General Awareness

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY - March 2015

Mar 2015

Oct 11, 2025

E-NAM Adds 9 New Commodities, Expands Coverage to 247

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform added 9 new agricultural commodities, raising the total number of tradable items to 247. This move aims to strengthen India's largest digital agri-trade platform, enhancing market access, ensuring quality-based pricing, and reducing dependency on middlemen. The announcement was made by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, further underlining the government's commitment to leveraging technology for inclusive and transparent agricultural trade.
Launched in 2016, e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities. It connects existing mandis (markets) across states, enabling farmers, traders, and buyers to trade agricultural produce digitally and transparently.

DoT and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Host 'AI for Good Summit' at India Mobile Con...

Neeraj Mittal, Secretary (Telecom), and Bilel Jamoussi, Deputy to the Director and Chief of Telecommunication Standardisation Policy Department (TSB) inaugurated the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) "AI for Good – Impact India" Conference 2025 at IMC 2025 in New Delhi, marking a significant step in advancing responsible and inclusive Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation in India. The conference brought together global AI leaders, policymakers, industry experts, start-ups, and academia to explore transformative applications of AI for sustainable development.

Oct 10, 2025

Blackstone Appoints Apurva Shah to Lead India Credit Division

Global investment firm Blackstone announced the launch of its India credit platform, appointing seasoned finance expert Apurva Shah as Managing Director to lead private credit origination operations in the country. This move marks a significant expansion of Blackstone's global credit business into one of its fastest-growing markets—India.
Apurva Shah brings over 26 years of experience in finance, including roles at Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, DSP Merrill Lynch, and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.
He will lead Blackstone's India efforts under the Blackstone Credit & Insurance (BXCI) vertical and report directly to Mark Glengarry, Head of Asia Pacific Private Credit Strategies.
Shah's role will include building relationships with Indian borrowers, identifying lending opportunities, and expanding Blackstone's footprint in the alternative credit space.

Oct 09, 2025

SoftBank to Buy ABB's Robot Business for $5.4 Billion

SoftBank Group agreed to buy the robotics business of Swiss engineering group ABB in a $5.4 billion deal, as the Japanese investor forges ahead with a strategy to fuse robotics and artificial intelligence.
The acquisition, announced is the latest by founder and CEO Masayoshi Son to establish Softbank as a core player in the development of artificial intelligence.
SoftBank pushed into humanoid robotics a decade ago with its Pepper robot but later scaled back its ambitions.

HDFC Bank Launches Country's first 'My Business QR' Powered by Vyaparify

In a major step toward empowering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across India, HDFC Bank announced the launch of 'My Business QR', powered by Vyaparify -- a digital innovation designed to give Bharat's entrepreneurs their first commerce identity.
Vyaparify positions itself as the Commerce Playbook for Bharat's SMEs, bridging the gap between jaankari (information), pehchaan (identity), battein (engagement), and vyapar (business) -- all through a single, smart QR code.

PayPal Onboards India's UPI as First Payments System Partner

In a landmark development for global digital payments, PayPal CEO Alex Chriss announced that India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) became the first payments system partner to be integrated into PayPal World, the company's newly launched global payments platform. The partnership marks a significant milestone for both PayPal and India's fintech ecosystem, further enhancing UPI's global footprint and demonstrating its transformative role in the digital payments landscape.

Oct 08, 2025

PhonePe Partners with Mastercard to Launch Device Tokenisation, Unveils Smart Pod for Card and UP...

PhonePe announced a partnership with Mastercard to roll out ecosystem-wide device tokenisation on its payments gateway, making digital transactions more seamless and secure for users.
In addition to the tokenisation launch, PhonePe also introduced the Smart Pod--an all-in-one payment device for merchants.
The PhonePe Smart Pod combines the features of the PhonePe Smart Speaker with features of a card terminal. It accepts card payments and UPI payments from the same terminal. It will allow customers to pay with a card at smaller outlets.

FM Launches Foreign Currency Settlement System at GIFT City

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a foreign currency settlement system at GIFT International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) during Global Fintech Fest-2025.
The new system enables real-time transaction settlements, improves liquidity management, and ensures compliance, reducing the typical 36-48 hours lag for foreign currency transactions. With this, GIFT City joined elite financial hubs such as Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Manila — all of which have local currency settlement infrastructure.

Oct 07, 2025

India to Introduce RBI-backed Digital Currency

India will soon launch its own digital currency backed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said in a roundtable during his visit to Doha, Qatar.
The move aims to make financial transactions faster, safer, and more transparent, while reducing paper use in the economy.
The digital currency will function like traditional money, but in an electronic form.

Piyush Goyal Co-Chairs India-Qatar Joint Commission Meeting on Economic and Commercial Cooperation

Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, co-chaired the India-Qatar Ministerial Joint Commission on Economic and Commercial Cooperation with H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Qatar.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the India-Qatar partnership by building on our strong bilateral trade. They also agreed to further intensify cooperation to achieve the trade and investment goals set by the leadership during the visit of His Highness the Amir of Qatar to India in February 2025.
On his first visit to Qatar, Goyal was also accompanied by senior officials from different Ministries.

Piyush Goyal Launches UPI in Doha, Strengthening India-Qatar Economic Ties

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal launched India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at the Lulu Mall in Doha, marking a new milestone in digital and financial cooperation between India and Qatar. The launch symbolises growing trust across borders and aims to enhance ease of transactions for citizens and businesses in both nations.
Launched nine years ago, UPI has become one of India's biggest digital success stories, accounting for 85 percent of the country's digital payments and nearly half of global digital transactions. With over 640 billion transactions processed annually, UPI continues to demonstrate India's leadership in fintech innovation.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

July GK, June GK, May GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services And Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26