension continuation to the spouse upon the subscriber's death, and on death of both subscriber and spouse pays the entire pension corpus to the nominee. Implementation relies on banks and postal networks to drive enrolments and expand coverage toward pension saturation.

Youth leadership urged to drive good governance and civic engagement, prioritising integrity and consultative policy action.
The address urges youth to be agents of positive change by abandoning complacency and pursuing ambitious public aims; it promotes civil society engagement in political processes, stresses integrity, transparency and honesty in governance, and endorses consultative decision making to produce management solutions, citing export promotion, regulatory implementation, and large food security programmes as examples of national development efforts.