Trade promotion bodies expand SME export support while a new intellectual property regime strengthens MSME IPR protection.
The Commerce Ministry proposes establishment of trade promotion bodies abroad to facilitate SME export access and integration into global value chains, while pursuing a comprehensive MSME strategy that includes accelerated patent grants and a new intellectual property regime to strengthen IPR protection for Indian MSMEs and safeguard foreign IPRs.

National development strategy focusing on growth, infrastructure, inclusion and governance to strengthen policy environment and institutions.
The Strategy for New India @75 sets objectives to 2022-23 across four pillars-Drivers, Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance-recommending measures to accelerate GDP growth and investment, transform agriculture toward agripreneurship and natural farming, codify labour laws and expand apprenticeships, establish the Rail Development Authority and digital rural connectivity for government service delivery, implement nationwide health and education upgrades including an electronic education registry, and create governance institutions such as an Arbitration Council to streamline dispute resolution and administrative reform.

Economic growth: India reported accelerated GDP and rising per capita income, projecting fastest major economy growth ahead.
India registered accelerated growth and a rising share of global GDP between 2014 and 2017, with average annual growth during 2014-15 to 2017-18 cited as the fastest among major economies. Per capita net national income at current prices increased notably over that period, and official statistics together with international projections indicated India was expected to be the fastest growing major economy in the near term.

New direct tax law drafting: task force reconstituted to propose comprehensive legislation and submit report by deadline.
Constitution and reconstitution of a Task Force to draft a New Direct Tax Law with a revised Convenor and multidisciplinary membership. Its terms of reference require drafting an appropriate direct tax statute informed by foreign direct tax systems, international best practices and national economic needs. The Task Force's remit is confined to preparing proposals; it must submit its report to the government by the specified deadline.

Bridge approval expands river crossing capacity, enabling dual-bridge eight-lane traffic flow and regional connectivity improvements.
Cabinet approved construction of a new 4-lane bridge across the Ganga on NH-19 at Patna on EPC mode with approaches from km 0/0 to km 14/500, including a 5.634 km major bridge parallel to the existing MG Setu and associated underpasses, a rail overbridge, viaduct, flyover, minor bridges, bus shelters and junctions, to increase combined crossing capacity, reduce congestion, improve mobility and generate construction employment.

Expansion of tribal residential schools: nationwide EMRS rollout with autonomous management and enhanced infrastructure grants.
Policy mandates establishment of Eklavya Model Residential Schools in every block with over fifty percent Scheduled Tribe population and at least twenty thousand tribal residents, adding 462 new EMRSs; an Autonomous Society under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs will run the schools. The scheme raises construction and recurring cost norms, authorises upgradation of existing EMRSs with capped unit costs, provides additional construction funding for specified difficult regions, enhances five year maintenance grants, and funds sports facilities and phased financial provisioning to implement the rollout.

Beneficiary expansion under PMUY allows previously excluded poor households to receive deposit free LPG connections subject to eligibility and documents.
Expansion under PMUY permits release of deposit free LPG connections to poor households previously excluded because their names were absent from the SECC or the seven identified beneficiary categories, subject to compliance with existing eligibility norms and submission of required documents. The measure permits consideration of those omitted from SECC or the listed categories without changing the programme's conditional support mechanisms.

Trade and export strategy urges tapping regional markets to boost manufacturing competitiveness and inform a national policy roadmap.
India's trade and industrial policy priorities focus on unlocking export potential to neighbouring markets and strengthening the domestic manufacturing base through incentives, regulatory simplification, improved Ease of Doing Business and district-level growth measures to better integrate firms into regional value chains. A DIPP-led national exercise with industry stakeholders will produce an actionable policy roadmap from a two-day workshop targeting key manufacturing sectors and horizontal pillars-cost of doing business, trade policy, technology and R&D, and skills and job creation-to be submitted to nodal ministries for coordinated implementation.

Trade remedy procedures standardized by a new manual to promote transparency and uniformity in trade defence investigations.
Release of a consolidated Manual of Operating Practices and Handbook of Operating Procedures documents procedural guidance for administration of the trade remedial regime, aiming to promote transparency, uniformity, responsiveness and accountability in investigative practice; supporting outreach with bilingual brochures, FAQs and e books to familiarise industry with antidumping, countervailing and safeguard mechanisms and to serve as training and reference resources for officers and the Trade Defence Wing.

Foreign Direct Investment policy permits full automatic route FDI for B2B and marketplace e commerce while barring inventory models.
Foreign Direct Investment policy permits full foreign investment under the automatic route for companies engaged exclusively in Business to Business e commerce and for marketplace model e commerce, while FDI is not permitted in the inventory based model. Retail e commerce is allowed for manufacturers selling products made in India, single brand retailers with brick and mortar operations, and entities retailing food products manufactured or produced in India; automatic route sectors require no prior government approval.

Interim restraint on land transfer blocks transfer of salt pan land for municipal waste use pending resolution of ownership disputes.
Transfer of salt pan land to the municipal authority for refuse dumping and waste treatment uses is impeded by ownership litigation and an interim court restraint on creating third party rights; earlier approval for transfer to the central urban ministry did not result in possession due to litigation and encroachments, and no timeframe can be provided for handing over the land.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana enrollment reports nationwide beneficiary distribution across urban and rural categories.
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) enrollment and risk coverage figures were reported: total enrolment 14.27 crore as of 31 October 2018, and 13.97 crore beneficiaries who received risk coverage as on 15 August 2018, with urban totals 6.50 crore (urban male 4.08, urban female 2.42) and rural totals 7.47 crore (rural male 4.42, rural female 3.05), provided in a written parliamentary reply.

Wholesale price inflation: November WPI shows marginal monthly change with divergent sectoral movements and falling food index.
Wholesale prices in November 2018 showed a marginal month on month increase in the All Commodities WPI with a lower year on year inflation rate. Primary Articles rose modestly-led by food, certain seeds and minerals including crude petroleum-while Fuel & Power declined due to lower mineral oil prices despite some increases in LPG and ATF. Manufactured Products were largely unchanged overall, with mixed sectoral shifts: declines in several processed food items offset by rises in chemicals, paper, fabricated metals, machinery and motor vehicles. The WPI Food Index declined, and annexures provide detailed weights and trend tables.

E-procurement adoption on government e-market portal strengthens transparency and efficiency in public procurement, reducing procurement costs.
The National Mission on GeM accelerated adoption of the GeM e procurement platform to promote inclusiveness, transparency, efficiency and cashless, contactless, paperless transactions; it executed extensive outreach and thematic events for onboarding and capacity building. Implementation included hundreds of events across states and central agencies, and operational metrics cite over one million orders and substantial aggregate order value. The administration reports reduced procurement times, lower transaction costs and category-based procurement savings, with an indicated average saving relative to listed prices.

Public procurement access for startups through trial certification enables listing and expands MSME participation on the GeM platform.
GeM will onboard start ups via a PoC corner allowing government users to trial innovative products and certify usefulness and reasonable pricing for listing; it is expanding MSME participation through reserved products, outreach, multilingual training, vendor registration, and facilitating credit via TReDs while extending services, leasing, and QCBS procurement to enhance transparency, efficiency, and cashless paperless transactions in public procurement.

Graduate Insolvency Programme seeks eligible institutions to apply to deliver a regulated curriculum and internships under regulator oversight.
Invitation for expressions of interest from reputed institutions to conduct a Graduate Insolvency Programme as a regulatory pathway for eligibility as Insolvency Professionals. The GIP is proposed as a two-stage qualification-an extensive classroom phase followed by internships and optional foreign exposure-with curricular themes in economics, finance, law and turnaround management. Institutions must meet pre-qualifying infrastructure, faculty, library, multidisciplinary and financial criteria; selection of students will use rigorous testing, interviews and integrity assessments; institutions set fees while providing scholarships; EoIs are solicited with supporting documents.

Privacy-preserving AI initiative promotes distributed computing solutions to address infrastructure challenges while protecting data privacy.
NITI Aayog partnered with Perlin to run the "AI 4 All Global Hackathon" seeking AI solutions that integrate distributed computing and privacy-preserving techniques, notably multi-party computation, to address infrastructure challenges while protecting training data privacy. The two-stage competition solicits sectoral use cases (healthcare, education, agriculture, urbanization, financial inclusion), advances shortlisted ideas into developed prototypes focused on privacy-preserving AI and distributed computing, and offers jury assessment, prizes, mentorship and opportunities for scaling and implementation via co-sponsors.

Exchange of financial intelligence facilitated by revised Model MoU aligning FIU India with international information sharing standards.
The Cabinet approved a revised Model MoU for exchange of information between FIU India and foreign FIUs, updated to reflect the Egmont Group 2014 Model MoU. The framework standardises bilateral arrangements by addressing FIU Ind's functions: screening and processing foreign FIU requests, disseminating financial intelligence, maintaining relationships with counterpart FIUs, and facilitating negotiation and administration of MoUs.

Strategic sale of government shareholding in REC to PFC advances power sector integration and financing synergies.
The central executive approved an in-principle Strategic Sale of the government's majority equity in REC to PFC with accompanying Transfer of Management Control, transferring managerial authority from the government to the acquiring Central Public Sector Enterprise; the transaction is intended to integrate financing across the power chain, realise synergies and economies of scale, enhance capability to support energy access and efficiency, and improve fundraising terms for the combined entity.

Investor-friendly regulations encourage global capital flow to Indian startups, boosting funding and ease of doing business.
The Summit convenes government officials, global venture capital fund managers and startups to mobilize global capital by showcasing investment opportunities in India, enabling direct government-industry dialogue to promote investor-friendly regulations, enhance ease of doing business, and increase capital flows into the national and state-level startup ecosystem.