Atal Innovation Mission and HUL launch nationwide programme to support 50 startups accelerating plastics circularity and material recovery.
NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission and Hindustan Unilever Limited launched a nationwide start up acceleration programme under Project Circular Bharat to support 50 circular economy start ups over three years, prioritising plastics circularity and material recovery. Selected start ups will gain mentorship, potential grant funding, and pilot opportunities, combining AIM/NITI Aayog policy support, HUL industry networks, and Xynteo strategic expertise to accelerate scalable solutions for waste reduction and market validation.

Corporate bond market reforms to deepen issuance, improve liquidity, broaden investor participation, and enhance market infrastructure.
A reform-oriented roadmap is proposed to deepen India's corporate bond market by strengthening legal, regulatory and market infrastructure to mobilise long-term capital and reduce reliance on bank credit. The report highlights structural gaps-limited market depth, concentrated investor profiles, and modest secondary-market activity-and recommends enhancing transparency, market-making and repo facilities, broadening participation of insurance, pension and retail investors, facilitating issuance by mid-size and lower-rated firms, expanding product offerings including credit-enhanced and sustainability-linked bonds, and leveraging digital innovations such as tokenised bonds.

Banking recruitment: Results now sequenced SBI NBs RRBs; officer-level prioritized and candidate access to response sheets introduced.
DFS requires that IBPS result publication follow a fixed order-SBI first, then Nationalised Banks, then RRBs-with officer level results declared before clerical level results-to facilitate candidate preference expression, reduce inter bank attrition, and improve workforce planning. IBPS will also offer login based access to candidates' response sheets and correct answer keys in the upcoming Common Recruitment Process cycle to enhance transparency.

Indian Statistical Institute Bill 2025 revised draft open for public comments to modernize governance framework
The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has posted a revised draft of The Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2025 for further pre legislative consultation, aiming to modernize the Indian Statistical Institute Act, 1959 by overhauling governance and enhancing autonomy and accountability. Stakeholders may submit comments using the prescribed format on the Ministry website and send submissions by email in MS Word or PDF on or before 15.12.2025.

District-level MPCE estimates for Uttar Pradesh generated using model-based small area estimation to inform development planning.
A committee chaired by Dr. Mausumi Bose used Small Area Estimation, employing Fay-Herriot and Spatial Fay-Herriot models, to generate rural and urban district-level MPCE estimates for Uttar Pradesh from HCES 2022-23. The methodology borrows strength from covariates and neighbouring districts to improve precision where direct survey estimates are weak. The report, including FH and SFH district tables, is publicly available on MoSPI's website and is recommended for replication by other states to fill district-level data gaps and inform development planning.

Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises invites stakeholder feedback on the Draft ESU Schedule by 20 December 2025.
The Draft ESU Schedule for ASUSE 2026 is published on the MoSPI website for stakeholder consultation; the survey captures economic and operational characteristics of unincorporated non agricultural establishments and supports national accounts and policy needs. Modifications to the schedule reflect suggestions from ongoing ASUSE 2025 and consultative exercises. Comments in the prescribed format should be sent to the designated email addresses by 20 December 2025; links to the draft and feedback format are provided on the MoSPI site.

Measurement of the knowledge economy: workshop formed a Technical Advisory Group to design taxonomy, valuation, and indicator linkages.
A government initiative to develop a framework for measuring the knowledge economy convened a multi stakeholder workshop to design a taxonomy of knowledge products, assess data sources and quantification challenges, and constituted a Technical Advisory Group to recommend valuation methodologies and link knowledge economy indicators with macro economic and social statistics; current expenses are limited to operational costs for the workshop and TAG meetings.

Mephedrone factory bust: 128 kg seized, precursor chemicals recovered and three arrested under NDPS Act.
An intelligence-driven operation, Operation Hinterland Brew, uncovered and dismantled a concealed modular Mephedrone manufacturing unit, yielding seizure of 128 kg of finished Mephedrone, about 245 kg of precursor chemicals and processing equipment. Three operators, including the alleged mastermind serving as financier and chemist, were arrested and charged under the NDPS Act, 1985; the operation is reported as the fifth such clandestine facility dismantled this year through DRI enforcement.

Schneider Electric's 35% acquisitions in SEIPL and SEJV2 cleared; SEIPL was already under Schneider's operational control.
The Competition Commission approved Schneider Electric SE's acquisition of 35% stakes in Schneider Electric India Private Limited and Schneider Electric JV Holdings 2 Pte. Ltd. from MacRitchie Investments; SEIPL was already an indirect subsidiary under Schneider's full operational and management control prior to the transactions, and SEJV2 is a Singapore private limited company.

Proposed combination among Curefit entities approved, involving demerger of membership businesses, merger of residual services and share buyback.
Approval concerns a combination where (i) Cultfit's membership servicing business and Curefit Services' membership subscription business for CultPass Elite and CultPass Pro are demerged into Curefit Healthcare; (ii) the residual Curefit Services business merges into Cultfit to form a Cultfit Merged Entity; and (iii) a share buyback in the Cultfit Merged Entity will be undertaken from all shareholders except Curefit Healthcare.

Acquisition of Sammaan Capital shareholding approved; Avenir to acquire stake in NBFC offering retail and corporate lending.
The Competition Commission of India approved Avenir Investment RSC Ltd., an SPV of the IHC group, acquiring certain shareholding in Sammaan Capital Limited, an RBI-registered non-deposit taking NBFC (investment and credit company, upper layer) that provides retail and wholesale loans, MSME and corporate lending, lease rental discounting, investments, asset management, insurance distribution and related lending and investment activities.

AI and copyright working paper proposes blanket training licences with royalties payable only on commercialisation.
The working paper proposes a hybrid framework where AI developers obtain a blanket licence to use all lawfully accessed content for training without individual negotiations; royalties become payable only upon commercialisation, with rates set by a government appointed committee and subject to judicial review; and a centralised mechanism will collect and distribute royalties to reduce transaction costs and provide legal certainty.

India-Chile CEPA negotiations progressed, parties committed to timely conclusion to enhance market access and bilateral trade.
Reports substantive negotiation progress in the India-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) after the fourth round; delegations made substantial advances across chapters and both sides reiterated commitment to timely conclusion, aiming to expand market access, deepen economic cooperation, and enhance bilateral trade opportunities.

Rail infrastructure projects under PM GatiShakti aim to expand lines and restructure finance to boost multimodal logistics efficiency.
The Network Planning Group reviewed five rail proposals under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan to advance integrated multimodal infrastructure, last mile connectivity and a Whole of Government approach. Proposals comprise third and fourth lines on Gummidipundi-Gudur, Nidadavolu-Duvvada, Nagda-Mathura and Ghaziabad-New Sitapur corridors, and a third financial restructuring with infrastructure investments for Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, each aimed at augmenting capacity, reducing congestion and improving logistics and multimodal access for key sectors.

Universities should prepare students for public service through merit-based access, civic education, and internships with elected representatives.
The Minister urged universities to nurture talent, promote civic responsibility, and facilitate public-service pathways, emphasizing need-blind scholarships, broad female representation, student innovation and returning faculty, and recommending curricular and internship measures to prepare graduates for governance and nation-building.

Public Financial Management seminar launches proposal for a Global South PFM forum to share digital treasury and DPI tools.
The New Delhi seminar presented India's operational PFM model-centered on the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), integration with Digital Payments and Direct Benefit Transfer, and complementary digital revenue tools-and proposed establishing a Public Financial Management Forum for the Global South to institutionalise dialogue, capacity sharing, technical cooperation, and co creation of treasury reform, liquidity management, DPI enabled PFM solutions, citizen centric delivery, procurement transparency, and accountability frameworks.

Public procurement training focused on digital procurement, compliance, contract management and capacity building for defence finance probationers.
The orientation focused on transforming public procurement through digitisation, highlighting platform-enabled management of the procurement lifecycle-demand creation, bidding, contract management and payments-together with governance frameworks, compliance essentials and grievance redressal and incident management mechanisms to secure procedural integrity. It also served as capacity building for Defence finance probationers to align departmental processes with digital procurement tools and oversight controls, promoting competition, efficiency and auditability across public procurement.

India's manufacturing sector: emphasis on innovation, supply chain resilience, labour code rollout and timely MSME payments.
The Minister urges strengthening manufacturing competitiveness through innovation, efficiency and supply chain resilience, calls for industry-government collaboration, and highlights regulatory modernisation including easing compliance and the introduction of the four Labour Codes (with 23 States framing rules). He stresses the importance of timely payments to MSMEs to ease cash-flow constraints, advance formalisation, ensure minimum wages and strengthen social security and workplace safety, linking these measures to self-reliance and long-term national development goals.

Global tax transparency meeting focused on implementing info exchange standards, digital asset reporting and capacity building.
India hosted the 18th Plenary of the Global Forum, where member jurisdictions reviewed implementation of the Exchange of Information on Request and Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information standards, advanced work on the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework and the Group on Risk, and prioritised strengthening implementation, administrative capacity and equitable access to transparency benefits using secure IT systems and data analytics.

Government stake sale in Bank of Maharashtra oversubscribed; green shoe exercised, bringing total divestment to 6% and opening to retail investors.
Government divestment of up to 6.0% stake in Bank of Maharashtra is structured as a 5% Offer for Sale with a 1% green shoe option at a Rs.54.0 floor price; 10% of the offer is reserved for retail investors to ensure compliance with Minimum Public Shareholding norms. The non retail bidding was subscribed 4.07 times and the green shoe option was fully exercised, taking total divestment to 6.0% of paid up capital, with the OFS opening to retail investors and bank employees thereafter.