Geographical Indications promotion boosts market access and branding for registered GI products through dedicated exhibitions.
A five day Geographical Indications pavilion at AAHAR 2022 showcased twenty five registered GI food and beverage products to promote branding, market linkages and international engagement, using the GI logo and tagline to advance recognition. The exhibition connected GI producers with commercial buyers and highlighted that GIs are goods whose quality or reputation is attributable to geographical origin, covering agricultural, natural, manufactured and handicraft products and reflecting an expanding register of GIs.

Index of Eight Core Industries growth signals sectoral rebound with steel, cement and natural gas driving industrial production recovery.
The Office of the Economic Adviser released the ICI showing a provisional cumulative growth of 10.4% for April-March 2021-22 and a 4.3% year on year rise in March 2022; the ICI covers Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity and represents 40.27% of the IIP weight, with recent months marked provisional and subject to revision based on updated source agency data.

Continuation of PM SVANidhi scheme extends collateral-free lending and digital payment support for street vendors through extended term.
Cabinet approval extends Prime Minister Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) lending until December 2024, increasing the loan corpus and enhancing budgets for digital payment promotion including cashback. The extension focuses on providing affordable collateral free loans, institutionalizing access to formal credit for street vendors to support business expansion, mitigating potential NPAs for lending institutions, and delivering holistic socio economic upliftment for vendors and their families, citing continued pandemic related stress as the basis for extension.

Production-linked incentive scheme expands domestic component manufacturing for air conditioners and LED lights, enabling selection of committed investors.
The PLI Scheme for White Goods establishes a declining percentage incentive on incremental sales over five years after a one year gestation period to develop a domestic component ecosystem for air conditioners and LED lights. It targets specific components currently underproduced in India, requires applicants to submit commitments of investment and be selected under published guidelines, and allows additional applications under a defined clause; a second application round attracted nineteen applicants for AC and LED component manufacturing with projected production and employment impacts.

Intellectual property reform boosts patent and trademark activity and promotes IP awareness, commercialization among startups.
India's IP strategy emphasizes procedural simplification and ecosystem strengthening: trademark forms reduced to eight and patent filings consolidated into one form, measures credited with substantial increases in patents granted and trademarks registered. DPIIT links these reforms to Vision @2047 and advances IP awareness through NCERT inclusion, IPR chairs and IPR cells, and extensive institutional programmes. The agenda also promotes startup support, industry-academia collaboration and IP commercialisation, with special attention to the creative economy as a source of entrepreneurship and economic value.

Holistic ecosystem support urges awardees to adopt districts and mentor startups under seven targeted engagement pillars.
Secretary, DPIIT urged National Startup Awardees to adopt one district each to provide mentoring and handholding support, and announced a structured Handholding Support programme for awardees organised around seven pillars: Investor Connect, Mentorship, Government Connect, Unicorn Engagement, Capacity Development and Startup India Benefits, Market Access, and Brand Showcase, intended to translate award recognition into practical ecosystem development and scaling opportunities.

IPR reform modernisation boosts domestic patent activity, enhancing grassroots protection and facilitating startup and MSME access.
The Government has adopted administrative and legislative reforms to modernise IP administration, reduce compliance, and facilitate filings by startups, MSMEs and individual innovators; these reforms, anchored by the National IPR Policy, aim to extend protection to grassroots innovations, streamline IP office processes, and support commercialization, producing substantial increases in patent grants and trademark registrations and greater domestic participation in filings.

Heroin smuggling: importer arrested under NDPS Act after large consignment falsely declared as gypsum intercepted at port.
Large-scale narcotics interception at port of a multi-container consignment declared as gypsum led to recovery of heroin and ongoing forensic examination. Nationwide searches located and apprehended the importer, who was arrested under the NDPS Act, produced before a magistrate and placed on transit remand for presentation to the jurisdictional court; further criminal investigation continues.

Land acquisition deadlines urged to fast track industrial nodes, prevent land squatting and expedite project implementation.
States are urged to impose a deadline for acquisition and allotment of land in NICDC industrial nodes and clusters to fast track project implementation, with projects subject to reallocation if land is not offered promptly; policy linkages include integration with PM GatiShakti and NSWS, establishment of Invest India offices and BIS/QCI testing labs, and state incentives such as expedited allotment and discounted land for anchor investors.

Market linkage facilitation through One District One Product buyer-seller meet enabled letters of intent and e commerce onboarding.
DPIIT organised a mega buyer-seller meet in Jammu & Kashmir under the One District One Product initiative to connect district speciality producers with national and international buyers, coordinate supply with market requirements, facilitate product diversification, and provide e commerce onboarding; the event produced stakeholder collaboration, targeted handholding, and Letters of Intent for selected products to promote trade and increase farmer income.

Guaranteed pension scheme expansion under Atal Pension Yojana boosts enrolments and prioritises outreach and digital enrolment.
Atal Pension Yojana enrolments exceeded 4.01 crore as of March 2022, with growth attributed to active participation by public-sector banks, regional rural banks, private and small finance banks and achievement of targets by multiple banks and SLBCs. PFRDA conducted outreach programs and is prioritising digital enrolment and targeting Jan Dhan account holders and youth. APY is administered by PFRDA as a guaranteed pension scheme open to eligible citizens through bank or post office savings accounts, providing a contribution-linked minimum pension at pensionable age with spousal continuation and return of accumulated pension wealth to nominees if both die.

Infrastructure project completion urged for India International Convention Centre to boost international meetings market share and connectivity.
Direction issued to expedite construction and resource deployment to ensure timely Phase-1 completion of the India International Convention & Expo Centre (IICC) in Dwarka, comprising the Convention Centre, two Exhibition Halls, adjoining foyer and trunk infrastructure; coordinated completion of dedicated metro and road connectivity was required alongside operator arrangements and programme management to enable early commercial operations and subsequent Phase-II development.

Government security repayment: maturity payable at par with electronic credit or pay order; bank mandate required for receipt.
Repayment of the specified Government Security is to be made at par on the maturity date with no interest thereafter; holidays declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act shift payment to the previous working day. Under sub regulations 24(2) and 24(3) payment shall be by pay order with bank particulars or by credit to an account able to receive electronic funds. Holders must supply bank mandates in advance, or otherwise tender duly discharged securities at designated paying offices twenty days before maturity to obtain repayment.

Wholesale price inflation rises as crude oil, fuel and basic metals price increases drive higher WPI annual rates.
Provisional wholesale price indices for March 2022 (Base 2011-12) show a sharp rise in the Wholesale Price Index annual inflation, driven mainly by increases in crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, and basic metals. The release details component-wise movements-Primary Articles, Fuel & Power, Manufactured Products and the Food Index-identifies key contributors, and explains that provisional figures are published monthly and finalized after a ten-week compilation period subject to the WPI revision policy and reported response rates.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code awareness: national online quiz open to adult citizens with specified exclusions and awards.
A nationwide online quiz to promote awareness of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 is open to adult Indian citizens via an online portal, excluding employees of the organisers, registered service providers and their immediate family members; the scheme provides tiered medals and sponsored cash prizes, consolation awards, certificates for top performers and participation certificates, with full terms, schedule and access details published online.

Integrated infrastructure planning under PM GatiShakti centralizes project mapping to optimize alignment, costs and multimodal connectivity.
The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan creates an integrated framework and portal for synchronized infrastructure planning across central and state schemes and economic zones, supported by an Empowered Group of Secretaries and a Multimodal Network Planning Group; states have established parallel institutions and capacity building is complete. The portal maps assets (such as OFC and towers), informs alignment, land use and cost calculations, and is used to optimize project planning, minimize disruptions and support monitoring, feedback and further functional enhancements.

Transparency in land allotment: implement e-LMS and monitoring to expedite industrial land allocation and investor onboarding.
The Minister directed implementation of an E-Land Management System and an integrated dashboard to ensure transparency in land allotment, regular engagement with plot allottees to resolve onboarding issues, rigorous marketing and expedited allotment of developed land, and close coordination between NICDC and state governments to accelerate project development within the PM GatiShakti multimodal connectivity framework.

Zero-duty market access for textiles enabled by trade agreements, paired with farm technology and productivity measures to boost exports.
Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreements with Australia and the UAE will create zero duty market access for Indian textiles, handloom and footwear, facilitating expanded exports by labour intensive sectors and signalling expectations of similar market access from other partners; complementary domestic measures urged include adoption of advanced farm technologies, productivity interventions (such as HDPS, drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting), research collaboration, and a focus on sustainability and organic cotton to strengthen the cotton to textile value chain.

Domestic patent filings surpass international filings, reflecting strengthened IP measures and reduced patent pendency nationwide.
Domestic patent filings in India exceeded international filings in Jan-Mar 2022, reflecting policy and administrative measures by DPIIT and the IP office-including online filing rebates, fee concessions for startups and small entities, and expedited examination-that increased filings, increased grants, reduced examination pendency across technological areas, and contributed to improvement in the Global Innovation Index.

Voluntary liquidation timelines shortened; compliance certificate now required to expedite dissolution applications under updated regulations.
The amendments shorten liquidator timelines: stakeholder list within fifteen days where no creditor claims; distribution of proceeds within thirty days of receipt; liquidation to be completed within two hundred and seventy days in cases with creditor-approved resolution and within ninety days in other cases; and require a compliance certificate to be submitted with the dissolution application to the Adjudicating Authority, effective 5 April 2022.