Designation of Statistics Day highlights quality assurance in official statistics and commemorative measures to honor Mahalanobis.
Designation of Statistics Day recognizes Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis and mandates an annual national observance to promote statistics in socio economic planning. The 12th Statistics Day included release of a commemorative coin, award felicitations, and the selection of an annual theme-this year emphasizing Quality Assurance in Official Statistics to stress compliance with essential quality parameters in statistical systems and products.

Electoral bonds: anonymous contributions limited to eligible purchasers and qualifying registered parties, encashable only via authorised bank accounts.
The scheme permits purchase of Electoral Bonds by Indian citizens or entities (individuals singly or jointly) and restricts receipt to political parties registered under Section 29A that secured at least one percent of votes in the last relevant general election. Encashment is only through an account with an Authorized Bank. Sales occur in authorised phases through designated bank branches; each bond expires fifteen calendar days after issue and deposited bonds are credited the same day.

Missing children tracking: app uses facial recognition and multiuser reporting to support child protection and law enforcement.
A government-launched mobile application enables parents and citizens to upload photographs and detailed descriptions to help identify and reunite missing and abandoned children. The app uses Amazon Rekognition facial recognition without saving photos to device memory, is multiuser and available on common mobile platforms, and is designed to report sightings to police stations to assist law enforcement, reflecting legal and policy emphasis on formal reporting of missing-child incidents and NGO-government collaboration in child protection.

Delta Ranking highlights district incremental progress across core sectors by measuring recent performance improvements on key indicators.
The first Delta Ranking under the Aspirational Districts Programme measures incremental district-level progress over a recent baseline period across Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure using forty-nine key performance indicators, with results published on a public champions dashboard that displays real-time district data to highlight measurable short-term improvements.

Nomination deadline extension for women entrepreneurship awards; submissions accepted via WEP or designated missed-call facility.
Nominations for the Women Transforming India Awards have been extended; the awards focus on Women and Entrepreneurship and offer mentoring and support through the Women Entrepreneurship Platform. Eligible nominations-filed online or via a missed-call facility-must concern Indian women entrepreneurs whose initiatives deliver innovative solutions to developmental challenges or produce community impact, with the Awards aiming to connect winners to mentoring and business opportunities.

Women entrepreneurship platform expands finance and outreach through partner SoIs to mobilize and scale women-led businesses.
NITI Aayog's Women Entrepreneurs Platform executed five Statements of Intent with financial and social partners to centralize women specific initiatives, establish a WEP Finance vertical delivering financial assistance, and create regional and grassroots outreach-including a North East Chapter and SEWA collaboration-to mobilize, support, and scale women entrepreneurs via partner linkages and an enriched online platform.

Designation of Statistics Day promotes quality assurance in official statistics through national celebrations and initiatives.
The Government designated 29 June as Statistics Day to institutionalise an annual national observance recognising Prof. P.C. Mahalanobis and promoting the role of statistics in socio economic planning; the 2018 celebration focused on Quality Assurance in Official Statistics through a joint event, nationwide activities, awards, and issuance of commemorative and circulation coins.

Cooperation in urban planning enables capacity building and technical assistance for urban development and infrastructure management.
Cabinet approved a bilateral MoU with Singapore to enable government agencies to access Singaporean expertise and to implement a capacity building programme in urban planning, water and wastewater management, solid waste management, Intelligent Transport Systems and public financing to strengthen evidence based policy, evaluation and the role of a national planning body as a think tank.

Bilateral investment facilitation expands as Memorandum of Understanding prompts targeted outreach to large Australian investors.
The JMC renewed bilateral engagement to expand two way investment flows and resulted in an MoU between Austrade and Invest India to facilitate investor outreach. The Commerce Minister promoted India's structural reforms-GST, financial inclusion and digitalisation-as improving ease of doing business and invited Australian institutional investors to target infrastructure and knowledge based sectors. Invest India and DMICDC presented specific infrastructure projects such as industrial corridors, ports, smart cities, airports and rail as priority investment opportunities.

Infrastructure lending expansion urged to boost regional connectivity and align investments with low carbon and governance priorities.
AIIB signalled a strategic intent to scale up its lending capacity to accelerate regional infrastructure development and connectivity, with member-state leadership calling for substantial increases in authorised lending. The institution reiterated governance and operational priorities to support that expansion, stressing a corporate culture of lean, clean and green operations, a workplace free of corruption and harassment, and the integration of environmental and low-carbon considerations into project selection to attract private and foreign investment.

Sustainability requirement in AIIB lending mandates environmental tests for projects, framing India's role as the largest borrower.
India is identified as the largest borrower from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which prioritizes infrastructure financing under a 'lean, clean and green' framework and subjects all projects to an institutional environmental and sustainability test. The Bank, capitalized significantly by borrowing members and comprising diverse global membership, supports projects that principally benefit Asian regions and convened 86 members at its third Annual Meeting in Mumbai to deliberate mobilizing infrastructure finance.

ETF further fund offer: government retains right to allot oversubscriptions, prompting strong institutional and retail participation.
The Government of India launched a Further Fund Offer (FFO) for the Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund, managed by ICICI Prudential, with units allotted across Anchor Investors, Retail Investors, Retirement Funds, Qualified Institutional Buyers and Non Institutional Investors; the Government retained a right to retain oversubscribed portions and the offer attracted demand significantly exceeding the initial target, driven by both institutional and retail participation.

Government divestment via IPO draws massive oversubscription, triggering pro rata allotment and reserved employee shares.
The Government effected a government divestment by offering a minority equity stake in a central public sector undertaking through an initial public offering, selling a defined percentage of equity including a reserved portion for employees, conducted within a prescribed price band with a retail discount; subscriptions across Qualified Institutional Buyer, non-institutional and retail segments produced significant oversubscription leading to scaling back and pro rata allotment under public offering allocation rules, with proceeds accruing to the Government.

Export promotion through a consolidated commerce complex to boost manufacturing, digital trade and ease of doing business.
Foundation stone for Vanijya Bhawan, a new consolidated Department of Commerce office complex in New Delhi, was laid to centralize commerce administration and facilitate policy coordination. The initiative focuses on Export Promotion, mobilising states as partners, boosting domestic manufacturing to reduce imports, and expanding digital platforms like the Government e Marketplace to support MSMEs and improve ease of trading and doing business.

MSME credit growth rebounds: broad based recovery with stable asset quality and rising new to credit borrower inflows.
Overall commercial credit exhibited a broad based recovery with highest year on year growth in five quarters; Micro and SME segments comprise ~23% of commercial credit and grew strongly while large corporates showed rising NPA rates. MSME NPA rates remained relatively stable, though a set of standard exposures and high risk CMR bands could add to future NPA stock. Private banks and NBFCs increased market share in micro and SME lending and new to credit borrower inflows accelerated, as demonetisation and GST impacts on MSMEs receded.

Remedies for merger control: approval subject to divestments and FRAND licensing to mitigate anti-competitive effects.
Approval under Section 31(7) was conditional on divestiture of specified Bayer businesses and Monsanto shareholding to independent entities, and on behavioural commitments by the combined entity including broad-based non-exclusive FRAND licensing of GM and non-GM traits, non-exclusive licensing of non-selective herbicides to prevent tying, access to agro-climatic data and digital farming platforms on FRAND terms with public data provision, and prohibitions on bundling and channel exclusivity to preserve competition.

Draft National Guidelines require businesses to adopt nine Principles, assign governance oversight, and report on sustainability performance.
The Draft National Guidelines set out nine Principles with accompanying Core Elements for businesses to integrate economic, social and environmental responsibilities. Applicability is universal across business forms and value chains, with the highest decision making body designated to oversee adoption, transparency, conflict management and prevention of third party complicity. Adoption requires prioritising Core Elements via materiality, setting Essential or Leadership ambitions, embedding policies, engaging stakeholders and cascading practices through value chains. A three part Business Responsibility Reporting Framework (General, Management and Principle wise disclosures) provides Essential and Leadership indicators to measure governance and performance.

Coordinated MGNREGS and agriculture policy to align works and livelihoods with farmer income enhancement goals through state interventions and convergence.
A Sub-Group of Chief Ministers, convened by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and serviced by NITI Aayog, will coordinate state-level policy integration of agriculture and MGNREGS to support Doubling Farmers' Income. Its Terms of Reference direct it to propose state-specific pre-sowing and post-harvest interventions, align MGNREGS works with income objectives and livelihoods (including water conservation, beneficiary schemes, rural haats and vermi-composting), address agrarian distress factors such as work availability and wages, promote livelihood diversification for small and marginal farmers, link MGNREGS with women's SHGs and producer entities, and pursue cross-departmental convergence. The Sub-Group must submit a report within three months.

Services trade inclusion urged to modernize global trade rules and support national export promotion strategies.
Global trading framework should explicitly include services trade, which grows faster than merchandise and involves movement of people; support is expressed for a rules-based, multilateral WTO. Domestic measures include a comprehensive strategy to boost services exports, targeted promotion of 12 champion services sectors with dedicated funding, product-in-new-market strategies, and diversification of export destinations such as Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.

Market access for Indian pharmaceuticals to China: study outlines regulatory, procurement and distribution barriers and recommends entry strategy.
The Department of Commerce, under the Market Access Initiative, commissioned a study to develop a focused strategy for enhancing Indian pharmaceutical exports to China by assessing China's healthcare and pharmaceutical market, distribution systems, procurement and bidding mechanisms, and the regulatory landscape affecting entry of Indian generic drugs, and by offering targeted recommendations for market access, compliance, and commercial engagement.