Arbitration and mediation mechanisms to boost investor confidence by improving dispute resolution efficiency and impartiality.
Arbitration and mediation frameworks must be strengthened to ensure faster, impartial, and investor friendly dispute resolution; reforms should reduce judicial delays, address corporate dominance and international bias concerns, and align arbitration laws and practices with global benchmarks. Complementary legal reforms under the Jan Vishwas Act and a proposed Jan Vishwas 2.0 aim to decriminalise minor offences, simplify processes, and reduce legal complexity. The government seeks stakeholder and legal fraternity engagement to modernise systems, integrate technology, and build a clear legal infrastructure that enhances investor confidence and supports India's manufacturing competitiveness.

Regulator-academia collaboration advances generative AI tools to simplify financial reporting and promote open-source innovation for improved financial analysis.
NFRA and an academic institution convened a collaborative hackathon to stimulate development of Generative AI and Large Language Model applications aimed at making corporate financial statements more accessible and decision-useful by automating data extraction, simplifying complex accounting concepts, and generating clear narrative explanations. The initiative promoted regulator-academia engagement, expert mentorship, and open-source release of solutions to encourage wider improvement and adoption in financial reporting.

Multimodal logistics reform to improve efficiency and reduce costs through institutional strengthening, warehousing standards and digitalization.
The SMILE Program creates a policy and investment framework to strengthen multimodal logistics at national, state and city levels by institutional capacity building, warehousing standardization, digital trade logistics, and smart low emission systems to reduce logistics costs and improve supply chain resilience; it also mandates gender audits of land ports and assessment of integrated check posts for gender responsiveness, aligning with the National Logistics Policy, PM Gati Shakti and Atmanirbhar Bharat objectives.

Official Development Assistance loan agreements finance sector projects to boost infrastructure, capacity building and sustainable development.
Loan agreements under Japan's Official Development Assistance were signed with JICA to finance six projects in forest management, water supply, urban transport, aquaculture, biodiversity conservation and investment promotion, each combining capital investment, technical assistance and institutional capacity building to achieve sectoral development objectives such as improved water supply in Chennai, enhanced forest management capacity, expansion of metropolitan mass rapid transport, aquaculture-led rural livelihood improvement in Assam, biodiversity and wetland management in Punjab, and investment promotion and skills training in Tamil Nadu.

Dearness allowance increase approved for central employees and pensioners, raising pay and relief levels nationwide.
An additional instalment of Dearness Allowance for Central Government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners is approved w.e.f. 01.01.2025, increasing the existing rate by 2 percentage points to compensate for price rise, implemented under the formula based on the Seventh Central Pay Commission, and imposing a specified recurring annual cost to the exchequer.

Integrated multimodal connectivity evaluated to align infrastructure projects with PM GatiShakti principles, enhancing logistics and mobility.
The Network Planning Group assessed five projects for conformity with PM GatiShakti principles, focusing on integrated multimodal infrastructure, last mile connectivity to economic and social nodes, and intermodal coordination to enhance logistics efficiency and urban mobility. The package included two road upgrades to improve regional links and access to hubs, two railway works comprising a greenfield port link and a brownfield doubling to augment capacity, and a brownfield metro extension to integrate urban transit lines.

Intellectual property reform urged to adopt AI-driven trademark searches and stronger copyright protection, enhancing innovation and judicial support.
The government is strengthening the intellectual property ecosystem through legislative and administrative reforms, digital interventions in trademark and patent processes, large-scale recruitment of patent examiners, and a new IP office to expedite grants and protection. Measures include fee reductions for women entrepreneurs, startups and MSMEs, promotion of research foundation collaboration and grassroots innovation, calls for stronger copyright protection, adoption of AI and data analytics for trademark searches and enforcement, and proposals for specialized IP benches and law-student internships.

Startup funding support under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme enables incubators to finance prototype to market pathways for startups.
The Government expanded the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, under which an Experts Advisory Committee selects incubators from private and academic sectors for allocation of funds to support proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization; this scheme functions alongside the Fund of Funds for Startups and the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups and is complemented by initiatives to improve market access, corporate mentorship, digital platforms and inclusive outreach to disadvantaged, rural and tribal entrepreneurs.

Decriminalisation of boiler offences streamlines enforcement; serious breaches remain criminal while non-criminal violations face executive penalties.
The Boilers Bill, 2024 repeals the Boilers Act, 1923 and modernises regulation by consolidating provisions, enumerating governmental and board functions, and removing obsolete material. It decriminalises three of seven offences while retaining criminal penalties for four serious offences, converts 'fine' into an administrative penalty enforceable through executive mechanisms rather than courts, and adds safety requirements mandating qualified personnel for boiler repairs and protections for workers; the Bill aligns with decriminalisation policy under the Jan Vishwas Amendment.

Data-driven policy: MoSPI and IIMA partnership to integrate public data and AI safeguards for evidence-based policymaking.
A collaborative framework between the national statistical office and a management institute establishes a Memorandum of Understanding to integrate public and administrative datasets, rejuvenate legacy data to be AI ready, and support evidence-based policymaking. The partnership prioritizes dataset integration with emerging technologies, implementation of safeguards against algorithmic and historical data bias, and creation of an institutional framework to develop human capital and sustain academic-government collaboration.

Project monitoring accelerates resolution of bottlenecks to advance infrastructure project execution through central state private coordination and stakeholder facilitation.
The Project Monitoring Group reviewed operational impediments across major infrastructure projects in Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal, prioritising ESIC hospital projects and identifying cross-cutting bottlenecks in sectors including power, transport, coal, steel, petroleum and rail. The meeting reaffirmed strengthening the institutional monitoring framework and urged proactive central-state-private coordination, using the PMG mechanism to accelerate issue resolution and facilitate timely project implementation.

National internship scheme expands paid industry placements to bridge the academic-industry skills gap and improve youth employability.
The Prime Minister's Internship Scheme creates a national paid internship programme to align academic learning with industry needs by providing year long placements across diverse sectors through a web portal and mobile app, enabling multi-application submissions, a referral rewards programme, targeted outreach, and a performance assessment framework while scaling pilot rounds to expand opportunities across districts and educational cohorts.

Inclusion measures for women-led and small enterprises enhance GeM procurement access via visibility tools and startup exemptions.
GeM implements targeted measures to increase participation of women-led and small enterprises by introducing marketplace filters and product-catalogue icons for women entrepreneurs in Direct Purchase/L1 procurement, creating outlet stores for priority beneficiary groups, integrating an API with the Udyam MSME database for two-step auto-registration, and enabling buyers to apply DPIIT-recognised startup exemptions such as waiver of Earnest Money Deposit and prior turnover/experience when creating bids.

Data governance for non-conventional datasets enables real-time, cross-source official statistics while preserving data privacy and quality.
The session focused on integrating non-conventional datasets-mobile, scanner, satellite, geospatial and citizen-generated data-into official statistics to enable real-time monitoring and improved indicators. It stressed dataset standardization, enhanced processing capacity, interoperability, and a formal data governance framework to define lawful access and stewardship, while safeguarding Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and promoting data literacy and cross-agency reuse of administrative data for validated integration with census and survey sources.

Unified Pension Scheme enrolment for central government NPS employees expands to existing, new and retired categories under new regulations.
The regulations operationalise the Unified Pension Scheme for Central Government employees under the National Pension System by defining eligible enrollee categories-existing in service NPS subscribers, new recruits joining on or after commencement, and former subscribers who retired or voluntarily left service before the cut off, plus eligible surviving spouses-and by providing that enrolment and claim forms will be made available online through the Central Recordkeeping Agency's portal with an option for physical submission.

Public private partnership to provide mentorship, infrastructure, and AI support enabling startups to integrate into enterprise ecosystems.
DPIIT and Kyndryl entered a Memorandum of Understanding to create a public private programme that provides mentorship, infrastructure, and AI driven support to manufacturing and IT startups, institutionalizes dedicated programs for digital and AI innovators, conducts advisory sessions and workshops, and facilitates integration of startup solutions into enterprise ecosystems while enabling market access, scaling guidance, and access to government incentives.

Merger scrutiny: proposed acquisition in the axle market may lessen competition; public comments invited.
The Commission is scrutinising a proposed acquisition where Bharat Forge seeks full control of AAM India Manufacturing, including certain assembly lines, and has formed a prima facie view of an Appreciable Adverse Effect on Competition in the commercial vehicle axle market. The Commission has required publication of details and invited written, substantiated comments, objections, and suggestions from persons likely to be affected, to be submitted to the Secretary within the prescribed period.

Unified logistics data integration enables seamless multi modal API connectivity, improving real time tracking, compliance, and sustainable transport choices.
ULIP operates as a government endorsed digital interoperability layer connecting ministry systems and private stakeholders via standardized APIs to enable automation, real time cargo tracking, transporter verification, digital documentation across road, rail, ocean, and air modes, and consolidated access to extensive logistics data for compliance, inventory optimisation, and reduced congestion.

Merger approval: competition regulator clears Peabody acquisition of Anglo American's steel-making coal portfolio, enabling asset transfer.
Competition approval was granted for acquisition by Peabody-controlled special purpose vehicles of a portion of Anglo American plc's Australian steel-making coal portfolio, transferring ownership and control of the specified Target Business assets to the Peabody Group, which supplies metallurgical coal and participates in India via imports; the Acquirers are newly formed SPVs ultimately owned by Peabody Energy Corporation.

Merger control approval for JSW Neo Energy's acquisition of O2 renewable power businesses granted, pending detailed order.
The Competition Commission of India approved JSW Neo Energy Limited's acquisition of the entire shareholding of O2 Power Midco Holdings Pte. Ltd. and O2 Energy SG Pte. Ltd.; the Targets operate renewable power generation businesses (wind and solar) through subsidiaries, and JSW Neo Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of a listed group entity engaged in power generation and transmission; a detailed order will follow.