CURRENT AFFAIRS

The second edition of India MedTech Expo 2025 is being held today, Thursday, in New Delhi.

The Union Rural Development Ministry has directed states to examine “high-cost” works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), after irregularities were found in expenditure patterns.

The move by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is considered crucial to protect the UPI network from fraud.

Bank of Baroda has taken a significant step in the digital payments sector by introducing international UPI facilities through its BOB E-Pay App.

On the occasion of the 11th National Handloom Day, the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, launched a new mobile retail initiative named “Haat on Wheels” and inaugurated a special Handloom Expo.

India’s digital payments system has shown phenomenal growth in recent years, reflecting the country’s rapid progress towards a digital economy. According to the recent data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the RBI Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) reached 493.22 in March 2025, up significantly from 465.33 in September 2024.

Global Capability Centers (GCC) have become an important strategic hub for global companies in India. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced that the GCC sector in India currently employs 21.6 lakh professionals and this number is expected to reach 28 lakh by the year 2030.

State Bank of India (SBI) is preparing a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) financing strategy to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore by 2025.

Despite consistent growth in India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rising public capital expenditure, and an improvement in consumption, the pace of private corporate investment remains sluggish, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of economic growth.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) includes cyber-physical systems such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which enable the creation of "smart factories" where machines self-adapt, take autonomous decisions, and collaborate with humans.