Reactivation of India Venezuela Joint Committee Mechanism to advance critical minerals cooperation and boost bilateral investment opportunities.
Reactivation of the India Venezuela Joint Committee Mechanism was proposed to restore a formal bilateral framework; ministers discussed diversifying engagement into critical minerals cooperation, mining and exploration, expanded Indian investment facilitation supported by existing state owned enterprise operations, acceptance of the Indian Pharmacopeia to ease pharmaceutical trade, and increased collaboration in the automobile sector.

Investment incentives via escrow-backed GST refunds and capital reimbursement to attract drone and space manufacturing.
Foundation stones were laid for a Drone City at Orvakal Industrial Node and a Space City near Sriharikota to develop domestic drone manufacturing and space infrastructure. The state proposes investment incentives comprising an escrow account mechanism ensuring refund of state GST and a capital investment reimbursement, administered to limit political and bureaucratic interference and to promote self reliance in drone production.

GeM to host a full-service IITF pavilion offering on-the-spot onboarding, ODOP support and fast-track procurement listings.
GeM will run a full-service pavilion at IITF 2025 offering on-the-spot seller onboarding, an ODOP pavilion with a catalogue-shoot zone, live buyer experience and a query-resolution desk providing one-to-one support. Targeted networking and guidance sessions will assist women entrepreneurs, SC/ST-led MSEs, SHGs, FPOs and enterprises led by Divyangjan to access digital procurement. Exhibitors will receive fast-track listing and increased visibility to government buyers, while visitors can access live demonstrations and real-time support to enhance procurement efficiency.

Drone City at Orvakal launched to create an integrated drone ecosystem and generate over 40,000 jobs.
The 300 acre Drone City at Orvakal is a government backed integrated ecosystem for drone manufacturing, testing, research and repair, expected to host the world's largest common drone testing facility and generate over 40,000 jobs. NICDC, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, is developing Greenfield Industrial Smart City nodes (Orvakal, Kopparthy, Krishnapatnam) and deploying digital platforms (ULIP, LDB, IILB) to integrate infrastructure, renewable energy, automation and data governance to attract investment and enhance manufacturing competitiveness.

Free trade agreements signal growing international confidence in India's stable policy and investment climate.
The note stresses India's pursuit of self-reliance and a technologically advanced, resilient economy supported by policy reforms, employment generation, and active engagement on Free Trade Agreements, which bolster international confidence in a stable policy and favourable investment climate. It also describes the fair as an ITPO-organised platform for business collaboration, technology exchange, and investment, with broad participation from government departments, PSUs, MSMEs, startups, partner and focus states, and international exhibitors.

Standardized hospital empanelment norms improve cashless access, reducing administrative burden and enhancing claim turnaround.
The Department of Financial Services urged insurers and hospitals to accelerate onboarding to the National Health Claims Exchange, adopt standardized treatment protocols, implement cashless claims processing, and establish standardized empanelment norms across insurers to secure consistent cashless access, reduce hospital administrative burden, and improve claim turnaround times to address medical inflation.

Trade and investment cooperation strengthened, prioritizing supply chain resilience and partnerships in critical minerals and clean energy.
The Ministers committed to deepen trade and investment cooperation by promoting an open, transparent and predictable investment environment, sustaining ministerial and private sector engagement, and maintaining momentum in bilateral dialogue. They identified priority domains-supply chain resilience, critical minerals, clean energy, aerospace and dual use capabilities-and agreed to encourage long term partnerships, domain level stakeholder collaboration, and diversification of supply chains to address disruptions.

Digital public procurement delegation studies platform's technology, transparency, and capacity-building measures for reform adoption.
A delegation visit under the MoU-based capacity building arrangement advanced international cooperation on digital public procurement reform by demonstrating the e-procurement platform's digital architecture, procurement procedures, and technology-led controls that promote transparent, efficient, and inclusive public purchasing, while highlighting mechanisms for procurement access, buyer-seller connectivity, Communities of Practice, and institutional capacity enhancement.

India-Russia trade cooperation advances with protocol, sectoral diversification, time-bound pharma pathways, services mobility, and payments solutions.
A forward-looking protocol was signed to advance trade cooperation and pursue a US$100 billion trade objective by 2030, emphasising expedited listing of Indian establishments, a systems-based FSVPS approach for agriculture and marine products, and a time-bound pathway for pharmaceutical registration with regulatory reliance and predictable timelines; sectoral cooperation spans engineering goods, chemicals and plastics, electronics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, leather, textiles and related manufacturing, while services measures promote procurement of Indian IT BPM, healthcare, education and creative services, predictable professional mobility, exploration of a bilateral investment treaty, and payments solutions for MSMEs to support diversification and resilient supply chains.

India-Canada trade and investment dialogue commits to deepen market access, regulatory alignment and investment facilitation.
Ministers committed to strengthen India Canada trade and investment by fostering open, transparent and predictable business conditions, enhancing market access, promoting regulatory alignment, and active investment facilitation. They prioritised sectoral cooperation in nutritional security, supply chain resilience and the health sector, and agreed to convert discussions into tangible measures to expand two way trade and support sustainable, inclusive economic growth.

Transit agreement amendment expands rail freight connectivity enabling direct container and bulk movement between India ports and Nepal land customs.
Amendment to the Protocol to the Treaty of Transit via a Letter of Exchange broadens rail transit by permitting both containerized and bulk cargo on the Jogbani-Biratnagar rail link, and extends liberalised access along corridors including Kolkata-Jogbani, Kolkata-Nautanwa and Visakhapatnam-Nautanwa, enabling direct rail movement from Indian ports to the Nepal Customs Yard in Morang District.

PLI Scheme for White Goods attracts 13 applications committing Rs.1,914 crore, with majority from MSMEs targeting AC and LED components.
The PLI Scheme for White Goods received 13 applications committing Rs. 1,914 crore, with over 50% from MSMEs; nine applicants (Rs. 1,816 crore) target Air Conditioner component manufacture and four (Rs. 98 crore) target LED components across six States, 13 districts and 23 locations. The Scheme, with an approved outlay of Rs. 6,238 crore and 80 beneficiaries committing Rs. 10,335 crore to date, aims to build a complete AC and LED component ecosystem and increase domestic value addition from 15-20% to 75-80%, with projected production and employment gains.

Tribal products to receive government-backed export promotion, reduced GI fees, budget boosts and market access support.
The Government will promote tribal products via Department of Commerce support-e commerce, international display warehouses, and trade networks-while developing an export-promotion scheme, reducing GI application fees by 80%, and increasing budget allocations to strengthen welfare, market access, incubation, and investor engagement for tribal enterprises.

Quality assurance framework strengthened through inter-PSU collaboration to advance operational excellence and conformity assessment.
An inter-PSU initiative promotes a national quality assurance framework by sharing and benchmarking operational excellence practices-Six Sigma, Lean, Quality Circles, TPM, digital automation and supplier development-while reinforcing conformity assessment and accreditation to enhance credibility and international comparability. The programme proposes institutional collaboration through tailored quality partnerships and maturity enhancement programmes to integrate supply chain quality, digital transformation and sustainability into PSU governance and performance frameworks.

Startup credit portal enables unified loan applications, offer comparison and tracking across public sector banks with guarantee-backed loans.
The Department of Financial Services launched the Start-up Common Application Journey on the Jan Sammarth Portal to provide startups a unified digital platform for loan applications across public sector banks, enabling application submission, offer comparison and tracking. The portal integrates PAN, GST, Udyam, ITR and credit bureau data to accelerate processing and transparency. The scheme is supported by a Model Loan Scheme offering loans up to Rs.20 crores under the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups, and includes interest concessions for women entrepreneurs.

CSR and ESG education program launched to mainstream sustainability in management education and certify future leaders.
The IICA-WNS Ybrant CSR, ESG & Sustainability Program is a six-month blended learning course combining 22.5 hours of academic instruction and 18 hours of fieldwork across 15 modules that include CSR basics, global CSR trends, the Indian CSR legal framework, impact assessment, ESG reporting, corporate governance and leadership. It integrates weekly live sessions with faculty and industry experts on IICA's Learning Management System and issues digitally verifiable certification through IICA's credential system.

Competition approval permits a foreign subsidiary to increase its shareholding, resulting in a majority stake in the target company.
The Competition Commission of India approved Lence Pte. Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of between eleven percent and twenty percent of AWL Agri Business Limited, increasing the Acquirer's shareholding from forty three point nine four percent to a post transaction holding between fifty four point nine four percent and sixty three point nine four percent.

Healthcare affordability: government reducing taxes and duties to expand access and promote medical value travel.
The Government is advancing healthcare affordability through fiscal measures-zero GST on health and life insurance and reduced duties on medical devices, cancer drugs and essential medicines-with openness to further duty or cess reductions upon industry consultation. Complementary initiatives include expanding Jan Aushadhi Kendras for affordable generics, enlarging medical education and infrastructure, broad Ayushman Bharat coverage including free care for senior citizens, and policies to promote medical value travel via eased visa facilitation, capped foreign patient admissions with revenue contributions to public programmes, and expanded training for healthcare personnel.

Financial inclusion campaign expands grassroots access to flagship welfare schemes and drives mass enrolments and KYC updates.
The Department of Financial Services concluded a four-month campaign to saturate Gram Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies with access to flagship welfare schemes by facilitating enrolment, KYC re-verification, nomination updates, financial literacy on digital frauds and grievance redressal, and reported extensive outputs across account openings, scheme enrollments and claims settlement through nationwide camps.

India-Australia CECA negotiations reviewed; commitment to early conclusion and expanded trade, investment, services cooperation and diaspora engagement.
Ministers reviewed progress in negotiations toward an ambitious and balanced Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), agreeing to work constructively toward an early, balanced conclusion building on the India Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), with a negotiating agenda covering trade in goods, services, investment and related cooperation.