Economy Current Affairs One-liners — All time

Mon, 24 Mar 2025

• ESIC's provisional payroll data, released on 24 March 2025, showed that 18.19 lakh new employees joined the ESI Scheme in January 2025, with 27,805 new establishments registered.

Sat, 22 Mar 2025

• The Department of Revenue issued Notification No. 19/2025-Customs on 22 March 2025, making the export duty on onions nil from 1 April 2025 and ending the 20% duty in force since 13 September 2024.
• The Directorate General of GST Intelligence said on 22 March 2025 it had blocked 357 websites of illegal offshore online money gaming entities and frozen about 2,400 bank accounts in a crackdown on GST evasion.

Fri, 21 Mar 2025

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh released the India Bioeconomy Report 2025 at BIRAC's Foundation Day in New Delhi on 21 March 2025; it puts India's bioeconomy at $165.7 billion in 2024, up from $10 billion in 2014.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards said on 21 March 2025 it would release its Annual Programme for Standardisation 2025-26 after consultations with 40 ministries and 84 industry associations.

Thu, 20 Mar 2025

• India's coal production crossed one billion tonnes in 2024-25 on 20 March 2025, 11 days earlier than the previous year's total of 997.83 million tonnes was reached.
• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation added 17.89 lakh net members in January 2025, according to provisional payroll data released on 20 March 2025.
• President Droupadi Murmu visited the Udyam Utsav, an MSME showcase organised by the Ministry of MSME at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 20 to 30 March 2025, on its opening day.

Wed, 19 Mar 2025

• The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority notified the PFRDA (Operationalisation of the Unified Pension Scheme under NPS) Regulations, 2025 by a gazette notification dated 19 March 2025, effective 1 April 2025.
• Bharat Coking Coal Limited, a Coal India subsidiary, monetised its 2 MTPA Dugda Coal Washery in Bokaro, Jharkhand, the first monetisation of a coal washery in India, the Ministry of Coal said on 19 March 2025.
• SEBI issued a circular on 19 March 2025 letting investors store demat and mutual fund holding statements in DigiLocker and name 'Data Access Nominees', to reduce unclaimed assets in the securities market.
• The Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved a ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme for 2024-25 that pays banks 0.15% on UPI person-to-merchant transactions of up to ₹2,000 for small merchants.
• The Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved a 12.7 LMT-a-year brownfield ammonia-urea complex (Namrup-IV) within the premises of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd at Namrup, Assam, at an estimated cost of ₹10,601.40 crore.
• The Centre for Development of Telematics launched the first cohort of 'Samarth', an incubation programme for startups in telecom and ICT, with STPI as implementation partner, on 19 March 2025.

Tue, 18 Mar 2025

• IndiaAI and the Geological Survey of India launched the IndiaAI Hackathon on Mineral Targeting on 18 March 2025, asking participants to use AI/ML to find new exploration areas for critical minerals in a 39,000 sq km area of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Mon, 17 Mar 2025

• The Government e Marketplace (GeM) crossed ₹5 lakh crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) for FY 2024-25 more than 18 days before the financial year ended, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced on 17 March 2025.
• India's annual inflation based on the all-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 2.38% (provisional) in February 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 17 March 2025.
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 17 March 2025 that India's total exports (merchandise and services) in April–February 2024-25 were an estimated $750.53 billion, up 6.24% from $706.43 billion a year earlier.
• Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who holds the finance portfolio, presented the State's 2025-26 budget of ₹2,05,017.29 crore in the Assembly on 17 March 2025, 13.7% above the revised estimates of 2024-25, and proposed a new 'Department of the Future'.

Sun, 16 Mar 2025

• India and New Zealand announced the launch of negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement on 16 March 2025 in New Delhi, after a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and New Zealand's Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay.
• The Reserve Bank of India was honoured with the Digital Transformation Award 2025 by Central Banking, London, for its in-house digital initiatives Pravaah and Sarthi, and was applauded by PM Narendra Modi on 16 March 2025.
• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) organised the 10th National Conference on Economics of Competition Law in New Delhi on 16 March 2025, with Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra as keynote speaker.

Sat, 15 Mar 2025

• World Consumer Rights Day was observed on 15 March 2025 with the theme 'A Just Transition to Sustainable Lifestyles'; the Department of Consumer Affairs held a webinar addressed by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

Fri, 14 Mar 2025

• Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu presented the State Budget for 2025-26 in the Assembly on 14 March 2025, with a fiscal deficit of ₹1,06,963 crore, or 3% of GSDP.
• Spot gold crossed $3,000 an ounce for the first time on 14 March 2025, touching a record $3,004.86, as investors sought a safe haven amid US tariff uncertainty.
• India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $15.267 billion to $653.966 billion in the week ended 7 March 2025, as per RBI data released on 14 March, the sharpest weekly rise in over two years.

Thu, 13 Mar 2025

• Union Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant launched India's first auction of Exploration Licences (ELs), for 13 blocks of critical and deep-seated minerals, at Dona Paula, Goa, on 13 March 2025.

Wed, 12 Mar 2025

• India's CPI-based retail inflation fell to 3.61% in February 2025, 65 basis points below January and the lowest since July 2024, as per MoSPI data released on 12 March 2025.
• India's Index of Industrial Production grew 5.0% in January 2025, up from 3.2% in December 2024, as per Quick Estimates released by MoSPI on 12 March 2025.

Tue, 11 Mar 2025

• India's coal imports fell 8.4% to 183.42 million tonnes in April–December 2024 from 200.19 MT a year earlier, saving about $5.43 billion in foreign exchange, the Ministry of Coal said on 11 March 2025.