Business, Economy & Banking Current Affairs MCQs

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will exempt the government-backed SWAMIH Fund from tightened rules for Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs). SWAMIH stands for Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing and was set up in 2019 to rescue stressed real estate projects. The fund provides debt financing for stalled housing projects and is managed by SBICAP Ventures Ltd, a State Bank of India (SBI) Group company. The fund is sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched HaRBInger 2025 – Innovation for Transformation, its fourth global hackathon. It aims to use emerging technologies to create innovative, secure, and user-friendly financial solutions. The main goal is to protect customer identity and build trust in the financial system. The theme for HaRBInger 2025 is “Secure Banking: Powered by Identity, Integrity, and Inclusivity.”

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In November 2025, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the Guwahati Gateway Terminal and Jetty. It is India’s first modern river ferry terminal. The terminal is built to improve and make river transport on the Brahmaputra River more efficient. It integrates multimodal connectivity to enhance overall transportation infrastructure in Assam. The project is part of developing a world-class riverfront in Guwahati. The initiative aims to boost tourism and economic activity in the region. The terminal is a landmark development in India’s river transport sector. It may serve as a model for other states with major rivers.

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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation launched the National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2025 during the 75th anniversary of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in Udaipur. NIC-2025 is a new six-digit system replacing the five-digit NIC-2008 to classify all economic activities in India. It updates earlier versions from 1962 to reflect India’s changing economy and aligns with the United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Revision-5. It adds new sectors like cloud services, blockchain, renewable energy, waste management, platform services, and AYUSH. It also includes new classes for logistics, real estate, food services, and environmental remediation.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced interlinking the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with fast payment systems of other countries to improve cross-border payments. This move supports the G20 Roadmap to make international remittances cheaper, faster, transparent and easier. RBI and NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) are working with the European Central Bank to link UPI with TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement), the Eurosystem’s instant payment platform. The UPI–TIPS link will enable cross-border money transfers between India and the European Union, benefiting users on both sides.

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The Reserve Bank of India has released the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2025–30 as a five-year plan called Panch-Jyoti. The strategy is approved by the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). It sets 5 strategic objectives supported by 47 actionable steps to expand financial access. Financial inclusion means access to banking, payments, savings, credit, and insurance in a safe and affordable way. The pillars focus on better financial services, women-centred inclusion, linking livelihoods with finance, financial education, and strong consumer protection.

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The government launched a Credit Assessment Model (CAM) for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to automate loan appraisal using digitally verifiable data. CAM provides objective decisioning for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for Existing to Bank (ETB) and New to Bank (NTB) MSME borrowers. The Government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) promote digital payment transactions through schemes like RuPay Debit Card incentives, low-value BHIM-UPI (P2M), and Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) for POS terminals and QR codes.

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has listed State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for 2025. The three banks continue under the same bucketing structure as the previous year. D-SIBs are banks whose failure can severely affect the financial system and national economy. They are considered “too big to fail” due to size, interconnectedness, and critical banking role. RBI identifies D-SIBs based on systemic importance. D-SIBs must maintain additional CET1 capital above regular norms. Banks are categorized into buckets depending on their systemic criticality.

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SEBI introduced SWAGAT-FI (Single Window Automatic & Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors) to simplify Indian securities market access for low-risk foreign investors. It provides a unified registration for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCIs), reducing repeated compliance and documentation. Low-risk investors include government-owned funds, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, regulated public retail funds, insurance companies, and pension funds. SWAGAT-FIs can invest in listed equities and debt as FPIs, and unlisted companies and startups as FVCIs.

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The government has launched a nationwide campaign ‘Your Money, Your Right’ to help citizens reclaim unclaimed financial assets such as bank deposits, insurance proceeds, dividends, shares, mutual funds and pensions. The campaign began on October 4, 2025, and aims to return dormant financial assets to their legitimate owners through simplified, district-level support mechanisms. Between October and November 2025, citizens successfully reclaimed around ₹2,000 crore of unclaimed funds. From October to December 5, 2025, dedicated camps were organised in 477 districts, involving public representatives, district administrations and financial institution officials.