Business, Economy & Banking Current Affairs MCQs

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Tamil Nadu has received the highest funds from the Central government under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the current financial year 2025–26. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which is heading for elections, are next in line. Karnataka, governed by the opposition, is also among the top 10 recipients. MGNREGS is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) aimed at providing rural employment with shared funding by the Centre and states. This comes amid political debates over fair fund distribution under CSS. These fund allocations highlight the Centre’s continued focus on rural job security.

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India attracted a record USD 81.04 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the fiscal year 2024–25, a 14% rise from the previous year. This growth was supported by liberalized policies and strong inflows in services and manufacturing. The services sector received the highest FDI equity at 19%, followed by computer software and hardware at 16%, and trading at 8%. FDI in services rose by 40.77% to USD 9.35 billion from USD 6.64 billion. Maharashtra received the highest share of FDI at 39%, followed by Karnataka at 13% and Delhi at 12%. From 2014 to 2025, India attracted USD 748.78 billion in FDI, 143% more than the USD 308.38 billion received from 2003 to 2014.

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Recently, India’s first Artificial Intelligence-focused Special Economic Zone (AI SEZ) was announced in Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh. It will be developed by RackBank Datacenters Private Limited with an investment of ₹1,000 crore. The AI SEZ will span six acres and include a 1.5 lakh square foot facility with high-end servers for large-scale AI operations. It will house four high-density data centres with a total capacity of 80 megawatts to support national digital infrastructure. For the first time, India will not just consume but also host and deliver Artificial Intelligence services globally. It will offer jobs to youth from remote areas like Kanker, Sukma, Bilaspur, and Dantewada in roles such as IT engineers and cybersecurity officers.

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Recently, the Delhi Power Minister inaugurated a 20-Megawatt (MW) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Kilokari in South Delhi. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are large-scale batteries that store energy from sources like solar and wind for later use. They help make green energy more dependable by storing power and feeding extra electricity back to the main grid. This Delhi BESS is South Asia’s largest utility-scale system and India’s first commercially approved energy storage system. It has a total storage capacity of 40 Megawatt-hours (MWh). It uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) technology, which is safe, stable, and works well in Delhi’s climate.

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Recently, economist S Mahendra Dev has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), replacing Suman Bery. He resigned as independent director from Axis Bank after his appointment. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body that advises the Prime Minister on economic and related matters. Its functions include analyzing economic issues, giving macroeconomic advice, and taking up tasks assigned by the Prime Minister.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its latest Urban Consumer Confidence Survey (UCCS) in May 2025. The UCCS showed that urban consumers had stable views about the current economic situation but were hopeful about the future. The UCCS is a bi-monthly survey by RBI to study urban household opinions on economy, employment, income, inflation, and spending. In May 2025, the survey covered 6,090 people from 19 cities. For the first time, RBI renamed it as UCCS, to separate it from the new Rural Consumer Confidence Survey.

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The Finance Minister recently chaired the 29th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). FSDC is a top-level non-statutory body formed by the Government of India in December 2010. Its main aim is to ensure financial stability and promote development in the financial sector. The council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and includes key members like the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Finance Secretary, and heads of regulatory bodies like Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) resolved 4,493 investor complaints in May 2025 through its online platform SCORES. The SCORES (Sebi Complaints Redress System) portal is an online platform launched by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) to address investor grievances related to the securities market. Under the updated SCORES 2.0, complaints are sent directly to listed companies or SEBI-registered intermediaries who must respond with an Action Taken Report (ATR) within 21 days.

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On 15th June 2025, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal chaired a review meeting at the Tobacco Board, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. The meeting assessed the progress of industrial nodes led by the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) in the state. National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) is a Government of India initiative under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It aims to develop smart industrial cities to boost manufacturing, investment, jobs, and India’s global competitiveness.

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Google opened its first Safety Engineering Centre in the Asia-Pacific region and fourth globally in Hyderabad on June 19, 2025. Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy officially inaugurated the Google Safety Engineering Centre (GSEC). The launch follows Google’s “Safety Charter for India’s AI-led Transformation” unveiled in Delhi on June 17. GSEC will work on protecting users from online fraud and securing enterprise and government systems. It will act as a strategic hub for responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and safety solutions.