Current Affairs One-liners — 29 January 2026

Thu, 29 Jan 2026

• The Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 29 January 2026, estimates real GDP growth of 7.4% in FY26 and projects 6.8–7.2% for FY27, with potential growth around 7%.
• On 29 January 2026 MoSPI released the Expert Group report on the new Consumer Price Index series (CPI 2024), which uses the COICOP 2018 classification, weights from HCES 2023-24 and a basket of 358 items; the series was to be released on 12 February 2026.
• On 29 January 2026 the Bihar cabinet approved additional help of up to ₹2 lakh for women under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana, the Bihar Semiconductor Policy 2026 and the Bihar GCC Policy 2026.
• The Economic Survey 2025-26 notes India's Global Innovation Index rank rose from 66th (2019) to 38th (2025), PLI schemes drew over ₹2 lakh crore of investment, and 10 semiconductor projects worth ₹1.60 lakh crore were approved in 6 states.
• On 29 January 2026 the Centre notified coking coal as a Critical and Strategic Mineral by adding it to Part D of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act, 1957, to cut import dependence of the steel sector.
• The Economic Survey 2025-26 says India's total exports hit a record USD 825.3 billion in FY25, services exports an all-time high of USD 387.6 billion, and remittances USD 135.4 billion — the world's largest.
• The Economic Survey 2025-26 reports that airports rose from 74 (2014) to 164 (2025), high-speed corridors grew from 550 km (FY14) to 5,364 km, and India now has 23 IITs, 21 IIMs and 20 AIIMS.
• On 29 January 2026 the Centre released the second instalment of XV Finance Commission untied grants for 2025-26 to rural local bodies: ₹714.32 crore (Maharashtra), ₹410.76 crore (Andhra Pradesh) and ₹30.6 crore (Tripura).
• A 100-metre 'Make in India' steel bridge over the underground metro tunnel between Kalupur and Shahpur stations in Ahmedabad was completed for the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train — the 13th of 17 steel bridges planned in Gujarat.
• On 29 January 2026 IIM Ahmedabad exchanged an MoU to set up the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence, funded by a ₹100-crore endowment from alumna Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and Ranjan Tandon.
• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) disbursed ₹17 lakh under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to the Biodiversity Management Committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, for commercial use of Bacillus soil micro-organisms.
• On 29 January 2026 Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd (APL) and Deendayal Port Authority signed an MoU in Dibrugarh to set up a 150 tonnes-per-day e-methanol plant at Kandla Port, Gujarat, with over ₹1,200 crore investment.